# Industrial park ponds?



## acousticrawk (Feb 24, 2013)

There is a big square pint begin my work that I wouldn't mind fishing on during my lunch breaks. I was told its city owned. It has a fence around it but its been knocked down on one end and the embankment dug out to facilitate in flossing overflow in guessing. 

Do these ponds ever ten to have fish in them? It's a pretty huge pond I'd say the same shape and size as a rugby/soccer field with one end have a small roundish section dug out of it (might be a good spawning area for blues and bass in my mind.) no cover but seems pretty deep. Saw a couple frogs too.


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## acousticrawk (Feb 24, 2013)

Sorry for the typos. iPhone autocorrect FTW!


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## BassBlaster (Jun 8, 2006)

Sounds like a retention pond. Most of them are not designed to hold water all the time. During dry spells they can dry up entirely so they usually dont hold fish. That said, many of them do hold water and hold fish allthough I have never had luck fishing in most of them. The ones with a fence around them are no trespassing and probably posted so be careful fishing there. The ones without fences usually have signs that will inform you of activities that are aloud. Some, you can fish legally, others you cant. I work for the city and cant even get permission to fish in the posted ones.


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## britton1989 (Feb 14, 2010)

Alot of times they are ponds just outside a warehouse for the fire pipes... But alot of times they do hold fish.. And some hold gooduns

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## debard (Nov 9, 2011)

I'd say if there aren't any signs telling you you can't fish there, give it a shot! I've caught lots of :B out of these kinds of retention ponds. You might be surprised!


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## acousticrawk (Feb 24, 2013)

There usually lots of people on 4 wheelers out there. It's def a retention pond. It's fenced but the gates have been removed and an entire section tire out where the dug out the wall. It's def a retention pond. I highly doubt it ever dries up though! It's massive and seems pretty darned deep. Ill vein my rod and a chartreuse feather tail jig tomorrow and see what happens!


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## acousticrawk (Feb 24, 2013)

Brought my rod and a little jig to work about 30 minutes early. Caught a small bass on my third cast. Since I have tons of scrap lying around, I might build some attractors and toss them in. Fish looked healthy and faought pretty hard! I have a new, close to work fishing spot!


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## britton1989 (Feb 14, 2010)

Where is it at i will be the judge if its an easy access point lol jk don't name it

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## acousticrawk (Feb 24, 2013)

It's not easy to access. A very muddy walk. But close to work so I can deal with the mud and talk grass!


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

debard said:


> I'd say if there aren't any signs telling you you can't fish there, give it a shot! I've caught lots of :B out of these kinds of retention ponds. You might be surprised!


Because fences are an invitation? Thats the type of attitude that causes fences to go up. I dont have Keep Out signs on my house, that doesnt mean its a good idea to walk in uninvited. Find out who owns it and ask permission, or dont complain if the police escort you out.


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

M.Magis said:


> Because fences are an invitation? Thats the type of attitude that causes fences to go up. I dont have Keep Out signs on my house, that doesnt mean its a good idea to walk in uninvited. Find out who owns it and ask permission, or dont complain if the police escort you out.


Welcome to the world of urban fishing. We fish on the margins up here in Columbus.


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## Govbarney (Jan 3, 2011)

Deazl666 said:


> Welcome to the world of urban fishing. We fish on the margins up here in Columbus.


I reluctantly agree , when it comes to Urban fishing , its always easier to forgiveness as opposed to permission .


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## Boostedawdfun (Sep 15, 2012)

No one is going to arrest you for simply fishing. Worst case if anything someone might ask you to leave and then apologize and move on. Good luck either way.


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## streamstalker (Jul 8, 2005)

Boostedawdfun said:


> No one is going to arrest you for simply fishing. Worst case if anything someone might ask you to leave and then apologize and move on. Good luck either way.


It is the most likely, but not the _worst_ case that could happen: http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2911.21


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## acousticrawk (Feb 24, 2013)

It's city property and as I said before the fence has a massive gate opening with no actual gate and part of the fence is completely torn out. There are no signs posted and as far as I know, no police can get back to it even because the road is to pitted muddy and impassible to anything but a well built 4x4 (like my lifted cherokee hehe) or an atv or by foot if your willin to get your shoes muddy. Ill just keep fishing it til someone tells me to stop. It's def got some bass in it!


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## guppygill (May 8, 2004)

Boost, you are DEAD wrong. Up here in Akron people are arrested fishing Lake Dorothy and Barberton Reservoir. Every summer someone gets cited.


