It's A Big River

[duanec]

so, get up really early to get to work and get some *hit done so you can get out on the water and enjoy what could very likely be the last balmy day for while. get geared up, drive to the parking spot by @ noonish. it's empty...perfect. walk for 40 mins to that good run with the stuff and the things...also empty...perfect. a drift boat comes by, pulls in. huh. k whatever, they are having lunch. cool...no problems.

but wait. totally unannounced, dude is now standing 20 ft downstream of me...while the other 2 walk thru the upstream portion of the channel run i am fishing...towards the prime spot. not a word to me. remember...they have a drift boat. i am the only angler within sight fishing from shore anywhere. and now my great spot is being poached by boaters.

so...i'm generally a reasonable guy. seriously takes a lot to get me worked up...but i thought, screw it i'm gonna go fish right beside this guy. i don't care if i piss him off. i did not come out for a day on the river to have is fracked up by some floater noobs who seem to believe they have first dibs on every run in the entire river.

i cross the channel to the gravel bar and proceed with a fly change. at this point, the oarsman realizes hey maybe they shoulda asked, and then does, and offers to let me take the first run thru the spot. wow. ok, well that's something i guess.

so the other guys walking around yappin on his cell, and walks up beside me and steps on my fly rod.

snap

i really lost my sense of humour by that point.

in less than 35 minutes upon arriving my relaxing quiet day on the river is over.

so, dude offered to cover the shipping for my rod warranty...[hey, if you are a board member...that's great], but i'm without a stick.

MY DAY IS OVER. I GET TO WALK 40 MINS BACK TO MY CAR AND GO HOME.

DID YOU HAVE A GOOD REST OF YOUR DAY??? did you catch lots of fish??? did you enjoy the fantastic weather????

[monger]

Sorry for your crappy day. It is amazing what has happened on this river in the last 5 years. After getting nearly run over by boats, guys standing on top of you and general crowding, I gave up and went to the lakes.

If you need a rod for a while, I have a 6wt TFO you can use.

 

[whataniceguy]

I agree with you both, its a shame whats happened to the river in the last 5 years!

[birchy]

Wow. That's a whole new level of ignorant! Sorry to hear that Dune! Hopefully everything goes smooth with the warranty and payment...

[Tungsten]

Thats sucks,people really need to think a little before they stop.Theres so much good water around.As far as stepping on your rod well thats just plain stupidity.Hope it works out for ya.

I no you got another 6wt,if you want to borrow one of my 5wts let me no.

 

What he should have done is lent you his rod for the day,since he new your day was done. That would have been classy.They probably had another in the boat anyways.

[TwoByFour]

I cant believe your story. It hurt my head just reading it. I too, have had my share of altercations on the blue ribbon waters of our Bow river. From both, guided or rookie floaters, as well as land lubbers. Used to be only the spin casters that youd expect the ignorance from. But more recently the nievity of flyfisherman has caused me to raise my voice. I stopped shrugging my shoulders and watching my back casts when other anglers are getting too close. Not sure what happened to the summer serenity of Bow river fishing, but the change happened fast and it seems like nobody wants to enforce the rules all anglers should abide by. In my mind, anyone who crosses these boundries, or unwritten rules only thinks of themselves and no one else, and should be reminded of that. Theres no course on river ettiquette, but its as obvious as run off what the rules are.

 

These unfortunate occurances are spilling out into the mountain streams as well. I didnt drive 2 hrs to be leapfrogged by a couple of guys who couldnt get up before me. This has happened more than once, and they did hear about my disgust in their judgement. So far all have apologised, and turned around. Im sure one day ill have a chance encounter with a "Tap Out" guy whos twice my size, but if this attitude goes unchecked, all of our summer serenities will be lost. Always, always when I arrive too late or see another fisher ahead on a stretch, ill either retreat to other water or inquire about his/her intentions with the river.

 

I remember a time when I enjoyed tossin flies in the foothills, but it seems an hour or more hike is needed to distance myself from others. Up there, should you see another fisher, its more than likely that they will share the same respect, and will honor the unwritten rules.

 

Im reminded of the locals on secret surf beaches who will not hesitate to slash tires or snap boards if you move in on the wrong set. Luckily, flyfishers are made up of pot smoking, environment concious thrill seekers...hmmm, I guess we're not that much different than the surfers.

