I am a college student finishing up my degree and I am writing a report on "Paying to Fish at Private Ponds"

Would the anglers out there pay to fish the private ponds in their region? Why or why not? (I am not talking about professionally stocked and managed ponds)

Would the private pond owners allow anglers to fish at their ponds for pay? Why or Why not?

Thank you!

Welcome Fish.

You might want to email Steve Alexander. salexander@privatewaterfishing.com

He is a member here on Pondboss and has a pond leasing company down here in Texas. Steve is a great guy and I imagine he would be glad to help you out with any questions you might have.

Welcome, Fish Omaha!

Personally I would never charge someone to fish my pond, except my landlord (sorry, inside joke).

Just my opinion but I think you'll find most private pond owners, especially those you'll find on this forum, very protective of what they have. And for most, what they have was/is created with a very strong passion in pond/fishery management. We've all worked very hard and invested a lot of time and money to create, to us, our own little (sometimes PITA) slice of paradise.

For me there's no greater joy than having friends and family out to enjoy nature, the pond and it's surroundings. And better yet is to see the looks and reactions from those, young and old catching fish.

For this/these reasons I would not allow anglers to fish my pond for pay.

Welcome to Pond Boss.

This is just free thinking, but it may help to 'define' the kind of person who would actually pay to fish another person's pond. I'm not talking about fishing with a guide and/or using the pond owner's boat.

If you could 'define' that kind of person, you could come up with what you think that person would actually pay to fish someone else's pond.

Good luck!!

I agree with Lovnlivin...each of us have our own reasons for owning a pond...my goal is primarily peace and quiet...friends and family visitors are enough for me...there is no way I would allow Joe-Public in to fish my ponds for pay. Besides liability issues...what is to be gained by having strangers on your property every week? I doubt there is that much money in it, unless you make it a big business and that would ruin it for me. My property would then cease to be an "escape".

ps: if you are looking for additional feedback there is a nice young man that runs/owns a pay to fish pond near my place...real nice college kid named Brandon...here is his website:

http://www.willnerfishfarms.com/fee-fishing.html

Sunil,

I am talking about the individual who notices a pond while driving down the road and fantasizes about fishing said pond. My goal is to make these ponds available to your everyday angler.

Does that make sense? It would be more of your diamond in the rough type pond instead of your public areas which are over fished.

My ponds are pretty new. They can't be seen from the road... Thankfully. My brother has a friend that's a fishing guide that contacted me about having his clients from out of town up to fly fish on days the wind keeps them off the big water. Offered me a pretty decent sum. Had to decline. I've done all this to enjoy with friends and family, mostly the little kids. There are vast public opportunities to fish in this area. My ponds are not for hire. No one else would take the care with them that I do. I used to have rental property. Perhaps the many experiences I had with tenants recklessly and needlessly damaging things has formed my stance. I'm sure of it actually.

Hollywood,
Good for you. I don't blame you. All that work for someone else to come out and abuse (most likely). No one will respect your place to the degree that you will. My place is hid so far back up in the woods, if anyone would show up back there...they cannot give me any acceptable reason to be back there...I don't think being lost would be an acceptable excuse for a trespasser on my place. I'm too far off the beaten path. I've done the landlord thing myself in the past...never again. Again, good for you.

I've seen the condition of most of the public waters around here....there's exactly zero chance I would let that happen to my pride and joy.

There's a reason I live in the middle of nowhere and have 'No Trespassing' signs all around the place.

Would you buy a used automobile that had been used as a rental car? I think if someone is paying to fish, their attitude and the way they treat your property is much like how they treat a rental car. I invite friends and family to fish my pond and adhere to my rules. My home, my pond, my rules.

Just to clarify, I'm an absentee land owner, so I do allow friends to fish & hunt my property with specific permission regarding dates & times, as opposed to blanket permissions.

I only to that to have 'friendlies' at my property instead of scumbags.

Now, Fish Omaha, what you said about driving down the road, and seeing a pond and wanting to fish it.....I've had the same feelings. I don't know how to translate that into gaining permission to fish the pond.

I worry about the liability aspect of the whole thing. Better have great insurance when you have Soilfloc-ed your pond and the fisherman comes in, paid good money, and goes for an unexpected swim and cannot swim.

