Bad gudes and why bother fly fishing?

[troutguy 0]

Welcome to NC. If we stayed away from drugs and moonshine there would be no where to fish. Several years ago my friend and I kayaked about nine miles of the Green River near Saluda in early fall. We get to my friends truck and he goes, "Crap I left my keys in your car." There was one car in the parking lot. A little while later three Latino males came out of a trail across the road. They gave me a ride to my car. Two had machetes. Can someone say farmers?

[Spanky29ca 0]

That's a shame to hear, unfortunately it's all to common these days. You asked the question if I would say something to a buddy of mine if they used illegal bait and I most certainly would. I fly fish for the peace and the fun of it, there is nothing more rewarding than using trial and error and experience to trick the fish into taking your artificial fly or lure (for the spin fishers). I suspect these people will eventually get caught and lose their fishing and guiding privileges eventually and you know what? They will be out there doing it again. Some folks just don't care, but the fact that you and many others do is the best we can ask for in this day and age. We can do our best to educate our young sons/daughters nieces and nephews and grand kids and hope they will grow up with the respect we have for the outdoors and maybe eventually it will start to make a difference.

[ditz2 0]

Here locally they caught 2 middle eastern gents filling their boat with fish which I believe was either white bass or stripers. The had something like 600 fish in their boat. I understand that they had be turned in several times but the DNR apparently ignored the calls. These fellas had been doing this for at least a few years. I tried to follow the results of their court appearance but I lost track of the results. I would be willing to bet a large sum of money that they will be out there this spring doing it again. They were selling these fish to some local eateries and was do this several times a week according to the guys that were watching them and turning them in. In a case like this the offenders should be fine heavily and their vehicle and boat and equipment should be confiscated. Second offense should be a few years in jail plus the fines. They probably got their hands slapped. I will do some checking and if I get any info I will report back.

[flygirl 0]

I would find out who the guides were, what...if any..fly shop they worked out of , the name of the fly shop....& blow up the internet letting people know . There are alot of excellant, honest , hard working Guides out there that should not be judged by the acts of a few irresponsible people. Thanks for the heads up as this was something that I was not aware of. If I had been out with a guide who felt he/she needed to do something like that so I could catch fish than I would have told them not to do that or just put down my flyrod . Guides are becoming $$$ & I'd be damned if I would pay them for a mindless act like that.

[ROTW 0]

As a guide, baiting is never an option for clients or even myself and IS illegal in most states. One has to remember that fish do have a sense of smell so it is important to keep your hands clean when tying on flies. If you just put on bug repellant, sun lotion or anything like that, make sure you wash your hands in the water, using some mud , moss or leaves to scrub your hands clean and you shouldn't have a problem. Maybe this guy, without thought, was trying to cover up his smell, but very doubtful. I remember the old wives tale about "spitting" on your fly before you fish to cover up any unwanted smell.

[flytyer62 0]

troutguy,

as a guide I strive to give clients a frist class experience. I would never go to a place that was so beat they would need to fish illegally to ge them fish. I have seen this in Ny on the salmon river a few times during salmon season guide sets up in a nice run with some fly cleints and proceeds to show them how to lift( snag them) It happens here in Ct too I know a "guide" who is no longer doing it as he was harrassed off of every decent water in our part of the state. We have what are called trout parks and they get stocked weekly thru the frist couple of months of the open season. Great for family how want to just go and have fun. he would learn the schedule and tie up pellet flies and then bring a vest pocket full of fish pellets to "chum" the fresh stocked trout. his clients would litterally get 15-20 fish in as little as 45 minutes. once the word got around most people who were worth anything would not pay him. worst thing was a lot of the people he showed this too went back and did it as well. he could barely cast a fly rod well enough forget actually teaching someoen how. there are too many "heros" that give the real hard working guides a bad name.

 

steve

[JSzymczyk 0]

flytyer62 I must be missing something... why would ANYONE hire a guide to take them to a "trout park" ???