Crowding And Ethics On Our Rivers

[Tracy]

First let me point out that this is not intended to be a rant against my fellow fisherman on our local rivers in Alberta.

 

Last night a fishing buddy and I are fishing a favourite section near Policemans. We made a long trip up from Lethbridge to fish this and were heading back that same evening. It's a spot that everyone here has probably fished a time or two. We get there early in the afternoon even though it's hotter than heck. We stake out a section that is no more than 20 meters apart and start fishing to some risers just upstream from us. At about 7:30 two 20 something fellows show up and walk down the bank and basically stand where we were casting to the rising fish. I look at my buddy and he has the same disgusted look on his face that I have. The fish are put down. These fellows are no more than 3 rod lengths away upstream of us. Then at about 8:30 another chap shows up and squeezes in between us and these two other gentlemen. I was amazed by this. It's almost as if these guys showed up and were going to fish this spot no matter how many other people were there already. They had no plan "B" to fish elsewhere and instead of improvising they just decided that their fishing was more important than being ethical and moving on to another spot.

 

This is not the first time that this has happened to me on the Bow and just wondering what some others out there thing of this kind of fishing tactic or behaviour?

 

Canadian

[Guest bigbadbrent]

welcome to bow river fishing...

 

you'll see a lot of that, the more you fish. It's what happens when there are a million people in a very very close vicinity to all the easy put ins.

 

Did you stay for the night fish, cause i was at policemens, but didnt show up till 9:15, and made sure to head way upstream of everyone till they left

[toolman]

Well it sucks that a lot of fisherman are not gentleman anglers and it's the same situation no matter where you are fishing on this planet. Just like city traffic, most folks are decent, a few don't get it and that's the way she goes.

What I would suggest is planning on doing a bit of hiking, as the solitude you are looking for is about a 30-40 minute walk from where you are parked.

Good Luck and Good Fishing on your next adventure!

[kungfool]

Well it sucks that a lot of fisherman are not gentleman anglers and it's the same situation no matter where you are fishing on this planet. Just like city traffic, most folks are decent, a few don't get it and that's the way she goes.

What I would suggest is planning on doing a bit of hiking, as the solitude you are looking for is about a 30-40 minute walk from where you are parked.

Good Luck and Good Fishing on your next adventure!

 

I totally agree with Toolman. I find that these not-so-polite anglers are also fairly lazy and the further I walk the less I see them.

[clarki]

did you talk to these guys and let them know that this wasnt cool or just let them do it??

 

M

[Tracy]

welcome to bow river fishing...

 

you'll see a lot of that, the more you fish. It's what happens when there are a million people in a very very close vicinity to all the easy put ins.

 

Did you stay for the night fish, cause i was at policemens, but didnt show up till 9:15, and made sure to head way upstream of everyone till they left

 

 

We had to leave at about 10:00. With the drive and plans around the house today we had to pass on the night fish.

[Tracy]

did you talk to these guys and let them know that this wasnt cool or just let them do it??

 

M

 

My fishing buddy said hi when we passed their car. They didn't even bother to respond. I try to avoid be confrontational when up there because you never know what you might encounter with people. We did stare at them and stop fishing altogether when this happened and I know they knew that we were not happy about it.

[Tracy]

I totally agree with Toolman. I find that these not-so-polite anglers are also fairly lazy and the further I walk the less I see them.

 

I see your point there. We just didn't expect guys to get so damn close to us even if it was just about 200 meters from the car. Just expected a little common sense courtesy. There just seems to be less and less of that lately in just about every walk of life.

[steelhead]

Nice job at not specifying what method of fishing they were using. If you had to have said "spin fishers", there would have been 50 posts shooting them down and calling them poaching bait chuckers.

 

 

Thank you

 

 

Steelhead

[Tracy]

Nice job at not specifying what method of fishing they were using. If you had to have said "spin fishers", there would have been 50 posts shooting them down and calling them poaching bait chuckers.

