Calavera lake Carlsbad

I tried calling the city of carlsbad about it. After being transfered around to 5 different people i finally got a no. Wasnt very definite but I couldnt get a response from dfg.. You could reach out to carlsbad pd? If you get a response id be interested in printing it out so i can fish there too!

 

Don't believe what you read on the internet. I would start by giving the City of Carlsbad a phone call. Ask for the Parks and Recreation department as they would probably know the answer.

 

That's weird, I fished there last month right off the dam too and no one said anything. Saw plenty of folks just walking and biking on the trails. There is 2 spots to fish from shore. I also talked to 2 guys float tubing it that morning and they have been fishing there regularly. There was lots of trash at one of the spots so let's clean up after yourselves I didn't see any signs that said no fishing. Just be respectful and have fun exploring.

 

yeah, go talk to the older not white guys at anglers tackle by the oceanside harbor, I was down there the other day and he said that he called a couple of agencies to verify it and said it was good to go. He even went float tubing! Wish I could remember his name. There are three guys that work there. Older white guy, and younger asian guy, and this guys I'm talking about. has like a nascar mustache thing going on. Anyway, next time he tell you to go out, tell him to call the cops cause I've even talked to the cops there and they said it's perfectly legal. Same with the DFG warden in this area. Guy with red/orange hair. Lemme know what you find out man!

 

My dad works for parks and rec dept. and he also says it totally legit to fish there. Its the private security payed for by the HOA and they tell them what they want the security to enforce.

 

fish it and clean up after yourselves, if the no fishing sign doesn't have a municipal code or any type of code under it, its not a legal sign.

 

Yeah, I don't wanna come off as one of those guys "if there's water I getta fish it!". But I grew up fishing this lake, and my son learned how to fish on it too. Be clean like indymusky says, clean up after yourself. Every time I fish down there I leave with more line than I came with, lol. And I'm in no way an environmentalist, but I truly value and respect the sport and the memories it makes for everyone. It's a same that the local HOA wants to extends its reach over the lake. The trails around it are protected and treat them as such. Just my two since. I by no means wanna get any body in trouble. I just wanna share the memories.

 

thanks for all the info everyone, its habit for me to clean up whatever trash i see but ill be sure to double up here in the future. ill try calling carlsbad pd and dfg to see if i can get any extra answers but im gonna trust @Xen for now. thanks again everybody tight lines!

 

Think about it this way, even if you do keep fishing there, they can kick you out(legally or not) but you cant be ticketed nor fined.

 

Ask him to cite the code. There is a sign posted but no code number posted. Apparently they are trying to enforce something that is not really illegal. I personally talked to a guy tubing there who I asked (I like to ride my mountain bike over there) if he ever gets harassed. He said he called the pd and said its not illegal as far as they are concerned. Now I don't know if DFG could get you or not. There's no fish in there anyway

 

Chances are no one is going to call any actual law enforcement so I would tell the rent a cop to get bent. Like I said previously, I used to go there A LOT. A friend of mine had one of those little plastic "bass Buggy" boats. We would carry that thing down there with two trolling motors and two batteries. We put the seats back to back and we could maneuver that little thing like nobody's business. Well, one time some Carlsbad PD officers on bikes came down to the shore telling us that we weren't allowed to have motors in the lake. I told them to check the regulations because it was no GAS motors and that electric motors was fine. They said, "Oh, ok well the homeowners said that your motor was making a lot of noise. That is why we're here." I laughed and said, "Ok, listen real close now and we are going to turn both of these trolling motors on high for ya." We did it and they chuckled, told us to have a good day and rode off.

Basically, I wouldn't worry too much about anything down there. As a matter of fact, I'd be willing to bet that if you do get "pinched" the SDfish community could probably pull together 2-3 dollars per interested member to pay your fine! It would be worth that to show the unity!

 

So who wants to go tube calaverA???

 

Back in the 90's (yipers) I used to see folks fishing here with those bass buggies. They said that live shiners tossed in the tulles would get some big *** fish. If you do get pinched I'll donate a dollar. Need to save the rest when I lose some tackle at Hodges.

 

Lots of internet lawyers in this thread.

In this case I do not think it is PD or DFW who decides if you can fish or not. Calling them won't get you any answers. The property owners make that decision. It is my understanding that the land is owned by the City of Carlsbad. If the property owners (Carlsbad) post no fishing signs that means they don't want you fishing. Any property owner can put up any sign they want. If the property owners see you fishing it is likely they would ask you to leave. At that point you must leave or you are trespassing and they can call the cops and have you removed.

So you can argue all you want that it is completely legal to fish Calaveras Lake and you might be right. But that doesn't mean the property owner can't ask you to leave anyway.

In this case the only thing I would try to find out is who is it that is asking you to leave. Is it a representative of the City or the local HOA? If the HOA is harassing people then I would call the City and complain.

 

But the residents don't own the lake or the property it resides on. The property jurisdiction of the homeowners ends at their back fence and their front yard. If it was perfectly legal to fish there and an a-hole resident tried to lie to me or threaten me, that sounds like the means to setup a small SDfish Lake Calavera Fishing Tournament...

 

So on these grounds how would you get into trouble? If the police dept says they don't care, and DFG isn't getting involved then what is their recourse? Even if the HOA decided they didn't want fishing in the lake is that even legal to do? I don't think they own the lake or the land around it so what right do they have? I can post signs saying whatever wherever I want but it doesn't make that the law.

 

Internet lawyers huh? I'm pretty sure that claim was made by ummm....no one.

The consensus here is that the HOA put up the sign. They are NOT the property owners so the sign's presence isn't grounds for dismissal. What it does mean is that fishing there in and of itself shouldn't get you into any trouble.

All I'm saying is that I would be confident enough to fish there and not worry. If I were asked to leave, it would take more than a resident or a rent a cop to get me to comply. I don't know anything about property law but again, I would fish there again if I chose to with little worry of actually getting in any trouble.

Council? Your reply?

 

I agree with you guys, go fishing and have fun. Like the last sentence of my last post says, if the HOA his harassing you then complain to the City of Carlsbad.

Be careful though. Assuming the no fishing sign was put up by an HOA or angry homeowner could get you in trouble. If the property owner did put it up and DFW catches you then they will hit you with a ticket for poaching. Even if the sign was put up by someone else DFW does not know that. They will see you and the sign and give you a ticket. They will not take the time to research who put up the sign.

 

Sounds like an easy fix pull the signs.

 

This doesn't really matter but I'll mention this anyway. I've been fishing 50+ days a year in SD county since the mid 90's. In all that time I've run into DFW twice... just twice. Once was at Hodges 2 or 3 years ago and once was at Calaveras around 1995. I was float tubing when they kicked me out and called my mom to come pick me up. There were no fishing signs posted back then and it was checked by DFW somewhat regularly. I do not know if they still check it.