Private access.........at a physical cost

[Jonn Graham]

I have a place not far from my house that I have driven by countless times. Every time I drive by I always think to myself that I should stop in and talk to the landowner and see if he would allow me to fish. Well, last night after work I was driving around in search of bronze, and, after striking out at my first haunt, I decided to stop in and talk to the guy.

 

I pulled in at the house and walked to the door and first rang the doorbell......no answer. Rang it again.......no answer. Then I was not sure if the door bell even worked, so I knocked on the door. That was mistake! Upon knocking on the door, a large German Shepard woke up from his slumber behind his personal pine tree.

 

The dog approached me and seemed nice enough. He got within five feet of me and just stopped and looked at me while I knocked on the door one more time. With no answer at the door, I decided no one was home and took one step toward my truck.

 

Surprisingly, the dog just jumped at me and bit me on the upper thigh. I paniced and began to ran...........STUPID!!!!. After running a few yards and realizing that running was not going to work, I just stopped and turned and yelled at the dog, which made him stop dead in his tracks. Only problem was I was still not back at my truck as I had ran straight away from my truck during the panic stage.

 

Luckily, with all the commotion the owner of the house came barreling out of the house wondering what the heck was going on. I told him the dog had bit me. He was not happy with the dog and promptly grabbed the dog and gave the dog a butt chewing. Upon catching my breath, I told him who I was and where I lived and asked if I could fish down on his property.

 

He said he had seen my truck drive by numerous times in the past and said to fish as often as I wish. Heck, maybe he felt so bad that he felt he had to let me fish. whatever the case, I had the permission I had been yearning for. He asked me if I wanted to come into his house to dress my wound. I declined and got back in my truck and went down to his property.

 

Boy, it is one sweet stretch of creek maybe a 1/4 mile long or so. Completely manucured and able to reach via truck. Can't beat a spot where you can just drive up, get out of the truck, and begin casting. All rock bottom with a few riffle/pool scenarios. While I did not catch anything last night due to the fact that my smallies have not come that far upstream yet, I am sure there will be smallies there in a few weeks or so.

 

 

Now, I am heading to see our school nurse so she can dress my war wound. What we won't do for a new fishing spot.

[BrianA]

That far beats anything I've encountered to fish the "Secret Spot". No dog bites, just man eating geese, muskrats

w/ small guy syndrome, and a husband & wife who obviously did not communicate about the access agreement.

The husband who was a doctor wanted my itinerary for visits to his pond, the wife couldn't care less only that I kept

my bargain of picking up other's trash and leaving her resident turtles alone. They were older folks, nice and all.

[Jim J]

Jonn, that is a really funny story and I was laughing hard.

 

I understand!

[Gary L]

I hope you bring some dog biscuits with you and make friends with that German Shepard. They are very protective of there property. Good story with a great ending yet to come.

[Jonn Graham]

Hopefully the ending will have nothing to do with a doctor.

[Jim Kast]

Back in the mid 70's during the oil embargo, I took a job at a stable due to the fact that no one could make plastic pipe without oil. DUH! Anyway.... we had to go pick up some feed at another stable. I was warned on the way there about the resident german shepard, and that if "anything" happened just to freeze and I'd be fine. I asked what "anything" meant, and was answered with a chuckle. GREAT... I figured this would end badly for me.

 

I was happy to not see this doggie when we got there and started loading the bags of feed into the back of the truck. A couple of minutes later I felt a slight pressure around my right leg. I looked down and there was the german shepard, with a head as big as a Buick, and my leg completely in it's mouth. I think if I was standing with my legs together it could have easily fit them both in it's mouth!

 

Remembering my warning, and having had encounters with large not so friendly dogs in the past, I froze with a 50lb bag of feed in my arms. I mean really.... where was I gonna go, and I wasn't about to drop the bag on the dog's head and piss him off! Luckily the owner was close by and called the beast off. And even luckier was the fact that it never really bit me, but just let me know that it was there. After letting go of my leg it just went and sat down in the shade of the barn.... watching me!

 

We got done loading the feed, and I prompty went and sat in the truck. I waited in there while the owner was paid. We had a smoke, and a good laugh about it on the way back to our stable. I made sure that whenever we needed to go back there for feed that someone else went with!

[Paul Trybul]

While I did not catch anything last night due to the fact that my smallies have not come that far upstream yet, I am sure there will be smallies there in a few weeks or so.

 

The spawn must be right around the corner for your area Jonn. Do they keep pushing upstream after the spawn?

 

Very entertaining story, I hope you don't get rabies.

[Jonn Graham]

Paul:

 

I do think the spawn is right around the corner. Kinda perplexed why they have made the big move upstream in the creeks yet.

[dcashion]

Speaking as an ex-animal control warden the secret is a couple cans of vienna sausages Besides if you have nothing else along but a few crackers it will take the edge off when you're hungry and the fish are biting and you don't want to leave the water