The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

Just curious, but does the same hold true for river access via a railroad bridge crossing over a river in MT? I found myself stepping out of a river and taking a railroad access down a quarter mile or so to avoid the skeeters in the willows. When I got to the slough again there were "private property" and "no fishing and hunting" signs posted along with hung on barbed wire and connected to the bridge. Respecting the property rights and not wishing for a confrontation, I turned back. I have yet to catch a fish while standing on a railroad tie.

The decision that finally came down this spring was in reference to bridges for county roadways. I don't think this applies to railroad right of ways but I am not positive about that. The whole water access rights gets pretty confusing as each state is a little different, Montana being one of the most liberal. For example, you can walk across private property to access a river if it is not fenced and there are no "No Trespassing" signs or posts that are marked with at least 20" of orange paint on a post of a gate. I will give you another example. Let's say you are hiking up a river. You have every right the walk on the land of private property unless they have posted no trespassing. At that point you would have to enter the water. The problem I am getting at is that more and more people are posting the signs to keep people off their porperty just because of the increased numbers of people. All of this is really starting to piss off the people that have fished these areas for years.

Anyway, I will try to find the decision and post it.

Here is a link the an explaination of the bridge access law.

http://www.../Dohertybridgeaccess.htm