 

Loooong story short, rise up fellow fishers...rise up against the tyranny of ignorant fishers. Raise your voice, because untill licensing requires a 90% pass mark on a fishing ettiquette test, it WILL keep getting worse.

[duanec]

well to his partial credit he offered his spare 4 wt up. but which would've been of little use chuckin heavy gear into the teeth of the wind today. but not the kit they were using. huh yeah that woulda been an inconvenience i guess...

 

tanx all for the offers of a loaner...very much appreciated.

 

speaking of which, after getting back to my sled and about to leave...a fellow board member showed up and had a spare rod to lend me, so we went out for a while and after heading back to 'the spot' i managed to land a few. so not a complete loss for the day [tnx again timj].

 

 

[ericlin0122]

people are just crazy...

happened to me once, three guy (2 adults/1 kid)came in like 15' beside me without even asking me.

me: hey, I will cover all this water.

adult A talked to his kid: when I was young my dad always told me: there is always spot for the others.

then all of them start to casting 15' beside me.

I was like WTF? you didn't even ask, and now talking *hit. GOOD, be like that, but if I had kids, I would teach them: never jumping to other people's spot without even asking.

[bowbonehead]

That totally sucks (fly rod) however I think the only way to improve the etiquette on the river is to practice it ourselves and make sure anytime we take a newb fishing make sure we set a good example whether we are floating or walk and wading. Send me a wire if you need a loaner I have a few that need a work out and with the snow about to happen they will not be used for a few months.

[fishalot]

Something about Dune's experience hit a nerve with me such that I think it warrants a few words of support, and maybe a chance to expand the rant a little.

This is from somebody who has fished the Bow for over 30 years and has seen first hand the changes in the quality of the experience of fishing the Bow during that time.

Obviously, going from a population of 600,000 to over a million since the late 70's has meant more pressure on the fishery.

For many years this was not much of a problem as the majority of had a sense of flyfishing etiquette, but I have to agree with Whataniceguy that there has be a marked increase in ignorant and inconsiderate behaviour in the past few years.

 

A few of my pet peeves;

 

Crowding of fishermen that have walked into a run by drift boats as per Dune's day from hell

 

Guide boats that drift through a run, then the guide jumps out and walks the boat back upstream so his sports can keep casting to the middle of the river. The guide has just waded through prime holding water with no consideration to anyone else fishing the run.

 

You're on the water at first light during stonefly season. You're the first or second boat on the water, drifting down casting large dries to the bank. An hour into your drift a couple of ignoramuses in a power boat zoom past you, get to the next run, drift down while fishing through the run, motor back up and hammer the run several times before you get there. Then they proceed to the next run and repeat the performance.

 

Same or similar-minded individuals speed past you in their jet propelled water craft, so close to you while you are wading that you have to back out of the water to avoid being swamped. And for tose guilty parties- don't use the excuse that the faster you go the smaller the wake.

 

Power boats on a blue ribbon river just seems to me to be a travesty

 

There - I've had my rant. This is from somebody who has been around a while, but rarely posts on FFC.

 

I would be curious to know if there are others out there with similar years of experience on the Bow who might have the same issues, and usually keep their frustrations to themselves.

 

Or maybe it's time for me to hang up the rods

[Flyfisher]

Moral of the story, never leave a fly rod laying on the ground. I feel for ya man!

[Giovanne]

You got low holed by a boater that did not have a motor attached to his sled?

 

And reading this board you'd thing that the only diks on the river were gas powered?

 

Sorry to hear of your bad day. Goes to show that idjuts come in all flavours, yes in drift boats too. Lets get them banned.

[Tungsten]

Hey you met Timj,good on him for lending you one.Where were you fishing?So i wont go there cause they all got sore mouths no doubt.

[bowbonehead]

Rules of engagement: After reading of Dunes plight and commenting on the lack of river etiquette I had a interesting occurrence today while floating on the lower end of the river. I was fishing with a pal on the lower end of a long side channel. We had been fishing the pool for about 1/2 an hour when out of bush come to lads armed with fly rods, no big deal when they cross the side channel above us and to the side we are on and we figure they will just continue on past us to the next run below. Much to our surprise when they both wade on in right above us and start to fish the prime water of the pool. Needless to say we were flabbergasted and decided they just did not know any better. We did not say anything to them and continued to fish catching a couple more fish each while they were there. After about 20 minutes they reeled up(no fish, instant Karma gonna get you) and left heading on down river. I am kinda hoping one of them will read this and finally figure it out. However it just goes to show you bad manners can hit you from any angle not just from drifters.

