Venting, People fishing private waters

I fish a bunch of small ponds around me for bass as I can go for 30-60 mins on my way home from work. These ponds were 100% public ponds but with new subdivisions coming up they get landlocked in these gated communities and become private... I understand your frustrations entirely however it also drives me nuts when I lose a pond just because people want their $2M homes in a secluded area.

I have tried this method after I got fed up with losing ponds over and over (i.e. having 7ft fences around the communities now), and was just curious what your take is on it;

If I were to knock on your front door and say " Hi I'm Tyler, I was just wondering if I could fish the pond behind your house. I am strictly catch and release I just fish for fun, will keep it clean, blah blah."

What would your response be?

I have had mixed responses so I am just curious.

In my opinion I just want more people to enjoy the sport of fishing, its hard when you try to take new anglers out and you have to drive 60-90 mins to fish a main lake - and we all know new anglers may get bored after an hour on the water.

I am also extremely biased since I dont have my own private pond

If you knocked on the door you’d still be told no simply because the property an pond in question is a membership and employee only access.

As for the subdivision ponds the old farmers likely didn’t give to shits as long as the property was respected but once the houses come they look at everything including what not there’s as theirs. I this case this pond is totally land locked with a private aquaculture license attached for private stocking.

Nope - city ponds on city land. Just storm water management ponds that have been 'stocked' with fish by locals...

I'm not sure if you're talking about Golf Course ponds that people are sneaking onto your property but to me its all about the respect thing. This is all personal opinion but I would rather let people fish a pond of mine for the love of the sport if they respect it... The more people we get into the sport the better, especially in a day and age where people RARELY leave their dam couches / gaming consoles.

I have fished many golf course ponds with the permission of the owners and as long as I don't leave garbage around there has never been a problem.

Most owners say... "Just don't tell me if you beat my PB"

Not a golf course, I don't own the place I just enforce the members no trespassing rule. I can't give permission to Anyone but I'm allowed to fish it with my family if I want.