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## Boostedawdfun (Sep 15, 2012)

My point was "IF" there are not signs posted it should be fine.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

> Up here in Akron people are arrested fishing Lake Dorothy and Barberton Reservoir. Every summer someone gets cited.


 
Raise right hand here.....Lake Dorothy, September 2004 criminal trespassing.

Barberton has no money to patrol the reservoir anymore. Have at it. Just don't leave your car along the road.

By the way. Both reservoirs are posted.


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Lewzer said:


> Raise right hand here.....Lake Dorothy, September 2004 criminal trespassing.
> 
> Barberton has no money to patrol the reservoir anymore. Have at it. Just don't leave your car along the road.
> 
> By the way. Both reservoirs are posted.


What was the penalty, if you don't mind me asking?


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## timmyv (Apr 26, 2006)

acousticrawk said:


> Brought my rod and a little jig to work about 30 minutes early. Caught a small bass on my third cast. Since I have tons of scrap lying around, I might build some attractors and toss them in. Fish looked healthy and faought pretty hard! I have a new, close to work fishing spot!


It sounds like you are trespassing and now you are going to put objects into the water? I don't think it's a good idea. Rather if the fence is down or not it was to keep people out, just my opinion.


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## BassBlaster (Jun 8, 2006)

There are no laws in OH that require a landowner to post thier property to keep you off of it. It is your responsibility to know where you can and can not be. Saying that if its not posted you should be okay is ignorant and is gonna get someone cited.

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## imalt (Apr 17, 2008)

I fish a lot of retention ponds. If there are signs I don't fish them and I don't fish them during business hours. The fence on that one would bother me gate or not. Obviously they put the fence up for a reason. I would rather fish the river or creek but when they get blown out I head for whatever pond I can find. And like has been said I have fished some that I though wouldn't be any good and pulled some big large mouth out of them.


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## guppygill (May 8, 2004)

Ha Ha Lewzer, that sucked. My cousin, he decided to fish Barberton Res, got cited, $120 fine, that was several years ago though.


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## guppygill (May 8, 2004)

Boost, so you are saying since I do have a fence around my yard, but no signs, you can come in my backyard and use my grill  . Hope you invite your buddies, when I come home from work I will join you


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

The lack of morals by some here are rather shocking to me.


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## acousticrawk (Feb 24, 2013)

I talked to a local yesterday, who's has been fishing and even eating fish from this pond for 5 years without a problem. Said some city guys even came by in a truck one time and asked if he caught anything. Is like to ad, after walking around the pond, SEVERAL large sections if the fence have been removed. It's a very large pond. The size of a football field and I was only accessing a small bit if it. The guy I ran into also had a home made wooden dingy he used in the pond. (He was wearing a pfd too!)


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

If a stranger in a wooden dingy said its ok, then it must be ok. You are good to go.


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## Lewzer (Apr 5, 2004)

> What was the penalty, if you don't mind me asking?


I believe it was around $125 fine. I offered the CAA of PPG $250 and free work around the park for a pass. They said no.
Norton needed a few more police cruisers so they were on a ticket binge.
Growing up, I used to sit on the dam with the Norton cops. I was fishing and they were looking for swimmers and hippies.

Magis, Norton and PPG can su$$*()() my morals. Let discuss all the hexavalent chromium and hexachlorobenzene that they dumped into Wolf Creek and the Tuscarawas River.


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## boss302 (Jun 24, 2005)

I don't get the attitude from some of you. Sometimes access is a grey area, the river guys walk that line quite a bit. 

When I was growing up, I spent lots of time in a local quarry. We had to come in a back trail most of the time, sometimes we were asked to leave, often we'd pay a security guy a couple bucks. It was our only local fishing.

No one is coming into your yard or messing with your rights. Sometimes you discover a new spot make an educated choice.

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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Lewzer said:


> Magis, Norton and PPG can su$$*()() my morals. Let discuss all the hexavalent chromium and hexachlorobenzene that they dumped into Wolf Creek and the Tuscarawas River.


I have no idea what you're talking about, but facts are facts. Trespassers are trash in my book. 
And there is no "grey area" here. If the land isn't public, and you don't have permission, you are trespassing. End of story.


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## celtic11 (Jun 30, 2011)

M.Magis said:


> I have no idea what you're talking about, but facts are facts. Trespassers are trash in my book.
> And there is no "grey area" here. If the land isn't public, and you don't have permission, you are trespassing. End of story.