[Guest Jeremie]

BBH,

 

If you were in the boat while fishing it is common knowledge that anglers on foot have right of way. If you pulled in and walked up that could have been debatable. You have a lot more water to fish then people on foot one way or another.

 

But that sucks dune! I had something similar happen to me 2 years ago. I had saved up money to buy my own spin fishing "dock" rod (for the cabin at the coast) We were catching tons of fish between me and my little cousins on shrimp tails. Everything from rock cod to sea perch. But i put down my nice new rod across the dock going to rig back up, and mister idiot comes along, looks into our bucket of shrimp and steps right on the rod, snaps it right in half. Acts like nothing happened and walked away. That experience really turned me off fishing there, i used to love it too but that really pissed me off.

 

Sorry if i kinda went into a rant there.

 

Jeremie

[Wolfie]

..guess I'll add my bit to this thread as well..

 

..it was a great morning, fish were more than happy to suck in what I was offering until that bloody "rescue boat" came flying up river! I saw the wake, but as nature is way faster than man, got caught in it...bloody stupid guys, they didn't slow down, just raced into the docking area and never looked back!

 

..I'm Not the type to let things like that slide, so I pulled down my rod, and shorten up the lead on my wolf [which was Nantuc..pure white] went over to the two guys who were 'firemen' no less...without being polite to either one I blasted my concern to them..and the one who was driving the boat claimed he never saw me..I asked him if he was 'blind' cause how could he miss a 'pure white' animal standing on rocks just a few feet away of where I was standing..guess poop happens to everyone but I'm sure those two will look before they leap after the what for that I gave them..................................Wolfie

[LastBoyScout]

Sorry to hear of your tough break. How close is to close? I'd say stepping on your rod is to close. How much worse can these never ending stories get. Your a better man than me I would have freaked.

[whataniceguy]

This will get me flamed im sure but I dont care, Im not blind to whats going on. Plain and simple "if the website was never formed these problems would not be happening in Calgary". Up until a couple years back you could fish anywhere anytime. Now you have to go out there and vigilant about were you are going. The ones that started the site and are all budiies will say "its ok, we are just growing the sport" we have heard 100 times before. I can gaurantee that half of us would like to go back about 5 years and start this thing over ot not at all. It certainly wouldnt be a free for all out there thats for sure. Lo9w holing and water poaching is just what happens when things get out of hand, complaining about it isnt even worth it anymore cause its only going to get worse. This problemcant be fixed.

[Giovanne]

..it was a great morning, fish were more than happy to suck in what I was offering until that bloody "rescue boat" came flying up river! I saw the wake, but as nature is way faster than man, got caught in it...bloody stupid guys, they didn't slow down, just raced into the docking area and never looked back!

 

The slower those boats go past you the bigger the wake they throw!

 

When I am out fishing or floating and I hear a motor I just want them to keep it full gas and get past, that is the most courteous thing they can do.

[trailhead]

This will get me flamed im sure but I dont care, Im not blind to whats going on. Plain and simple "if the website was never formed these problems would not be happening in Calgary". Up until a couple years back you could fish anywhere anytime. Now you have to go out there and vigilant about were you are going. The ones that started the site and are all budiies will say "its ok, we are just growing the sport" we have heard 100 times before. I can gaurantee that half of us would like to go back about 5 years and start this thing over ot not at all. It certainly wouldnt be a free for all out there thats for sure. Lo9w holing and water poaching is just what happens when things get out of hand, complaining about it isnt even worth it anymore cause its only going to get worse. This problemcant be fixed.

