Guy Has Been Pulling Up My Catfish Noodles.

[MCS]

This pretty much exactly, the legalities are somewhat debatable. If you feel like paying a lawyer a few hundred dollars an hour I'm sure he will explain things to you and maybe even tell you you have a case, but I wouldn't be putting my money on it. The other thing to think about is the right to access something and the right to do whatever you want while there are not the same.

And just because it annoys me, for legal purposes if you own water front property your property line does almost always extend to the center of the body of water. The sole exception in this state is the Great Lakes, where the state owns everything below the high water mark. This does not mean you can rope off your section of the body of water or anything crazy like that, it does mean you can build docks and do similar things. They do not expect anyone to survey out lakes in little pie shapes, about the only way to lose these rights beyond government ownership is to not be considered the waterfront property owner. This is a legal concept that has been around longer than the USA and is fairly well universal from state to state.

And because it annoys me, the above statement is false. Only some cases do a property line extend into the water and still that doesn't dictate ownership of the body of water itself. Many a property line go to MHW (mean high water) or shoreline and it is a false assumption they extend beyond into the body of water. In those cases riparian rights are invoked. Riparian rights and property ownership are two different things, this is where you get lost on most of my posts regarding the subject. Stasher had the best post with demostrating the ownership/access of the body of water, USACE, and the rights the owners had to the water. This is my point, look to the owner of the water for the guidelines on use and access. As it will be owned and maintained by the state, federal or a HOA institution. Many states and jurisdictions allow the construction of docks with a general permit, they also reserve the right to remove or modify such structures if deemed necessary. Now what you have stated holds some truths, but also holds some misinformation and common assumptions. Property law is very complicated and dealing with waterways etc. should best be left to a professional land surveyor. That is why you should seek the legal documents describing the ownership/access as I and Long Mike stated.

[Bassn Blvd]

Not all lakefront properties are the same. MANY developments here in florida have lakefront property. The lakes were dug to make the house pads. Anyway, if the lake is surrounded by homes, then the homeowner does not own out to the middle of the lake. In fact, every home on the lake has an easement which allows any person living on the lake to be able to walk the entire shoreline w/out trespassing. This means I can walk out my back door, walk to the edge of the water and walk along the bank behind as many houses as I want and it's not trespassing. Sure, the homeowners can fence their yard, but the fence can't go to the water's edge. Usually it's several feet from the waters edge up towards your house that is "common" property.

I'm not saying this is true to every development, but it might be wise to check with your HOA, if there is one.