BASS prohibition to provike change to water-access policy

Although this tract of tidal water is marked as private, Louisiana landowners are not required to post their property. Anglers like Bobby Gros have no idea whether they're crossing unseen boundaries from public to private water. (Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

 

The Louisiana Office of Tourism really needs to look at some new slogans for ads aired in other states hoping to attract tourists and their fat wallets here. Clearly, "Louisiana: the Sportsman's Paradise" no longer applies.

Here are some suggestions:

"Louisiana: Fish here, and get a ticket suitable for framing."

"Louisiana: Liberal limits for landowners."

"Fish Louisiana: Have you ever seen the inside of a jail cell?"

OK, so maybe those wouldn't draw the masses to the Bayou State, but at least they'd be honest.

Local anglers have been dealing with the state's absurd laws that allow "landowners" to claim as private all tidal and flowing waters that come and go adjacent to their property. It's the stupidest policy that has ever existed in the history of the greatest country the planet has ever seen.

But now the word is getting out, and it's giving the state two black eyes, a bloody lip and a split forehead in the view of national anglers. The Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, the largest professional fishing organization in the world, announced Thursday it would prohibit competitors at a major tournament on the Sabine River in 2018 from fishing Louisiana waters because virtually everything along our state's coast and off its rivers is private.

Read the rest at the NOLA Times.