Rules for the River

[Uncle Jesse]

One of the guys on a local BB posted this, I thought it was worth sharing with my other friends as well. This is pretty well thought out and would seem to apply in most situations.
http://www.uky.edu/~agrdanny/flyfish/rules.htm

[Kerry Stratton]

"If you're working your way downstream and come across someone working upstream, yield to the angler working upstream. This is an old rule from the time of Hewitt and Gordon."
Unless you are swinging for steelhead then the opposite is true; everything is going down stream.

"Cellular phones, beepers, radios and television have no place on the river."
I respectfully disagree and carry my phone at all times while on the river. I consider it another safety item. It isn't the cell phone that is the issue here it is how the cell phone is used that should be considered.

[NewTyer 1]

Most cell phones today have stuff like GPS and phone location to aid in rescue but still don't compare to having a real GPS. In most casing like this weekend, me and my fishing buddy were out of phone service range in Rattle snake country so the phone would have been useless. The only thing we could have done is mark the location on the GPS, have him sit in the shade with plenty of water and have me run down the stream to get help. Scary situation but, easily avoided with the help of a MIFI.

[Uncle Jesse]

You reminded me to go find my small waterproof case for my cellphone. My ring is 3 vibrations and then crickets. There was a guy enjoying the cool water yesterday on his inflatable yak with he I-pod blaring and yakking on his phone at the ramp. It was not a pristine wilderness setting but somewhat annoying anyway. I have used my cell phone to help out rental yak users a few times when they had trouble with their craft and needed to be picked up mid trip.

The question that came to my mind about the upstream-downstream thing was "Won't you both be fishing each others used water?"

[LadyFisher]

Some time ago I wrote this for the folks new to fly fishing: http://www.flyanglersonline.com/begin/101/part20.php
There is a link to another one in that article, something about born in a barn?

[redietz]

"If you're working your way downstream and come across someone working upstream, yield to the angler working upstream. This is an old rule from the time of Hewitt and Gordon."
Unless you are swinging for steelhead then the opposite is true; everything is going down stream.

But so is everybody, so it's a non-issue. On a trout stream, though, downstream yields to up is the rule.

"Cellular phones, beepers, radios and television have no place on the river."

I respectfully disagree and carry my phone at all times while on the river. I consider it another safety item. It isn't the cell phone that is the issue here it is how the cell phone is used that should be considered.

Not just safety. Many fishers in my area have the REPORT-A-POACHER number on their cell phone, and use it.

[Kerry Stratton]

But so is everybody, so it's a non-issue. On a trout stream, though, downstream yields to up is the rule.

Not always. I have run into nymphers that work upstream. Not sure why they were working upriver but they were.

[branhap]

Not always. I have run into nymphers that work upstream. Not sure why they were working upriver but they were.

I normally work upriver when I'm nymphing. When using an indicator, once the fly is downstream of you, the fly tends to go along faster than the indicator, thus your indicator won't pause or dunk when a fish takes the nymph, since the pause of the fish take, creates slack in the line rather than pulling on the indicator.

[redietz]

I normally work upriver when I'm nymphing. When using an indicator, once the fly is downstream of you, the fly tends to go along faster than the indicator, thus your indicator won't pause or dunk when a fish takes the nymph, since the pause of the fish take, creates slack in the line rather than pulling on the indicator.

I think he's talking about in steelhead streams where the accepted rule of etiquette is to work downstream, and keep moving.

I agree that nymphing upstream is more effective than downstream. And in a trout stream, where people fish in both directions, that person has the right of way. In the specific case that he's talking about, however, the upstream fisher is definitely buckling traffic.

[bobbyg]

Old school here. I don't care what type fly you're wielding, downstreamer yields to man fishing upstream.

And so sayeth, insert fly fishing legend here.