Thank you

Steelhead

 

 

Actually all three were fly fisherman. Two looked very novice. The other fellow looked like he knew what he was doing.

[Brownstone]

thats brutal, there's no need to crowd or be crowded on the Bow, although it happens a lot more than it should. These guys defiantly have no respect for anybody .. like mentioned above the jackasses will not likely walk very far for the fish..which opens opportunity for the rest of us who are willing to hike to the fish..

 

bad deal, don;t let it discourage you..I started a thread "fishing and crowds" awhile ago, may get some more opinions out of it ..

[Guest rusty]

Two stories from today:

 

We walked down well below Policeman's to a nice riffly spot. There were two guys there who had stopped their boat. We decided to stop and wait for them to finish. Once they saw that they took off and left us half the run unfished where we pulled out a half dozen rainbows. That's outstanding courteousy - a big thank you to the two fellas if they're on here.

 

Then, an hour later, my buddy and I were fishing 40 or 50 yards apart. He hooked a nice fish and I went down to give him a hand. When we released the fish, I looked up and some complete assclown fishing right where I was previously. This guy didn't say anything - just walked right in as if "well I walked this far so I'm fishing here". If that guy reads this, I hope the three rainbows you hooked there were worth showing complete disregard and respect for your fellow angler.

 

There are both good and bad out there. The only thing you have to ask yourself is whether you're going to let it ruin your day.

[clarki]

in canadian's case I would say that if they were new to flyfishing then you should politely inform and educate them on the unwritten rules and etiquette of flyfishing. it doesnt have to be confrontaional. use some tact and the right approach and it could be that they would have said something like "oh hey sorry about that we didnt realize, we'll move on"

 

why do so many people on this board let people walk all over them on the river and then come on here to complain about this boorish behaviour??

 

M

[Glenbow]

A couple of nights ago a buddy & I went to fish Policeman's, & there were too many guys fishing where we wanted to fish.....so, instead of butting in, we went elsewhere & got skunked - the moral being, we respected that other guys were in the spots we wanted to fish & we left, and we also tried some new stretches for us. Although we didn't get fish, we could tell that we would sooner or later in these spots so we chalked it up to experience & 'fishing' in general & had a decent time anyhow. There are lots of folks around that are either ignorant or don't know any better anywhere you go.

[Tracy]

in canadian's case I would say that if they were new to flyfishing then you should politely inform and educate them on the unwritten rules and etiquette of flyfishing. it doesnt have to be confrontaional. use some tact and the right approach and it could be that they would have said something like "oh hey sorry about that we didnt realize, we'll move on"

 

why do so many people on this board let people walk all over them on the river and then come on here to complain about this boorish behaviour??

 

M

 

I can understand this viewpoint and it may have some relevancy. I'm not sure these fellows would have been the type to just move on as you put it. They didn't even respond when my fishing buddy tried to say "hi" to them so I'm not sure they would have responded to a asking them to leave even if done gently.

[Tracy]

A couple of nights ago a buddy & I went to fish Policeman's, & there were too many guys fishing where we wanted to fish.....so, instead of butting in, we went elsewhere & got skunked - the moral being, we respected that other guys were in the spots we wanted to fish & we left, and we also tried some new stretches for us. Although we didn't get fish, we could tell that we would sooner or later in these spots so we chalked it up to experience & 'fishing' in general & had a decent time anyhow. There are lots of folks around that are either ignorant or don't know any better anywhere you go.

 

 

That is exactly what me and my fishing buddy would have done. Better to be ethical and do the right thing than arrogant, selfish and inconsiderate just to get what you want my pappy always use to say.

[clarki]

Canadian, i see what youre saying.

 

Glenbow, if I had a cold beer for every time I got to a spot only to find somebody already there.....

 

M

[toolman]

All I can say is, you guys are a first class act, Canadian and are in no way part of the problem.

Thanks for posting as this topic needs to be discussed to help influence and shape the perspectives of our fishing community. We certainly need more folks like you out there on our rivers.

See you on the water...

