Etiquette

[reservoir_dog]

How much room do you give other fishermen/women when you encounter them out on the water? Do you try engaging in polite conversation if you are close enough? What are your expectations of others while fishing?

I had an experience this past weekend that kinda bugged me. My son and I were in float tubes fishing the shore side of some bushes and trees. Up rolled an older gentleman with a teenage daughter/granddaughter, in an aluminum boat. They decided that they should fish right on the other side of the bush from us and make lots of noise by banging things around in the boat. They did not say a word, no "Hi, hows it going" nothing. I thought this to be very rude, as there weren't any other people fishing in this area and plenty of other structure to fish around.

My hope is, if enough people share their expectations, then many of the lurkers who read this will behave more politely when we encounter them at our favorite fishing spots.
[signature]

[kochanut]

for myself personally if they are within a normal voice level conversation range, they are to close.

if i am fishing a lake and i see someone fishing a spot i would like to try, i go else where. if am fishing a river and come to a beat i would like to give a few casts to i ask first, and also inform them i am only making a dozen casts or so and then moving on. ive had people ask me right back if i could not fish below/above them because they are working in that direction. at that i point i say good luck and move on.

if someone crowds me on a lake ill make it a point to let them know, polietly of course, that they are in my casting range and to close. if they dont move i have been known to ose my temper and tounge at times, and no good ever comes of that.

if someone crowds me on a river same thing applies.

edit... i guess its best to always take the high road and be a bigger man. i saw a picture recently, it said soemthing like this:

The Church of Latter Day Bro;
Dance
grow things
try not to be a di&#
[signature]

[FishingRookie]

This past week I had quite a few experiences with good and bad. Etiquette on the river. I was fly fishing with a friend and we were on a busy stretch of river so of course we ended up walking up on a few people and had many people walk up on us.

The good: As a few guys got within about 100 feet of us they both reeled in their flies and then asked if they could pass behind us or if we were working on a fish. I told them it didn't matter if they walked right through the seam I was working it probably would not effect my fishing! They politely walked behind us and moved on to the next run and began fishing again.

The bad: same river, same day. We literally had a guy work so close to us that he was fishing the same seam and at times his fly line would almost cross ours! He never said anything until I politely asked if he had caught anything and he said no and moved on...

As a general rule of thumb I always try to avoid getting in anyone's way and move on to better runs...unless I'm there first!
[signature]

[idahoron]

When I am in my toon or tube that one thing that really pi$$es me off is a guy trolling so close to me that I am in danger of his gear hooking my boat and sinking me. I have asked guys to give me a break several times.

Second is people that can't load or unload their boats in a decent amount of time. I had one guy unload a boat and then start to tare the motor apart to get it to run, ON THE FREEKIN LAUNCH!!!!!

Third, guys fishing on the docks as your trying to launch or load. They can,t wait to let you get your work done?
or the guy that is fly fishing on the dock and popping his flys next to your ear as you launching a boat. I love that[bob]

Ron
[signature]

[Bmarsh]

For me it depends on the water as to what is acceptable. If I am on a small stream ill avoid people by a 100 yards or more. People that fish those areas are looking for seclusion as am I. On busy popular place like the Sf. If I'm on a riffles then I've been known to give a lashing at guys that come float over where I am throwing. But I try to give people space up there. Then there is bank fishing at Henrys.....close enough to joke n laugh and I don't mind it. Part of going up there.
[signature]

[monkeee2002]

I had a guy & his teenage son circle me while I was in my float tube. I was fishing in a very small cove. I could almost cast from bank to bank, it was that small (and I suck at casting!). Here comes this jerk, tossing poppers into the brush while he trolled in a circle around me, like I was a log floating in the water.
[signature]

[bytebull]

I think I told you guys about this before..

There is a creek on Arkabutla Lake that I like to fish in early spring but you have to navigate up through some very shallow spots and sometimes can't even make it up to the open area in the creek where the big bass are that time of year.

It's not well know so if you go up in there you either worked hard to find it or someone in the "know" told you about it.

I had worked my boat up in there one morning (took about a hour to get to the spot and at times I had to use a paddle and push the boat of the bottom for 10 minutes to get on past some spots.

Ok now you know how hard I worked to get to the honey hole.

About a hour later I see a guy coming round the creek bend doing the same I did so he had been working a hour at least too.

He saw me after got clear and was in the the open water I had already fished and stared at me for what seemed like forever but was actually just a few minutes.

What does he do? He don't speak to me and ask hey ya mind if I hang out and we catch some? or anything ... no conversation. He does this.

Cranks up his big motor and guns his boat towards me leaving a rooster tail 20 foot high and then circles and heads out of the creek.

HE KNEW IT WOULD DESTROY THE BASS FISHING THERE.

Now that's an *sshole for ya. I fished for about a hour longer though without a strike and that's the spot I caught the largest bass I've ever caught in life. I had been catching 1lb to 3lb every 5 minutes until he did that.

Wanna talk about rude, unsportsmanship? Never saw the guy before that day and never again. Thank goodness I never saw him again or at the boat dock because that would have been one day I would got my *ss whooped or whooped someones *ss...

.......
[signature]

[bytebull]

I have to tell you a good experience too in all fairness.

