Thought anyone that knows about the cutoff might find this interesting. Anglers get OK to fish ‘Cutoff’By Michael V. HanniganThis is one fishing hole that didn’t get away.According to a letter released by the Texas General Land Office last week, the area of the Trinity River just south of Trinidad called "The Cutoff" is still a state-owned stream.That’s great news for area anglers who have been fishing The Cutoff since before World War II.A question regarding the ownership of the area came up late last year, according to Cpt. Gary W. Dugan, a game warden in Region 3 which includes Henderson County.Dugan said a game warden saw an angler in The Cutoff and asked the area’s new landowner if he had given anyone permission to fish The Cutoff. The new landowner said no, so the game warden issued a citation. The citation, and others like it, prompted complaints from anglers questioning the ownership of The Cutoff, so Region 3 asked the General Land Office for an opinion.In a letter dated Jan. 24, Mark J. Neugebauer explained that The Cutoff came into being in the 1920s or 1930s when a new channel was dredged for the Trinity River. The Cutoff is the original channel which retains water even though it is separated from the flow of the river by a levee system.Neugebauer wrote that the levee system is maintained by the Henderson County Levee District No. 3."According to the records of this office, the original patented land grant surveys honor the meanders of The Cutoff portion of the Trinity River," Neugebauer wrote. "The State has not relinquished its rights and ownership to the original bed (Cutoff) of the Trinity River. Therefore, The Cutoff portion of the Trinity River remains a State-owned, statutory navigable stream."While that means anglers have access to The Cutoff, it doesn’t mean that they can cross private property to get to the water."They still have to put in at the roadway where there’s public access," Dugan said.Dugan said none of the citations for fishing in The Cutoff were filed.