[Guest bigbadbrent]

And sadly, policemens is probably one of the more hit places on the river, being that it is closer to all the bow river anglers from okotoks and high river. I know i go there when i just want a quick 1 or 2 hour fish, if im thinking more i either walk a ways downstream, or go to fish creek..

 

Was at policemens tonight, and everyone was being very courteous to each other, with quite a wide berth between each angler (can you say 11 vehicles..wowza). I had a really good chat with a retired guy, helped him tie on a fly that he was having trouble (was 10:30 after all) with and had a very very long discussion on nearly every stream down south. Not bad for just asking the guy how his day was going. You'll get a lot of happy go lucky guys, or you'll get the grumps, but it's easy to distinguish between them..

 

Dave (not devlin) if you read this, great meeting you and hope you signed up!

[gravelman]

Not to jump on anyone but there is plenty of water around with no one on it. I dont know why people need to complain about it. Since the 16 of june i have yet to run into another fisherman on any of my spots. If your only a quick walk from your car then chances are you are going to see someone. Walk walk and walk some more chances of seeing someone are slim to none. Know that i have said my peace i wish we could do something about Go#$amn rafters.

[Hawgstoppah]

why do so many people on this board let people walk all over them on the river and then come on here to complain about this boorish behaviour??

 

Maybe becuase of the way people crucified me on the old board for years over one incident where I got sick and tired of the way no one had any courtesy or respect for where I was fishing. Seems your damned if you do and damned if you don't.... (with regards for sticking up for yourself and what should be "your water" if anyone had any common sense left)

[Guest guito]

Canadian....I feel your frustration as I have had this happen to me many times and I usually leave and go somewhere else. I have fished the Bow only a few times so I can't comment on the crowding happening there. I find if you want to fish alone you have to doing some exploring and walk distances to get away from the crowds just like toolman said. This is even getting tougher in some areas as the quads seem to be all around now. The best advice is once you find a area keep it to yourself and maybe you will have somewhere to go in the future.

 

Guito

[SilverDoctor]

I was in a situation 2 weeks ago where I walked down and fished a small run (about 30 feet long) at at a well used fishing area at Fish Creek (not my usual haunt). Several fly fisherman and a spin guy where on both sides of me. I was lucky enough to quickly take a small rainbow, and then a brown that was a decent size. After releasing it and standing up I realized that I had fishermen on both sides of me inside of 10 feet. I simply stated that I would need more room to cast. The young guy at my right called me a F**g B***d who didn't own the river and was hogging the best spot where all the fish where (I guess because I had caught a couple). I was quite shocked as I had been on the run for no more than 10 minutes.

 

I vacated the spot under a torrent of abuse, not wanting a confrontation surrounded by two young guys. I looked back on them and they where flailing the water with their fly rods. Using in my judgment the wrong presentation with shallow skills. Now I think I'm a fairly amiable person on the water who normally shares info and flies with those who are curious what a + 55 yr old fart has to say. But seldom do I encounter direct abuse. I enjoy sharing stream lore and trading pleasantries.

 

I am a bit of a solitude fisher, but truly enjoy the company of those with like passion. I did hit the popular spots occasionally. I will comfort myself with my more private areas away from "popular norm". Like Toolman said a bit of walking will take you to more isolated areas. My wife says I should fish more with others for safety sake.

[Weedy1]

You should have spanked them Silverdoctor. If by chance those two little tikes frequent this forum here's a bit of info for you.

 

1) Get some manners and learn how to respect your elders.

2) Don't be surprised if one day the guy your calling a "F**g B***d" turns around and gives you both an ass kicking, or better yet a shot of bear spray in the face, then kicks the crap out of you.

3) People older than you are typically who you learn from. With that type of attitude you will learn very little in life. Think about it.

[DonAndersen]

Here's a marketing opportunity. Needed is one Louisville Slugger c/w with stencilled sign saying MANNERS.

 

Conversation goes like this - " guys it's about time you meet MANNERS"

 

Don