I guess I struggle with this feeling myself sometimes. I have never been one to vandalize or steal anything. Never been arrested for anything, didn't drink alcohol until I was 21 and just generally stayed out of trouble. When it comes to fishing on property that you are unsure of the legalities, I guess I just think if you're tossing the fish back and not in any way damaging the property I don't think its a huge issue myself. I snuck onto a golf course pond at night last summer and had a great time for about half hour and didn't feel guilty at all. Being a golfer as well, I respected the course and made sure I stayed away from the greens, caught a few LM and chucked em back and went on my way. 

I understand prosecuting trespassing from a business standpoint because of liability concerns, but calling me and others "trash" because we do a little fishing while causing absolutely no damage or trouble to anyone sounds a little harsh. I live in a nice neighborhood and get kids walking through my yard all of the time in the summer, guess I should kick that trash of my lawn when I see it.

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## bigticket (Jun 24, 2009)

There absolutely is a grey area. If land changes owners, or is sold but never occupied, or the people/industry that have the rights to it don't care. A perfect example is one of my favorite fishing spots growing up. When we first moved to town and I started fishing it, no one cared at all. It wasn't occupied, and the people in charge of maintaining the area often talked to us and asked how we were doing. A few years later, it got sold to different owners. Nothing about the place changed as far as signage or appearance, but suddenly we got kicked out. Some years after THAT, it got sold again, and suddenly we were allowed to fish it no problem. My point is, sometimes there are misunderstandings and things can be hard to distinguish. It's easy enough to say "don't do it!" but I think we all know that if you are a fisherman struggling to find a spot close to home and something looks promising, if it doesn't directly prohibit you then it can be hard to pass up. The most important thing is to always be respectful and remember that you are somewhere that MIGHT belong to someone who doesn't want you there. If anyone shows up or says anything, explain the situation politely and say you didn't mean any harm and then leave if they ask you too. I was kicked out of a number of places for fishing growing up, but more often than not I was able to have an amicable, friendly conversation with the people asking me to leave. Sometimes, they would even give me permission to come back. One disclosure though, as I think it needs to be distinguished. I am NOT talking about peoples PERSONAL bodies of water. The issue of trespassing to me is very different when comparing a lake that is owned by a developer who doesn't use it for anything and doesn't care, and someone who personally owns a lake as their own private property.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Point taken, trash was the wrong word to describe everyone, and that wasn&#8217;t my intent. Don&#8217;t get me wrong, I went where I wasn&#8217;t supposed to when I was a kid. But to be honest, it just didn&#8217;t seem like a big deal. Since I&#8217;ve grown up, my perspective has changed greatly. My main problem isn&#8217;t someone fishing a pond that they think is probably okay to fish, but unsure (like most everyone here). My problem is those that blatantly say they can fish wherever, whenever they want as long as there&#8217;s no sign up. That&#8217;s wrong. It only takes a phone call or two to track down the owner and ask for permission.


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## bigticket (Jun 24, 2009)

celtic11 said:


> I guess I struggle with this feeling myself sometimes. I have never been one to vandalize or steal anything. Never been arrested for anything, didn't drink alcohol until I was 21 and just generally stayed out of trouble. When it comes to fishing on property that you are unsure of the legalities, I guess I just think if you're tossing the fish back and not in any way damaging the property I don't think its a huge issue myself. I snuck onto a golf course pond at night last summer and had a great time for about half hour and didn't feel guilty at all. Being a golfer as well, I respected the course and made sure I stayed away from the greens, caught a few LM and chucked em back and went on my way.
> 
> I understand prosecuting trespassing from a business standpoint because of liability concerns, but calling me and others "trash" because we do a little fishing while causing absolutely no damage or trouble to anyone sounds a little harsh. I live in a nice neighborhood and get kids walking through my yard all of the time in the summer, guess I should kick that trash of my lawn when I see it.
> 
> posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


Beat me to it, exactly my thoughts. I had so many friends growing up who got in trouble for drinking and vandalism and all other sorts of stupid teenager crap. I never did any of that stuff, and a large part of the reason was that I was too busy fishing. If someone wants to kick me off a pond, that's fine, but as a teenager there were A LOT worse things I could have been doing with my time than C&R fishing.


