An interesting evening of fishing, or Stream Etiquette

[Trampus 0]

Unfortunately like most things we buy there are not always guidelines given with them and much is left to common sense which apparently many people lack. I have had people on jet skis come so close to shore that they ran over my floating line....I have had a guy and his girlfriend who were standing on the bank above me throw rocks over my head into the water just to watch the splash. I have had people at the beach spread their towels down 50 feet from me and then swim right in front of where I was fishing when we were the only people on the entire beach for as far as the eye could see. I have had surfers paddle over in front of me and then paddle into shore instead of paddling straight in from where they were surfing and through it all I have come to the conclusion that some offenses are through ignorance or lack of education and can be corrected but others are intentional and cannot be excused.

[Dave G. 0]

My pet peave is catch and release power baiters. We have a pretty ( in all sense of the word) pristine two stage pond with trout in it. A couple of weeks ago I was there fishing and two women and a man were catching one trout after another, of course they were it was just stocked the week before with rainbows and two days before with browns and brooks. One was yelling out "here is number 7", another 9, one was up to 5 or 6. I had a conversation with the guy about gold plated hooks and just cutting the line and letting all these fish go. They were tourists down for a week and this was day one ! He assured me that the hooks would rot out in two weeks. And I told him that we rarely gut hook a fish with flies, mostly lip hook them. I went back to fishing, the next fish he caught he yelled out " this one is lip hooked". So I left. If I wasn't still gimping from the knee surgery I would have just moved far off from them but I didn't feel that was a good option for me.. Plus what a way to fish, imagine just cutting our flies off and letting the fish go, tie on another one. Kind of nutty.

 

The stripers are in now at the canal that should eliminate some of the trout meat fishermen of spring. This stuff all takes place at the landings and that's why in the past I got away from landing fishing, i have my haunts with fabulous fishing but haven't made it to them yet this year. It's coming though !

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Interesting to see this thread revived almost a year after my original post. As it happens, I am headed out later this afternoon on my first visit of 2016 to the very spot where the incident that was the subject of the original post happened. I will be curious to see who and what I encounter this year. Hopefully just fish.

[Bryon Anderson 0]

Well, I am happy to report that today's outing to this favorite spot was about as fine a fishing experience as a person can hope to have. First of all, the fish were super-aggressive and I caught probably 20 Smallmouth within sight of the bridge crossing where I accessed the stream. The smallest was 11 inches, the largest was this guy

 

 

who doesn't look it in the one-handed cell phone photo, but he went a solid 17" and had some serious girth to him as well. I was fishing an 8 wt. and he gave it (and my arm) a real workout.

 

The coolest thing that happened, though, was that, when I caught that big fish, a little kid of maybe 6 or 7 was fishing off the bank just downstream and he witnessed the fight. He got super excited and asked me to walk the fish down so he could see it, which I did. He asked me if I was going to keep it, and I said that I usually let my fish go. He then looked at me with those little kid eyes and said, "Can I have it?" Well, I couldn't very well say no to that, could I? The stream can clearly withstand some harvest and he was so excited. He lipped the fish with both hands and abandoned his gear to run off with his fish, shouting for his grandparents.

 

A few minutes later, I come around a bend and an old guy with a long gray beard is standing on the bank. He asks me if I'm doing any good, and I say I'm getting a few. He hooks his thumbs in his belt and, with an unmistakable air of pride, says, "You should see the 17-incher my grandson just caught!"

 

I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth.

 

Days don't get a whole lot finer than this one was.

[Bimini15 0]

6 Years old and already telling fishing stories. This kid is going places...!

 

My pet peeve is when I am fishing on the beach, chasing and casting around baitfish in the trough and some shmuck comes out of the inlet, does a 180 and motors right in front of me to throw his castnet so that he can get his bait and proceed to go offshore. Listen to me, cheap bastard, leave me alone! If you can afford the gas to go offshore in your 24ft center console, you can afford some freaking bait!!!

 

OK. I feel better now...

[Poopdeck 0]

While I do expect a small smidgen of etiquette from other anglers I do not expect non-anglers to know fishing etiquette. I really do not sweat the kayakers, tubers, children and an occasional crack head. I think since I fish in a highly urbanized area my tolerance to such things is much greater then those who fish in less populated areas. Don't get me wrong I like going to less populated areas but my tolerance to others also goes with me.

[zip 0]

I've had a couple of bad experiences as of late on the river here.In the mid and late spring there are all manner of fish moving up the Chattahoochee.One of my favorite types of fishing is catfish which you can easily catch with little effort and a few cold ones.I got there pretty early and people slowly started pouring in.There are rock islands all through the area people will post up on.I didn't get one,but I will take what I can get.An older gent was on one of these points when a group of 5 or 6 teens went dredging up right on top of the poor bastard.I really wanted to say something.But karma got the laugh when the game warden started checking licenses. Everyone had one except those disrespectful turds.Took all thier fish (15 or 20),cited them and kicked them off the river!I don't think I've ever been so happy!

[Trampus 0]

Glad to hear about your outstanding day on the water Bryon and the memory that was created for not one but 3 people on the water that day! When people talk about the "Snob Elitist Fly Fishermen" in front of that young boy (and at some time in his life someone will) he will look them in the eye and say "Not in my experience they aren't!"

 

Picture that moment as a Norman Rockwell painting of you in all your Fly Fishing attire handing that fish to the boy and his Grandfather in the background.....classic Americana!