Hi,

Anyone have any idea what the going rate is to lease fishing rights on a pond/lake? I'm in South Carolina and have my eye on a 15 acre BOW that shows very little sign of being fished. All the banks are overgrown and poorly maintained and the pond/lake only appears to be used as an irrigation pond. The entire pond and land around it appears to be owned by a corporation out of Florida so I'm hoping I can make contact using tax data and make an offer. I'm sure this is probably highly variable depending on the location, fish quality, etc....but just looking for a ballpark or some examples. Anyone have any experience with water leases?

Jason, due to potential liabilities from injury, etc I doubt that a corporation would allow it. There is very little upside for them.

I guess its worth a shot. There are lots of big corporations that own timberland around me that lease their land for $8-12/acre for hunting purposes. Do you think that a pond is higher risk than putting 5 rednecks on 100 acres of land? They generally make you carry a hunters/sportsman's liability insurance to reduce or eliminate their risk. When I make contact I will probably offer to buy insurance. Thanks for pointing that out.

I guess in the absence of any reference points I'll just start with 2 or 3 times the hunting lease rates and try to offer as much incentive as possible....improving fishery(they probably don't care), mowing banks, etc....