[JimG]

Fish Nassau Bay? New Nassau Bay rafting and anchoring ordinance

New Nassau Bay rafting and anchoring ordinance:

Nassau Bay City Council on Monday voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the waterways ordinance, adding a new section entitled "Rafting, Linking or Joining of Watercraft", prohibiting a vessel or watercraft from rafting or linking together in numbers greater than six anywhere within the territorial limits of the city, and prohibiting rafted vessels from being less than 300 feet from land or less than 100 feet from other vessels rafted together.

The Nassau Bay police are handing out copies of this ordinance to anyone anchored in Nassau Bay, and have asked several single (non-rafted) boats to pull their anchor and move toward the middle of the bay. Just a heads up for anyone who goes back there.

 

[Animal Chris]

That's the great thing about living in NB, houses and cars are getting broken into and robbed in record numbers and they decide that they are better off spending their manpower giving anchored boaters a hard time. Heck, they won't even enforce the no wake zones. IMO the jet skis are a bigger nuisance than the rafters.


BTW, yes, I live in Nassau Bay.

 

[JimG]

I didn't realize a city could govern a navigable waterway...

 

[Animal Chris]

Jim, As best as I can figure, since it's a dead end cove and the property surrounding the inlet in incorporated into Nassau Bay, they are the governing body and can regulate the area as deemed necessary. As I remember, and don't quote me on this, I don't believe there are any marked channels, or designated anchorages, leading back into the area developed with canals. I'll have to go look this afternoon and report.
The one thing I can say from experience is that when the boats raft up, it is usually in an orderly fashion and there are clear lanes for boats to migrate through. If with this ordinance, it may create a situation where there are boats scattered all through the cove. That could create a worse situation.

 

[Hooked]

I'm with you JimG. I didn't think they had the authority either.

 

[SpeckReds]

I am not real happy about this either. I also live in Nassau Bay and we take the kids fishing and tubing in that area. I think someone with a little influence is tired of people anchoring a little too close to their bulkhead. They do not own the water. Can't handle the boats then MOVE> I at some point will make my way over to city hall. I do not think they can make me move on a public waterway. Willing to push the issue. I have had the police come out and ask if we were catching fish before and then tell us to have a nice day. When a little old lady told me that I had to move my boat and I said NO. she called police on me. I have lived here for 10 years without a single issue. Until a few weeks ago when my wife's car was broken into. I am still hunting them. I am close. I will get them. Good thing I didn't catch them in the car. I would have been on the news. I hate a thief.

 

[JimG]

If you read the whole ordinance, it's worded in a way that makes anchoring in Nassau Bay almost impossible. I don't have the document in hand, (I read someone else's copy yesterday), but it prohibits SINGLE VESSELS anchoring within a hundred yards of the shoreline. Also, if any vessels are rafted in the middle of the bay, no other vessels can anchor within a hundred feet. In other words, no one can anchor in the entire bay if boats are legally rafted in the middle, because you are either too close to the anchored vessels or too close to the shoreline.

So, I guess, if you are fishing against the grass shoreline you have to drift or use a trolling motor?

 

[sqwaby]

I have fished and skied in there since the 60s. Never had a problem. As mentioned above I always thought it was a public waterway. That inlet existed before Nassau Bay was built, I relize it has been dredged and widened, but it was still a natural body of water in the beginning. Its just another place that the public is being forced out of , no different than the beach front. SpeckReds let me know if I can be of help when you go to city hall.Pm me

 

[JimG]

At the end of this newsletter, the email addresss of the mayor and city council of Nassau Bay are listed. Let's send an email or two...

www.nassaubay.com/2007_8.pdf

 

[Ckill]

Hearing these stories makes me mad beyond belief. I don't live their but it makes me mad just reading it. Somebody was having fun, somebody else did not like it and made it illegal. I have seen it happen on so many levels and is why I hate living in the city. I can not wait to move back to the country, city council ****** me off.

 

[stargazer]

Hey , Ive skied in there myself in the past and I STILL fish in there every once in a while....Ill drop him a little note also

 

[HSP506]

Boy this is sad news!

That area was my prime spot to take the family to and relax on a Sunday afternoon. It's always policed by the local police department and cost guard without any issues during the times I've been out.

I agree I think there is more of a problem with the jet skis that run up and down that area then us boats that anchor up.

 

[JimG]

Here's the letter I wrote to the mayor and city council...

Honorable Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and City Council,
​

As a longtime boater, and a USCG licensed captain, I was distressed to hear of the recent passage of your rafting ordinance in the waters of Nassau Bay. My wife and I, (forty-somethings), frequent Nassau Bay almost every weekend in the summer in our thirty-six foot cabin cruiser. Many times, we raft up to other forty-somethings. We love Nassau Bay. The water quality there is very unique in its low salinity levels. And, as Nassau Bay residents already know, it's just a nice place to be.
​

This ordinance, as I read it, makes anchoring or rafting in Nassau Bay almost impossible. As a matter of fact, one of my dockmates and his wife (fifty-somethings) were asked to pull their anchor and move yesterday. The vessel was too close to the shoreline, according to the officer. They were not rafted, nor were they playing loud music. They were just having lunch on their boat.
​

It is my sincere hope that the City Council will reconsider this ordinance. If there is behavior on the water that is intolerable, the police should stop it. There are numerous laws that would allow this. Most of the boaters I know would support your efforts one hundred percent.
​

Please don't criminalize us.
​

Mrs. and Captain Jim Guidry
​

Dickinson, Texas
​

 

[trashcanslam]

Since this is a Nassau Bay thread I have to ask a question. I live in South Shore and run up in there when I cruise the boat some afternoons, why doesn't anyone adhere to the no wake signs? the verbage doesn't exactly say "no wake" but if you run a small boat is it okay to stay planed out through there? I take it the signs are for cruisers to keep from throwing 4' wakes, but what about small boats?

 

[stargazer]

Trashcan, I dont think it would be good to run thu there on a plane. With so many homes and folks boats tied up I would not. Years ago one could ski in the (what i call the front part) but up in the canals was always no wake, even if not marked.

Jim G. Good letter, Mine basicly said the same, just asking that they reconsider.

I still dont understand why they had to do that in the first place. All the times I have been in there, I havent seen anything I would consider a problem. Maybe its some of the young folks with the loud stereos, that gather.
Anyway I hope they think about it.

 

[anton]

My step dad is the ex mayor of nassau bay and i havent heard anything about this till yesterday when i was working at three amigos dock and someone told me. Doesnt really make any sense to me if you cant fish the grass and anchor up. Il see what pops says when he gets home