But if there is something like the local snowmobile clubs have with a group insurance for all members. The pond owner (land owner) signs up to let the personal pond be fished with restrictions and contract, they can share in some of the fees as incentive to open the pond. The insurance is paid for by the club and the land owner is covered.

2Old2Soon,

What if you could put your own rules in place and fine them if they break the rules? You approve each individual and can even specify if it is catch and release only.

I am not trying to sell you on the idea. I simple want to know what would need to be in place for you to even consider it.

I think a leased car is a better analogy than a rental car in this situation. Buying a rental car it becomes your own. However, if you are leasing a car and know you can be penalized harshly you baby it like it was your own. Agree?

I love all of the feedback and all of it is helping me immensely.

If some constructive feedback could be provided that would be great!

liquidsquid,

Exactly, the club would help if not cover all of the liability insurance cost for access.

Sunil,

I cannot discuss the specifics of my project in order to receive unbiased feedback.

What if you had complete control of who accessed your land and when they accessed it? They would require your permission and would have to notify you upon arriving and departing.

What does it cost to raise a 10# bass from scratch? A BUNCH!

FWIW I would never "rent out" the pond. It is for the enjoyment of friends and family. That is not to say I might not let a stranger fish it on some very rare occasion.

My Dad followed a philosophy about hunting on our farm that I think I would also apply to my pond. If a car load of guys with expensive guns and an expensive vehicle stopped and asked to hunt, my Dad always said no. If a poor man with an old shot gun and a couple skinny kids in his old car asked to hunt, my Dad's answer was go ahead. He explained to me his thinking was that the poor guy was maybe hunting to feed his family tonight.

Public fishing around here is over fished and a good catch is rare to come by. If the right guy pulled into my drive with a couple skinny little kids and a couple old Zebco 202s, maybe even asking could he do some chores so he could fish, I just might let him take a CC or three home with him.....

BUT I would never let anyone fish for money.

BrianL,

The goal is not to raise and provide the angler a 10lb bass in this specific case.

The goal is to provide access to fishing waters previously un-accessible to the angler.

Bill D,

Thank you for your insight and I think that is a great philosophy.

Fish Omaha I get you are attempting to see if it can be a win/win situation and have a happy ending.

And I think sometimes it would be happy and sometimes it wouldn't.

And the sometimes it wouldn't is the reason most of us after spending tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands dollars on our pride and joy properties are reluctant to let Joe Public in to fish our ponds.

There is just a whole lot more that goes into these properties than people realize when they drive up and say "I'm ready to fish!".

Another problem is if I let Joe Stranger fish who seems like a nice enough fellow...and Joe Stranger catches a mess of fish....what do you think he is going to do?

Joe Stranger is going to want to come back....and he most likely will want to bring friends with him or at least tell friends "hey I slaughtered the bass at that place down on County Road 515 and Old Cemetery Road". And who knows if Joe's cousin or work buddies ask for permission when they show up and I'm not there? Maybe it gets watered down to "yeah that guy said I could fish"...and the next group thinks it's ok to hop the fence..."well Joe told me you were cool with people fishing". Again why would a pond or property owner open that can of worms?

Fish Omaha I think you may find a few pond owners that don't care....and would tell a stranger "yeah go ahead and fish that old cow tank...just don't make a mess"....but I would assume most properties owners are not going to allow strangers in because they feel it is just inviting potential trouble.

Fish Omaha I suppose one possible scenario that might work and that could convince some pond owners to let people fish is a "PondPay2Fish" model based sort of like the hotel model of AirB&B or VRBO.

I think a model could work with a few pond owners where it wouldn't be some guy knocking at your door as a surprise...it would be a website like AirB&B or VRBO where a reservation could be made, payment in advance, and the pond owner would have more info like credit card info, address, telephone numbers, etc...about the people allowed on the property....and rules/liability release could be stated up front and signed in advance by the fisherman.

When I was stationed in NC it was pretty common to pay a few bucks to fish in farm ponds. I paid it, and would again.

My pond is too small to allow random.people to fish it and keep what they catch. I think I would allow folks to pay to catch and release...or only keep what i tell them they can.

Sean

There are six neighboring ponds (owned by three different neighbors) that I fish sometimes. The owners know me well enough to trust I won't bring anyone else or talk about it. I know what's allowed to keep and what to release. I caught most of my adult BG brood stock (now spawning) out of two of those ponds.

