256 Commercial Aspects of Sport Fishing 



ment, to be sold to a new party at any time such a sale is agreeable to 

 the other owners. Group owners are usually incorporated for their own 

 protection against individual law suit. 



Sportsmen's clubs are frequently organized in a similar manner. Low- 

 cost membership among a large group usually will not furnish sufficient 

 income for lake construction, but incorporated sportsmen's clubs may 

 solicit donations or engage in money-raising activities to obtain money for 

 a "building fund" to be used for building lakes, club houses, and other 

 facilities. Ownership of these lakes and physical plants resides in the 

 sportsmen's club organization. 



Sometimes these sportsmen's groups may purchase an abandoned gravel 

 pit, a flooded quarry, or stripmine, instead of building an impoundment. 

 Usually these properties increase in value because of the increasing de- 

 mand for recreational real estate. 



The legal aspects of corporation ownership of lake property make it 

 imperative that legal advice be obtained by any group contemplating the 

 construction or purchase of a pond or lake. 



Trespass-rights Fishing 



Owners of ponds or lakes retaining control of their waters who wish at 

 the same time to receive an income from them, may for a fee give right 

 of trespass of the surrounding lands to a limited number of individuals on 

 an individual basis for one or more years. When permission is granted, 

 the owner may specify that certain rules and regulations must be fol- 

 lowed by the users with the penalty stipulation that should the rules be 

 broken, the lessee loses his right of trespass without the return of his 

 original payment. 



Experience has shown that where such "trespass leases" are available 

 within reasonable driving distance of urban centers, owners of waters 

 managed to produce angling at an average rate of one or more fish per 

 man-hour, can often make a larger net cash return from an acre of such 

 water than from an acre of productive farm land given over to row crops. 



Rules for trespass -fishing lakes usually specify that anyone who fishes 

 must fill out a creel card each time that he terminates a fishing period. 

 At the end of the fishing season a tabulation of the creel cards will furnish 

 the lake owner with the total annual fish yield in kinds, numbers, and 

 pounds, and also the rate of catch in number and pounds of fish per 

 man-hour. These records are of interest to those who fish because they 

 indicate whether or not the anglers are receiving a satisfactory return 

 for their money. 



This type of operation has another advantage in that the lake owner is 

 able to select only fishermen who are entirely dependable and honest. 



