Finally!! My first Thames River Walleye of 2024!! …. Released!! 😱 lol 🤣 😉 👍🙂

[Brian F]

@Red Hering not surprised that much of the land is private property up to the waters edge. From my understanding however - as long as you are "in the water" and not on the land...then you are not trespassing. I might stand to be corrected but that has been my understanding.

I feel you've nailed it Red when you suggested getting permission from the land owner first. Always a great start when you are respecting other folks property. In 99.9% of the cases they will be more then impressed with you asking permission and might even provide you with a better access point!

Great reports like usual Red and congrats on your first walleye of 2024!

 

[DaveJ]

Red...Im not surprised either. Some water bodies actually have ownership of the bottom..some own to the middle of the creek or river. Lake St.Clair has a lot of ownership extending to the lake bottom. I believe if its a navigable piece of water, you can use it with a boat, canoe, etc but may not be able to anchor or step on the bottom. The Thames..Im not sure.

 

[Wave Runner]

From what understand from the Ontario Trespass Law as long as you don't trespass on private property that is posted "no trespassing" you legally aren't unless the landowner comes and asks you to leave. If you don't then you are trespassing even though it's not posted.

Riparian (Water) Rights

Except in special cases, the Province of Ontario owns land under navigable bodies of water by virtue of the Beds of Navigable Waters Act, R.S.O.
As such, for most waterfront property owners, their land ownership ends at the shoreline except if it's not navigable such as streams.
In Ontario, everyone has the right to travel along every waterway deemed navigable. This right is important as some waterways flow through what would otherwise be private land. Specifically, for landowners whose property contains a waterway that is considered navigable, they should know that the Crown owns the waterway and that the public can use it for transportation or recreation. For the waterway to be considered navigable, the waterway must: (1) be physically capable of being traversed by a boat of some sort (this includes small canoes); (2) be capable of facilitating transportation in relation to a public purpose (commerce, agriculture, recreation, etc.); and (3) run from one point of public access to another, so that trespass on privately-owned land is not needed in order to access the waterway. This means that if you see a person canoeing down a navigable river flowing through your property, that person is not trespassing unless they get out of the river and step onto the land you own.