But, to them I am not Joe Public. YMMV.

With our ponds/property having once been a campground, I've seen firsthand what happens when money changes hands. No way, no thank you.

I let friends and family fish, and I'm happy to have them. I would also welcome a supervised, kids fishing club or organization. But I'm afraid a never-before-seen total stranger has zero chance of buying any fishing here. Harsh, but true.

Was just on Facebook. Several folks I know that consider themselves good fisherman had posted pictures holding bass (season is closed here now) so these fish were being released. Bleeding. Covered with leaves and dirt. Large egg laden females held by the lip with all that weight tearing her up. This is NOT happening at my place. Not for any fee.

My best guess is the only ones that would allow the public to pay to fish would be two groups.

1. Owners that had little interest to care for their ponds or what shape they are in so figure a little income from something they do not care about anyway is more than they would have otherwise.
2. Owners that specifically have their ponds for a "for profit" enterprise.

My pond is for my wife and I enjoyment, my family and my employees. If I counted the cost per pound of fish I have in my "investment" there is no way I could ever charge enough to cover the cost. It just has to be for the fun of doing it as a hobby. So putting up with the general public and the low to moderate percentage of A-holes that exist in any population would never be worth any reasonable amount of money involved. Plus it is my back yard. Do I really want strangers in my back yard? I think not, being the general anti-social type I am.

So in my case, no way no how.

As far as anglers willing to pay, probably a few. But they would likely expect good fishing if they were paying.

I might consider a non-fee PBF get together some day though.

Fish Omaha; Fish in private ponds become hook shy pretty quickly. To keep that from happening, I severely limit the fishing in my ponds including me, friends and family. Most of us put a pretty high value on privacy and quiet times.

The fee to let the public fish would have to be pretty obscene.

We start with purchasing land. Not just any land but land suitable for retention of or impounding water. It has to be a big enough parcel for runoff from rains to be impounded. It also has to have the right loamy soil to hold together for a dam. Expensive! Buying land that has a good sized pond/ponds? Even more expensive!

Once we have the right land, we begin constructing a pond. There is nothing cheap about moving dirt with a dozer. Expensive!

Wait for rains. Inexpensive!

Finding that the pond leaks and needs repair. Expensive!

Checking water quality for suitability as a place for fish too live. Not too expensive but more than most people have left over from monthly pay check.

Finally, we buy fish and stock them. We buy babies and wait for them to grow up so we can fish for them. That takes several years. This is the cheapest part of the picture.

Most of us choose to feed our fish. In my case, on my small ponds, that's about $100 to $150 per month.

After all of the above, we get to fish our pride and joy. But, not as often as we would like. As stated above, fish in private impoundments can get hook shy pretty quickly. So, we have to ration our enjoyment. To provide a quality opportunity for the public, we would have to limit it severely. Nobody would pay to fish where the decent sized fish have learned what the foot steps on the bank mean. And then, we couldn't enjoy it either. At this point, I ration my friends and family(including me) to no more than once a month.

To sum it up, it would be neither financially feasible nor personally rewarding to let the public fish our ponds. I've often compared this to leasing out my unused spare/guest bedroom.

Omaha, I am very curious.How much money would you expect someone to offer to pay to fish a pond for a day?? It ain't happenin at my place but just want to know!!

I just can't see a meaningful dollar amount that would encourage me to open up my pond to another person.

Thank you to everyone!!! This has helped.

Fish Omaha, as you prepare to write your report, please let us know your thoughts after reading the responses to your questions.

What were your personal thoughts on this subject and if so, how have those thoughts been changed or influenced by the above pond owner's responses?

Then, in contrast to posing this question to passionate (and in some cases professional) pond managers/owners, if you really want to dig deep, start driving the country-side to stop and visit with property owners with farm ponds. These can easily and readily be found on your County Assessor's website and/or Google Earth. And pose those same questions.

Group A: Pond Boss members
Group B: Rural farm ponds (Non-Pond Boss members)

Could make for an interesting paper, and I for one would be interested in your findings.

Dave, after reading your response, it reminded me of a remark I used to use when someone would ask if they could borrow my motorcycle to ride.