 

I have encountered jerks on the river repeatedly, and not just in the last 5 years. Had one guy come up to me on a very popular stretch in the city, and accuse me of stealing his spot. I'd been there for an hour at least. This was in July of 1993, he promptly stepped in 20 yards upstream and started fishing. I vividly recall this because I was shocked and something like that had never happened to me before, I'm a pretty easy going guy so I left. This board didn't change or cause anything. Some folks blame Barry White for taking famous American sports writers on floats in the 80's, some folks blame Jim McLennan for doing the same thing, some folks blame Barry Mitchell and the Alberta Fishing Guide, some folks trace it back to Dave Jensen and the old Flyfishing Alberta forum. It's just that there are way more people on the river now, including yourself, and you unfortunately will run into the inevitable jerks that seem to be just about everywhere. So if you are going to let them ruin your day that is your choice. I choose to take it in stride because I'm out to enjoy myself, have a bit of adventure and if things work the way I hope, I'll catch fish. I refuse to let anyone ruin my time on a beautiful river doing something I love.

[FraserN]

This is why I prefer fishing the Northwest stretch. The trout are smaller and there are not as many as below Bonnybrook. But, more often then not I get the solitude I desire.

The more I see this, the more i am convinced it is a social issue. Last time it happened to me this fall was at Policemans. I had walked along ways to access the North side of the river and was alone on a nondescript riffle. A drift boat launched from the access and proceeded to row thousands of yards through decent water, and across the river to park 20 feet in front of me and start fishing. The client was a nice enough fellow and asked how my fishing was going. I had already caught a few, so I did not mind so much. What is disturbing is how I was fishing a nothing spot and these guys passed up a mile of prime water to come fish right below me. I am becoming more and more convinced it is deliberate, because it has happened too many times in the last 3 years. More people fish the river now, and 25 years ago this never happened. But I think the attitude has also changed, which is too bad as well.

[TwoByFour]

15-20 years ago, I could bike down to the bow and guaranteed I would get the same spot, all the time. Rare to see others, even in fish creek. Neoprenes where a luxury back then, but most wore hip waders. The explosion of fishers on all the waters directly coincides with the invention of FFC. Here, ginners can mooch info off of guys who cant wait to tell someone how much they know. Theres a freakin Bow River update thread, you kiddin me? Hey updater...lemme know whats hatching, where, and at what time so I can go fish the bow. Mod Edit

[Smitty]

This will get me flamed im sure but I dont care, Im not blind to whats going on. Plain and simple "if the website was never formed these problems would not be happening in Calgary". Up until a couple years back you could fish anywhere anytime. Now you have to go out there and vigilant about were you are going. The ones that started the site and are all budiies will say "its ok, we are just growing the sport" we have heard 100 times before. I can gaurantee that half of us would like to go back about 5 years and start this thing over ot not at all. It certainly wouldnt be a free for all out there thats for sure. Lo9w holing and water poaching is just what happens when things get out of hand, complaining about it isnt even worth it anymore cause its only going to get worse. This problemcant be fixed.

 

 

Isn't the simple solution then is for you to move, say, to Yukon, where you can pretty much have entire rivers to yourself?

 

Just a suggestion.

 

Smitty

[Smitty]

15-20 years ago, I could bike down to the bow and guaranteed I would get the same spot, all the time. Rare to see others, even in fish creek. Neoprenes where a luxury back then, but most wore hip waders. The explosion of fishers on all the waters directly coincides with the invention of FFC. Here, ginners can mooch info off of guys who cant wait to tell someone how much they know. Theres a freakin Bow River update thread, you kiddin me? Hey updater...lemme know whats hatching, where, and at what time so I can go fish the bow. Mode Edit

 

[self-edited; mods have edited the original post, I should tone done my ranting...]

 

Question for you:

 

"How is this website any different from picking up the phone and phoning one of the 6 fly shops in the city for a fishing report?" Hmmmmmm...

 

What you and the other guy - whataniceguy or something - are missing is an acknowledgement of the Bow's geographical location. Its in a city of a million people. A million. You don't think its was going to get noticed sooner or later, regardless of whether the FFC exists or not? And my other point here is that many river systems in the US handle much more traffic than the Bow and survive quite nicely.

 

Bow's had etiquette issues for years. YEARS. Russell Thornberry and Barry M. used to complain too. And that was when I was in grade school.

 

Smitty

[TwoByFour]

You gonna report me...Teacher, teacher...Im telling!! Perhaps the site should post some ettiquette rules for everyone to read. Rather than promote our water, promote ettiquette and respect. Why dont you report that too, guy!!