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Thread: Your thoughts on helping others on the water?

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2002
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    DFW metroplex, TX USA
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    1,164

    Default Your thoughts on helping others on the water?

    There seem to be two camps on this. One camp is extremely helpful to other fly fishers they encounter n the water and another camp keeps their hard-earned knowledge to themselves and expects the others to learn the hard way.

    I'm mostly in the former camp. If I encounter another on the water who asks how's the fishing, I'm perfectly happy to tell him how my fishing day is going and what fly seems to be working for me. If it is a fly I've tied myself and I have enough of them to see me through the day, I offer one or two to him.

    But I'm in the latter camp when it comes to sharing information on what I consider to be a truly secret spot. If I have scouted out a remote stream that worked well for me and did not show evidence of any (or much) fishing traffic, I only share it with close friends - preferably ones visiting from distant states.

    You?

  2. #2
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    Default

    I tend towards the second group. However, if someone comes up to me and flat out asks, most of the time I will help them, to a certain extent. This does not apply to guides or anyone who has been rude or otherwise shown themselves to be unworthy. I will answer direct questions and pass on a tip or two, but I am not out there to offer free guide service to someone who isn't willing to pay attention to their surroundings and learn what they need to learn. I also reserve the right to not tell you exactly what fly I am using if I am catching fish and they are not. I will reply "caddis" or "blue-winged olive" or something to get them in the ballpark. I have been burned too many times to be uniformly and completely generous.

    What I will NOT do is go up to someone who has NOT asked for help and offer "friendly" advice, nor do I take kindly to others who try to do that to me.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
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    NE Gwinnett Co., GA
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    There's a difference between being helpful and revealing secret fishing places. If I encounter you on the river or lake I am more than happy to tell you what is working for me and give you a couple if I have a spare. I also ask other anglers what they are using.
    Want to hear God laugh? Tell him Your plans!!!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
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    Alaska
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    Once took a "friend" to a very good secret spot with the promise he would not bring anyone else in there. The following week I was supposed to return to Prudhoe Bay for two weeks of work. My alternate called and asked if he could work an extra week and have me work three weeks the next trip up, a not uncommon thing. Suddenly I had that week to go back to my secret spot.

    Guess who I found there with three of his buddies! One idiot (me) ruined the tiny little spot... Even the road side guide books have it listed now...

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
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    Lakeland, FL USA
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    I am absolutely in the first camp. I am only too happy to share what I know and share flies that work well for me. I don't consider fishing a competition but a sport to be shared with others, even people I just met or people I may never meet here on FAOL.

    Jim

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Nunica Mi U S A
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    Default

    I have no secret spots. In this part of Michigan every place I have ever fished shows plenty of signs of previous anglers in terms of litter and beaten down bank-side paths. I try to limit help to one or two ideas not because I'm protecting whatever knowledge I have but because that seems to be enough to assimilate while on the stream. I have long since lost count of how many leaders I have reworked while explaining about the use of tippet material. That and a quick explanation of mending will let most beginners who were getting skunked start catching fish. I think the most I have done with strangers was trading a casting lesson in the parking lot for beer from a guy who asked for help assembling the kit he had just bought.
    I can think of few acts more selfish than refusing a vaccination.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Western Washington
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    I am out there on the water to have fun. I know I will not catch all the fish in the river so it does not bother me if others are catching fish as well, I am happy for them. When my guide and I are drifting down the river and we come across another fly fisher(s) who is fishing unguided, we always ask how they are doing. If they answer that they have not been doing very well and I know that we have, both my guide and I will offer suggestions and give the fisher a fly or two so that person can also enjoy his/her time out on the water.

    When I am out on a lake I talk to other fly fishers and ask how they are doing. Many is the time I have rowed over and given them a few flies that were working for me and suggestions on how to fish them.

    Make someone happy some time. It is a great feeling.

    Larry ---sagefisher---

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Mojave Desert CA
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    Default

    IF I'm catching and someone asks me what I'm using I will tell them. I might even tell them how I fish it.
    Mostly I encounter bait or spinner folks where I go. They will say things like, "I tried that once." Or "I've always wanted to learn..."
    I had a secret spot once, too. It was on a very hard to get to stretch of the crick and produced very well every time I crawled to it. Then I was talking to a acquaintance of mine who was a district Judge, he wanted to fish this crick and asked if I knew of any hot spots. I made the mistake of telling him. I even drew him a little map. Now there's a well worn path to the spot, the foliage has been hacked away and I haven't caught a fish out of there in 3 seasons. That was the last spot I've shared with anyone.
    I'm either going to, coming from or thinking about fishing. Jim

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
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    8 miles outside Rolla, MO
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    Here it is pretty much like rainbowchaser described, there are no secret spots. Every stretch of water I fish in Missouri is listed on a map in state publications. They also have the well worn trails. There might be a couple that lack the trails but there's a reason for it. Fish are few, far between, they are very, very difficult to get to and what fish are there need to be left alone. They have enough to contend with just to survive without an angler adding to there challanges. When meeting another angler, which really isn't very often, I enjoy a good conversation. Suprisingly out of the few encounters not many have asked what I'm using. The inevitible "how ya doin'" is asked but rarely what one is using. I don't ask it either, mostly I don't care. I fish exclusively bamboo and silk and more often than not the conversation quickly turns to the rod and line. I guess it's an uninteded distraction....lol! Might be something to consider! If I had a "secret spot" I doubt I would share it but info on flys and technique...sure, why not.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Location
    Ashburn, Virginia
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    Default

    More than happy to share flies and info on flies/hatches; general stream info on popular, well known waters, too. Little blue lines (actually one's a pretty big blue line but it's a bit of a drive from here or there) that I've come across I'll mention to people I know and trust; any "secret spot" that someone has shared with me I won't talk about or fish with anyone else.

    Regards,
    Scott

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