Time To Hold Ourselves To A Higher Standard

Among her many bird finding and pointing talents, Greta was also a great companion on the river when I, or in this case, Jon, would go fishing. Her mere presence let other anglers know that I was not be trifled with, and she helped me have many peaceful angling sessions.

Let me start this post stating that I personally haven’t had too many problems with streamside etiquette and subsequent confrontations with my fellow fishermen. Not that it has never happened – there have been a couple of times that come to memory … (cue the dreamy music) …

There was the time years ago that I was making my way down a path on the Trophy Stretch to a favorite fishing spot with a friend of mine and spied an angler upstream crossing the river, headed toward us. I picked up my pace to get to the area downstream and arriving just behind me was the angler that had been crossing the river.

To say I was surprised that this guy, in the middle of the river probably 100 yards upstream, had made up that distance in such a short time is an amazing understatement. If there was an Olympic event in river crossing and rambling, he would have had Michael Phelps status for sure.

My friend later told me that the guy was on a dead run down the river behind me, trying to get to the spot first. He proceeded to ask me if I was going to be fishing there, and I replied in the affirmative to his dismay. We ended up catching a bunch of trout and a few salmon, with our angler friend watching disgustedly from the bank all the while.

Hindsight is 20/20, and I now realize that I was probably just as much at fault as the other angler, but at the time I was all too happy to claim that pool for myself.  There have been a few other instances, but nothing as stark as that tale. My fishing now is often pursued on water that is relatively uncrowded, where the fish are perhaps a little more receptive to my offerings.

One of the reasons that I probably had few encounters with other anglers was my aforementioned German Shorthaired Pointers that really served as my “wingmen”. Just the presence of Greta or Rudy would generally keep other fishermen at bay, even though they were really friendly. Greta would take it a step too far at times and go to other anglers that were actually catching fish (the temptation was too much for her apparently), leaving her luckless master behind. They were great deterrents back in the day. Unfortunately, my new generation of overly exuberant bird dogs are not angler friendly (for myself or others), so I often go to the river alone.

On those instances when someone is already in a spot that I hope to fish, another spot, just around the corner, will become my next target. Keep moving, keep exploring when your favorite water is already occupied and you might learn some new water to add to your arsenal. Being a local, I know the river pretty well by now and always have a second or third option at hand in case my first choice is taken.

The Trophy Stretch has been very busy so far this season from guest and guide reports that I have heard, and it sounds like the behavior is getting a little out of hand. Angling etiquette is in short supply apparently. Bad etiquette has been around a long time in fishing – whether it is “front ending” (someone intentionally fishing water that you’re moving in to), “bracketing” (anglers getting uncomfortably close to you in order to get you to move out of an area), or just general rudeness, this behavior appears to be on the rise.

The Troutbitten blog has several excellent articles on angler etiquette, and they are certainly worth sharing. Please check them out and share with friends if so inclined.

Troutbitten: The Downstream Angler Yields to the Upstream Angler

Troutbitten: Front-Ended: Can We Stop Doing This To Each Other?