"Personal Space" and "fishing etiquette"

[sm2k]

Ladyfisher, I wasn't talking about using the stream as a "path". The way I fish, and the way a lot of people I observe fish, means being in the water a lot of the time, but not trampling around. It's about moving very slowly, covering a lot of water in a very long period of time. It wouldn't make sense to wade out, cast a bit, wade back to shore, walk upstream five feet, wade back out, etc. It depends a bit on the river itself how much time is spent on the shoreline vs in the water itself.

Regardless, my point was that to me, fishing is about fishing a stretch of river, not high-tailing to each "hole." The person who only fishes holes is passing up a lot of fish and a lot opportunities to learn.

When I approach a river and see another fly fisherman a bit downstream, I assume that where I'm standing is where he's eventually going to be. So I walk quite a ways upstream. This means that if I approach a stretch with several fisherman already in the water, I'm probably going to find a different place to fish. There's less free space around here than there used to be, but with persistance it can be found. I have never jumped ahead of another fisherman, or started fishing within maybe 800-1000 feet of another guy with a fly rod unless it's my fishing partner (I prefer being alone though).

[LadyFisher]

sm2k, I wasn't referring to you.

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LadyFisher, Publisher of
FAOL

[MNFisher]

I've hunted and fished for several decades. I've seen rude behavior in both sports for as long as I've participated in them. (The duck "hunter" who set up 20 yards down wind of my 200+ decoy spread, or the "fisherman" who cast a jig in my boat and hooked my buddy trying to get close to the spot we were pulling fish from, for example). I think they boil down to 2 types: (1) those that don't know any better, and (2) those that are just plain rude, obnoxious and don't care.

Group 1 presents opportunities to be an ambassador for the sport. Those in group 2 aren't worth wasting my limited recreational time on......

[nighthawk]

On a lot of the small streams here in the Appalachian Mountains there are rapids and falls between the "holes" that one really doesn't want to tangle with. I am not saying that they cannot be fished but one must use caution when doing so. This tends to concentrate fishers at the "holes" and can produce encounters with rude people. I fish holes and the stream in between them. I do not ever encroach upon the space of a fellow fisher no matter what type of fishing they are doing. I also ask if it's o.k. if I fish above or below them. If there is a problem I just move to a different stream or spot on the lake. I do report intoxicated and/or rude boaters. I have yet to see a W.C.O. that refuses to deal with these types. The law is the law just like being rude is being rude. I make no excuses for those that break the law or are rude. Both need to be taught a lesson.

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Eric "nighthawk"

American veteran and proud of it!




[This message has been edited by nighthawk (edited 26 June 2006).]

[Gigmaster]

I need people to stay away from me when flyfishing purely for safety reasons. The way I cast, if someone gets within 50 yards of me, they're taking thier life into thier own hands. If I don't hook them, they will probably have a permanent hearing loss from the concussion of my flies and line hitting the water. Also, there is a danger of them being washed downstream from the water displacement of my casts and mending, I've been known to raise a 4 ft. wake. Surfers used to follow me around and wait for me to cast!

Last time I was fly fishing on the Fla. coast, the Navy asked me to stop because there was a submarine and several destroyers a mile or two off the coast having exercises and my casting was interfereing with thier SONAR!

Semper Fi!