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Based on what you've told us, it sounds like it's probably okay to fish it. It's not as if you're sneaking into someone's backyard and fishing their pond. Far from it. I do it myself sometimes at one pond in particular, that I know others fish, and I'm always careful about it as you have described. Sometimes it is okay to fish a pond like this, although you're not personally aware that it's okay - if that makes any sense. You're just uneasy about seeking out actual permission from an owner because you're afraid they might deny you, and then you'd lose your hole for certain. I get that.  

M.Magis - Please reserve the "immoral" and "trash" references for those who've earned that description, like murders, rapists, and thieves. You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but there's probably a more nuanced way to put it that's proportional to the infraction being committed by those of us who fish ponds like this.


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## Boostedawdfun (Sep 15, 2012)

guppygill said:


> Boost, so you are saying since I do have a fence around my yard, but no signs, you can come in my backyard and use my grill  . Hope you invite your buddies, when I come home from work I will join you


Yeah you got it. I'm that effing stupid that I'm going on property that is clearly personal property.


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## imalt (Apr 17, 2008)

I guess I am also trash but we are talking about industrial park ponds. I doubt anyone on here would fish a pond that was on someone's homestead marked with signs or not. Not all of us are able to have our own property with a pond so we have to adapt.


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Boostedawdfun said:


> Yeah you got it. I'm that effing stupid that I'm going on property that is clearly personal property.


Boosted is correct; it's clearly it's not the same thing. 

Using the example of an individual [walking into a yard, fishing the pond, using the grill, busting out the suds, getting personal with the farmer's daughters, smoking his grass, etc. without permission] in order to counter the argument that it's more or less okay to fish a pond that the OP describes is a fallacy. 

This is me being a smartass, but here it is...

_Reductio ad absurdum ("reduction to absurdity"), also known as argumentum ad absurdum ("argument from absurdity"), is a common form of argument that seeks to demonstrate that a statement is false by showing that a true, untenable, or absurd result follows from its denial._

When your best friend is a lawyer you get crap like this thrown at you all the time...


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## supercanoe (Jun 12, 2006)

You can justify it any way that you want, but it's very simple. You must have written permission to hunt, fish, or trap on private property. If you don't have it in writing, you are trespassing. I personally wouldn't enjoy hunting or fishing unless it's on property that I have permission to be on. I wouldn't be able to kick back and relax looking over my shoulder, hiding vehicles, or being sneaky.


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## timmyv (Apr 26, 2006)

Bottom line by law if a pond is on private property (reguardless of what kind of private property) and you do not have permission to fish it then you are tresspassing. Justifying that if you never get told to leave does not make it legal. If you speed all the time while driving and never get caught does not mean you aren't breaking the law. I think that's the point folks are trying to make.


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## FishFrenzy89 (May 18, 2009)

supercanoe said:


> If a stranger in a wooden dingy said its ok, then it must be ok. You are good to go.


Lmao heard that..


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## bigticket (Jun 24, 2009)

In Ohio it's also illegal for women to wear patent leather shoes in public. Sometimes there is a difference between "wrong" and "illegal."


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## celtic11 (Jun 30, 2011)

timmyv said:


> Bottom line by law if a pond is on private property (reguardless of what kind of private property) and you do not have permission to fish it then you are tresspassing. Justifying that if you never get told to leave does not make it legal. If you speed all the time while driving and never get caught does not mean you aren't breaking the law. I think that's the point folks are trying to make.


Well that's a bad example. People routinely go 5-10 mph, neglect to use their turn signal and never get ticketed. It involves the same grey area where its pretty acceptable to go 10 over on the interstate, but you do it in the neighborhood where my kids play and we have an issue. 

Yes, its technically against the law to trespass onto private property without signed documentation from the owner. Its also illegal to have my front windows in my vehicle tinted darker than 50% and I've been driving around with 20% for 5 years and I highly doubt I am the only guy on this site with illegally tinted windows. 

Most of us aren't arguing the legalities of it but more the moral aspect. And if the OP or anyone else isn't trashing the land or damaging anything then I have a hard time getting worked up about it.

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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

celtic11 said:


> Well that's a bad example. People routinely go 5-10 mph, neglect to use their turn signal and never get ticketed. It involves the same grey area where its pretty acceptable to go 10 over on the interstate, but you do it in the neighborhood where my kids play and we have an issue.
> 
> Yes, its technically against the law to trespass onto private property without signed documentation from the owner. Its also illegal to have my front windows in my vehicle tinted darker than 50% and I've been driving around with 20% for 5 years and I highly doubt I am the only guy on this site with illegally tinted windows.
> 
> ...


Excellently put.

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