It seems like an appropriate time to ask this considering one of this weeks topics…I’ve wondered the proper etiquette in this situation?
It’s early morning and you have drifted down a steelhead river to a hole you know is a good one. There turns out to be a camp on the river bank of that hole.
No one in camp is up yet. Is it OK for three of you to get out and fish that hole?
sure i’d do it. and if anyone came out and started yelling, jump in the boat and haul a** 
if they don’t own a peice of the river and it is not posted i’d say fish on
If we apply the golden rule to this situation, the answer would have to be “no”.
Best,
Black Gnat
I would have to agree with Black Gnat.
Erik
I think the answer depends on how much good water there is on the stream. If there are miles of fishable water on the stream it would be courteous to pass that hole by. On many of our local rivers with a limited amount of water open to steelhead runs it seems unfair for anyone to claim a hole for their exclusive use because they are camped there or own property on the bank. In that case I would fish any water that someone else was not actively fishing (exception, I have skirted around a hole when a fisherman on the bank says he is resting the hole. I’d probably fish it anyway if he were claiming that from his picnic table. Again I don’t think anyone should be able to hog a location that way.
i would say to fish it may not be the best thing to do but they would never know 
and the early bird catches the fish :lol: :lol:
Absolutely not
Poor form
I would not get out of a boat and fish someone else’s campsite. Now, if I were drift-fishing, I would consider fishing it from the boat as I went through if it was a place that looked to hold fish. Sleeping anglers don’t count as “being there first” in my book. LOL They might be there for DAYS. You’ve got to apply some common sense. In that vein, if the campsite is visible from the stream, but far enough away that I don’t feel like I’m invading their space, then I would be even more likely to fish it. If it’s a public campground with mutliple campsites occupied, I’d be more likely to fish it. I always try to put myself in the other person’s boots and treat them like I would want to be treated. Use good judgment born of asking yourself what is kind/respectful, not what you can get by with. Approach things that way, and you’re in good shape.
I’m sorry maybe I am boorish, but a campsite of sleeping anglers in no way "own’ the water adjacent to their camp any more than any other stretch. I am up and at it while they are still in dreamland. I would figure that we will be on our way and the hole well rested long before they get around to fishing. As long as I don’t trespass on their property I feel perfectly within my rights, and ethics.
Ducksterman,Ducksterman,Ducksterman. 
Is this a case of “post action ethical musings”?
(you should have seen the sarcastic kidding that I had written but deleted cause
didnt want to be mistaken)(it was pretty good). :lol:
Id fish and go.
Perchie, Perchie, Perchie,
I wish you would have
BTW…I didn’t say if I was sleeping , fishing, or just kept going :shock:
depends on the situation if I was invading their campsite no I would keep drifting, If its a big river like the missouri size or something that big I would fish it from the other bank. if its a small river I would keep on floating
This was a cherished hole by steelheaders familiar with the river 8)
Help me out here - I’m not a steelheader…
Assuming the situation in question has nothing to do with private land, what does someone’s choice of camp sites have do to with the ethics of someone else fishing vacant water? (again assuming you don’t have to go through their camp to get there)
ducksterman,
If the campers feel the need to sleep in then they have a right to do that and when they hear you hootin and hollerin with a fish on then YOU could be their alarm clock!
Each year some of us head off to a somewhat famous steelhead river for a week of camping and fishing. The group can be as many as 12 or as few as 2. We always camp at the same spot on the river which has some of the best steelhead holding water for several miles of river in both directions. Every day fishermen stop and fish this section and why not; it is the best water. Sometimes people will fish the water before anyone in camp does. It doesn’t happen often because one of the reason we camp here is to be first on the water and with 10 or 12 guys in camp someone is always up at first light. I have seen some of the out of camp folks that get to the water first catch a fish but more times then not they fish and someone from the camp catches a fish behind them. This scenerio can play out all day long with camp folks catching fish and others catching fish. It doesn’t matter, we are all there to fish, enjoy the outdoors and the company. Catching fish is the gravy. Meeting other fishermen that come through is always good. Our camp always has coffee, water or perhaps a beer and a sandwich if you wish to stop and talk. There is no reason to get upset because someone is fishing. Wish them well, offer encouragement and perhaps a fly or a tip about where in the run the fish like to hold. Watch, perhaps you will learn something.
So the premise is … pitching a tent besides a river gives you the right to that section of the river. That gives rise to the question why not just get a group of guys together and pitch many tents all the way along the river thus saving all the good spots for you and your buddies. Heck you could even take along a couple of extra tents on a really long stream to cover any extra spots you might like to fish.
No one will know whether or not you are actually in the tent sleeping or are already somewhere else out on the river. You could be at another good spot, having already hit the one beside your camp.
A honey hole may be only productive during the very early dawn, do we let that time slip by just because some bozos drank too much the night before?
How do we know that they are fishermen in the first place, they may be a bible study group out on a weekend in gods great outdoors.
I fish with about 35-40 guys on the long weekends , By the third day of the holiday out of all of us I am usually the only one of us still fishing.
Nope if sleeping in a tent beside a river gives you rights to that spot you lose that right when you sleep in.
Thats the rule , I have spoken. :lol:
WOW! That was awesome!
We don’t have Steelhead down here, but I’ve always heard that steelheaders were Hard Core. If the people that belonged with the tent were still asleep, then isn’t that a case for them not being steelehaders at all and just being campers?
In my case it doesn’t really matter because I’d end up perforating their tent with my errant casts and thus I would have to abstain from fishing that hole. Fishing the unused hole sounds OK. Miss Manners tells me that yanking the tent off of sleeping campers is a social no-no.
Ed
Pull into camp and make em breakfast im sure they would appreciate it.