I would tell them there are two things I do not loan out. My wife and my motorcycle. Maybe I need to add the pond to that.

I just started my pond operation last fall, and there is no way I would consider it. I have had to strongly discourage neighborhood boys from bucket stocking already, and there is no way I would consider fish for pay when the pond matures, for the variety of reasons already stated.
When things are ready, only close family, friends, and other pond owners that have reciprocal agreements with me could fish it at times, in accordance with any management plan.

Well, I value my privacy, peace & quite and I don't need the money. Why would I compromise this view for a few dollars?

Just an example I had recently.

I had an employee ask "hey can I come out and fish this weekend"?

I said sure.

An hour or two later employee said "you mind if my Dad and brother come too"?

I said yes that will be ok.

So on the Saturday...14 people from his family show up at different times throughout the day...they didn't all fish...but they want to ride the ATV's, kids using sling-shots into the lake constantly, people in and out of bathrooms all day. It all turned out ok, nice people, and this guy is a great employee...but who the heck would want that on a weekly basis? I guess someone younger than me. And at least I knew these people. I want quiet, solitude, and maybe a friend, or family member. A picnic party maybe once a year is fine, but my party days are in the rear-view mirror

Dang, Zep!! That is off the hook!!

14 people showing up!!!

No way!!!

I've met a very few PB brothers. I would let any PB old-timer come to my pond because they understand and share my respect for my fish and all the effort to build an ecosystem. They offer me camaraderie, knowledge, and would likely be amused by my expectation of measuring everything.

I've had colleagues and friends ask when they can come fish my pond. So far, my response that even I am not allowed to fish the pond has put most of them off. Some ask when I will fish my pond. I tell them at least 2 more years. None are in it for the long haul nor do they offer any reciprocity.

When I do begin to fish my pond, it will be part of my self-reliant retirement living plans. I can't give away 50% of my year's fish meals. You give away excess garden produce to friends and family. Get that. I've been in others' gardens to harvest their excess, but I am always careful to respect their wishes and their efforts. I don't expect excess fish production. Very few beside PB'ers would properly respect my pond if there were excess. Random people on my pond? never.

Nickolaus I can really relate to this. I have 3 very small cabins. So far the only one with furniture in it is mine, but I know as soon as I save up the money to furnish the other two I will start getting inquiries about "when can we use one of your cabins for a weekend"? Maybe I shouldn't even furnish the other two, but that would be weird too...lol.

#1. No one will ever be there when I am not there.

#2. I really am not excited about a lot of overnight visitors staying there except on rare occasions. Too many smokers, too many dogs, too many rug-rats, too much spilled sodas, drunks, bed linens to clean, trash to empty, fridges to clean. Close friends and relatives occasionally are about all I'm interested in.

I wouldn't even have the extra cabins, but my brother/partner unfortunately died in the middle of the project, so it is what it is.

But I know I will soon be inundated with requests.
I expect some will get their feelings hurt.
maybe I should charge a $175 "weekend maid fee" that will discourage those I really don't want there for a weekend anyway

Zep, you're kind of touching on what I was trying to say initially on this thread.

Most of us Pond Bosses wouldn't even think to ask another land owner if we could 'use' their property 'cause we generally don't 'like' others to ask us to 'use' our property.

So, when I was asking Fish Omaha to try to 'define' the individual who would ask a landowner for permission, I was grasping at something.

Don't anyone get me wrong though. I'm not saying it's ill mannered or rude to request to fish someone's pond, but the person who asks that question is usually not a pond owner.

Mark, that's too low. I've been there, and I'd pay more than that for the weekend.

I had a new UPS guy show up yesterday, and all he wanted to talk about was our pond, and how big were our LMB. Nice kid, but I felt pressured for an invite. I told him the LMB were dinks, and were only here to help manage brim. That and we only allow fly fishing. He wasn't interested anymore.

Al, you didn't feel the need to tell him about the other initiation procedures?

It was good meeting you and your wife the other weekend! Will your wife let you throw some pictures up here??

Sunil, I did not. To be honest, he didn't seem like the type that would be willing to get an Unknown Hinson tattoo for fishing privileges either.

George's son Jeff is coming over today to fish a little. I enjoy pond owners fishing here, because it's usually as simple as telling them to cull any LMB they wouldn't keep in their pond.