Once I when I was a teenager I took my dads boat and was trying to launch it alone (which sucks when you're a noob) and this older bass fisherman yells, " hey kid stop stop!"

So I stop the truck and the guy says you are deep enough let me get your boat over to the dock. So I said cool.

He got the boat off and tied it off at the dock while I parked the jeep.

Then he says how old are you kid? I said 17.

He laughed and said and you own a boat like that? I told him my dad fished in B.A.S.S. and I took his boat and was gonna fish today.

Guess what he said. He said Can I go out with you today and bass fish? I won't even have to launch my boat or use the gas.

So I said sure.

We fished all day and caught some very nice bass going to spots that he showed me.

At the end of the day when we was about to put the boat back on the trailer at the ramp I ask his last name.

He had already told me his name was Bill.

It was Bill Dance.

And when I told him my name he laughed and said I know your dad. Does he know you took his boat today???

There's good guys out there and bad guys.

Funny thing was my dad was fishing with bill a lot back then and knew he had kids just had never met one of us.

That's one of my "life experiences" stories that most fishermen will never have.

When I got home and told my dad what happened he just laughed and said I got lucky that Bob Tobb wasn't with bill that day or they would have sat on the dock and laughed at me if I make a mistake.

Good ole times back in the 70's.
[signature]

[Loufly]

Honestly it depends on the day, situation, and temperament of those involved. I like my room and will let others know that they are in my bubble. I don't own the water and can only receive the respect I give to others. Some people just don't care and will crowd you out regardless. I have literally had people cast right over my line and cussed me out when I informed them of their stupidity. Places like Henry's never cease to amaze me how comfortable people feel fishing right next to you. I once asked a gentleman, (I use the term gentleman loosely) if he wanted me to cast for both of us. I just observed that the pocket I was fishing was better fished from my angle than his and we wouldn't have to worry about getting tangled. Selfish I know, but come on it wasn't like I was putting up numbers. Anyways, we have to share the water with all types and I know from experience, it doesn't pay to be rude on either side.
[signature]

[chrome_junky]

oooooo...... like today when i had 3 guys show up an hour after we got to the hole and start fishing 4o yards bellow me. they see my buddy and i hooking up on salmon in front of us and they start bombing casts over us in no specific order to try and get in the fish holding in front of us. what a mess!!!!! must have hooked up with us at least 10 times. i used some bad words and then laughed at them for using 10 inches of pencil lead and casting a mile up stream then wonder why they were snagging on every cast either rocks or us. last week in the same spot they were standing i was using 4 inches of pencil lead and casting at my 11:00 and hitting fish consistently at my 1:00 and 2:00 about 20 feet off the bank. today even had a couple of big boys tail walk right in front of these guys. i could tell they were frustrated. [laugh] normally i would have helped these guys but they didnt look like they wanted to be talked to and they were being dumb right from the get go. oh well........
[signature]

[armyNGfisherman]

THE BEST IS WHEN WATER SKIERS FEEL LIKE THEY HAVE TO BUZZ YOUR BASS BOAT EVERY TIME THEY GO BY. ITS NOT LIKE THERE ARE SEVERAL HUNDRED YARDS OF RIVER TO SKI AROUND..... PISSES ME OFF!
[signature]

[ChrisTheFish]

I have to say I am grateful for those fisherman who keep it civil and remember that in the end people are more important than fish. If you are one of those people, thank you. Especially if you are the one being encroached upon and you keep your head.

This past spring while fly fishing for steelhead I had my patience put to the test. I would like to think I was the bigger man in the end, but I still find it hard to not be a bit frustrated when I think about it.

I had taken a good friend up near challis to chase steelhead. It was his first time. We got to the first place we intended to fish before it was even light out. There was a trailer parked near the water and we could tell someone was awake. A moment later they came out with headlamps on and headed to the water so we moved on to fish different water.

The third day of our trip I really wanted my friend to get into some consistent action so we got up extra early to get to that same spot. We arrived while the moon was still in the air, put our headlamps on and headed down to the water and waded out just a bit. We began rigging our poles up while standing there in the water. Not but three minutes later one of the gentlemen (using the term loosely) walked down to the river and with a brief "morning" stepped directly in front of me and began casting. I was astounded.

I asked him if he really intended to fish directly in front of me. He began reciting all the reasons why he deserved to do it, after which I simply told him it was very rude. He did not look at me the whole time. I even mentioned that he had had the chance to fish this particular spot for multiple days already (he ignored that). After doggedly fishing next to him, and chatting with him a bit I decided we would find friendlier waters. The feelings just weren't worth it and are actually opposite to the reasons I fish.

With that kind of fishing (steelhead) I expect to have less personal space, but not that small. I really think it all goes back to the basic golden rules: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Sorry so long!
[signature]

[forrest2906]

I try to give folks in tubes and canoes a larger margin when I am in the boat. I will slow down going by them, been on the other end of the deal, its not fun. I usually give a small wave, if close enough may say hello, depends on them if I continue the conversation. I do not get that close to others, and i will ask if it is okay to fish on the other side of a bush, but I try to stay at leaset 50 - 100 yards away. but usually you run into a few RICHARD HEADS, and that is difficult to avoid.

Have a good day.
[signature]