Evening hatch (30-45 min of daylight left) on the St.Joe river in Idaho in July. My fishing buddy his son and I pull off and park directly next to our chosen hole to fish for the last bit of daylight. No one was on the water, but in a turn out 200+ yards up stream there was a truck parked with three anglers standing around it looking like they had finished for the day.
My buddy and his son got out and fished the run right at the spot we parked. I headed a few hundred yards down stream. I fished my way down river seeing no one at all catching a few.
Upon my return to the truck, I see that my buddy and his son were bracketed my the three fisheren from the truck upstream. They were so close in fact that their lines were crossing occaisionally. They had wadded directly to the spot my buddy and his son were fishing and and fished right next to them right up untill dark. They could have fished numerious spots upriver where there was no one for at least a mile.
My question is this:
Should we have walked up the road the 200+ yards to ask them if they were going to fish the hole directly next to our truck?
And:
How far from another angler’s vehicle should I park and fish.
My buddy and his son caught many cutts and had a great evening dispite the other anglers. I caught a few but had a nice time with no one else fishing in sight.
It seemed the other anglers(although they said nothing)total goal was make us mad or to chase us out of the run.
From just the events as you have stated them, I would say the cretins from upstream, who fished downstream and invaded your friends were boorish thugs. Odd to see this happen with those who fly fish. Usually with the appreciation of fly fishing comes a considerate attitude for others as well. I would offer they were not fly fishers, but rather ‘those who fish with flies,’ at least for now. Perhaps there will be improvement with time.
Can’t say that I have run into exactly this situation, and I don’t have a clue about how big the St. Joe is and what it is like where you were fishing. Having said that, 200 yards on a smaller river is not all that far, especially for two groups of three. I probably would have driven up to where these guys were parked and asked if they were getting started or finishing up.
If they were getting started, I would have asked them which way they were headed - upstream or down. Since they were standing around looking like they had finished, I’m assuming they were in full gear and would consider them on the water first. So I would give them right of way in the direction they wanted to go. ( That would also help answer the question how far away you should park. )
Then I would go the other way, and expect them to respect the water I chose to fish.
I have to agree darn near 100% with John Scott on this one SGC. Had I driven up and not seen them, that would change things, but driving up and seeing them in gear standing around doesn’t exactly say they’re done.
At that point I’d either leave and find another pullout or wait respectfully to see what their plan was since they were there first. You mention etiquette and I may have even walked their way and said hello, asking also which way they were going so I could go the other way. That is if for some reason I felt I just had to fish there, otherwise as mentioned I’d just move on, allowing them the privacy that they came for, same as me.
I guess I read it as two separate and distinct turn-outs. The other guys were two-hundred feet upstream in one of their own. Since I would have had my own turn-out I would not have welcomed the guys coming down stream from theirs to fish in front of where I parked in my turn-out.
The way I read it…
-200 yards is quite a distance & why did the others pull off 200 yards from where they wanted to fish…keep in mind scg pulled into an unoccupied spot, so they could have parked there prior to scg showing up.
-WHY would 3 people wade 200 yards DOWNSTREAM. I certainly would have assumed they were fishing either where they parked or wading upstream.
I pride myself on etiquette & I would think the breach was with the folks wading downstream into others already in the water.
Just my opinion & I defer to those more knowledgeable than I.
Mike
Don’t mean to be argumentative, but I would like to make a couple points.
Different folks have different approaches to how they will fish a river like this, and the same person might take different approaches to the same water depending on the situation and how they feel on a given day.
Some will want to park at the lower end of the stretch they plan to fish and fish upstream. Some will want to park at the upper end of the stretch they plan to fish, walk downstream and then fish back to their access. Some will park at the upper end of where they want to fish and fish downstream.
The St. Joe, as I understand it, has MILES of water to fish and is generally not crowded. Two hundred yards is nothing on a river like that. ( SGC indicates he walked downstream several hundred yards and encountered no one. Also, he reports that the other group could have fished upstream for a mile and seen no one. ) This point may have a “regional” aspect to it - if you aren’t used to having miles of water to yourself, it may be hard to relate to feeling crowded at 200 yards.
As suggested above, some folks like to fish downstream to the water below them regardless of the way they are fishing - dries, nymphs, wets, streamers. Just because one generally likes to fish upstream, one shouldn’t assume that others also want to do that.
That is where the talking comes in - get it clear and get it commited and the chances of a situation like this developing are quite remote.
John
P.S. JC - I don’t think of pullouts as defining stretches of water that one is permitted to fish or limiting the water one can fish from a given pullout. Am I missing something here ??
John,
Your point of the “regional” aspect is a good one that I had not considered. Here in Ohio, we are either seeing NO other fishermen or women, or we may be fishing within 200 yards, which seems to be more than adequate room. This is especially true when steelhead fishing.
Mike
I posted not too long ago about a lady that intentionally moved upstream to (try) to get me to not take a spot her (friend) was using…after he went downstream. She was very rude about it. There were three of them at this run and they thought they owned the spot.
Funny thing is, we fished that same run last weekend with no less than 7 people and no one tried to block anyone. Actually we switched up a good bit between all of us.
Hereabouts, 200 yards is quite a distance on most streams. Far enough to feel you ain’t crowding a fella. My son and I have encountered lots of other anglers on our local streams, and we use the rule of thumb of giving them at least 100 yards up and down stream. We’ve been crowded, and worse, have had some nasty encounters with the cretins and thugs JC mentioned. I fish to enjoy… If my mellow vibe gets harshed by some knothead, I usually just give 'em the hole, or maybe the whole run. I’m too old, and have too little time streamside to let the cretins get me stirred up (most of the time).
I do have my moments, but life’s too short, and the crick runs all the way to the ocean…ModocDan
Yes we could have driven up to the three fishermen (and their barking and growling dog) and asked them if it was ok to fish down stream from them. Looking back, maby we should have.
But like I said, 30 or 40 minutes of day light was about all that was left, they could have easily fished multiple holes during that time instead of crowding out my buddy and his 11 yr old son. Their dog was also a minor menace, but that is not the issue at hand.
Even if we got to “their” hole first without their consent, does that make it right that they try and ruin our evening? By the way, they said nothing to my friend and his son, they even walked past us afterwards on the road and said nothing at all.
I will often plan on reaching a certain place up or down stream from where I start fishing at or near dusk. It may have been their intention from the start to enter the water at their vehicle and fish down to the next turnout. Of course if it was me and someone parked at the lower access before I started out I’d either fish upstream or if there was nio good water upstream I’d grumble a lot and move. The ones that really **** me off are the type who literally run past a wading fisherman working up a run and then jump into the hole at the head of it. I usually give the hole the elephant stomp as I go through them.
I generally enjoy solitude, except for the pals I’m fishing with. I too use the “If you see another fisherman…” rule. I’ll walk miles to be alone and IF i see another fisherman at the end of my walk, I assume HE/SHE had the SAME idea so I walk on and on and…
This personal preference works ONLY in remote, less popoulated areas . Probably wouldn’t work in Cleveland.
There ARE a few areas here where we can hike a ways to get totally away from others, but not very often due to private property/access/safety of vehicle & contents.
Mike
