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In the last podcast, episode 7 of season 3, we talked about finding your water and finding space. And we acknowledged that everyone wants this. Everyone. I don’t know any fisherman who sets out to fish beside a bunch of strangers for the day. Because part of the experience we seek is getting away from everything else in life, if for just a bit. No matter where you are, having some space and some water to call your own is a primary draw.
So when you do find a section of river, when you’re deep into the process of dissecting a riffle, run or pool, one of the worst and most frustrating things that can happen is having another angler walk in on you. Specifically, when they wade into the water you are fishing or that you planned to fish very shortly.
It’s no fun. It can be maddening. And it can absolutely ruin your day.
In some ways, this experience is inevitable. If you fish often enough, you’re going to get front ended, probably sooner than later. And how should we deal with it? Is there really any good way to open a dialogue with someone who rudely jumps in front of you? Does it ever end well?
And how much water should we expect to be granted? What’s the standard, anyway?
Also, if you round the bend on your walk in, and you see another angler set up in exactly the same water you planned to fish, where should you go? What’s the acceptable distance? How much room should we give each other on the river?
Just like the previous episode, this podcast deals with space on the river. But this time, it’s not about finding space as much as how we share it. Sometimes, we’re forced to share more than we’d like. Other times, there’s simply no question that another angler has broken the code. And how do we deal with that? This is our topic.
We Cover the Following
- Thoughts on secret patterns
- Some worst cases of front-ending
- Thee two types of anglers who front end you
- Can you actually educate anyone about the code?
- What are the unwritten rules about fishing space?
- Ethics and etiquette
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Resources
READ: Troutbitten | Front Ended — Can We Stop Doing This to Each Other?
READ: Troutbitten | Why Everyone Fishes the Same Water, and What to do About It
READ: Troutbitten | Some Days Are Diamonds — Some Days Are Rocks
You can find the dedicated Troutbitten Podcast page at . . .
Season Three of the Troutbitten podcast continues with Episode 9 : A Fly Fishing Life, and Doing the Hard Things. So look for that one in your Troutbitten podcast feed.
Fish hard, friends.
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
I was fishing in a popular national park when a carload of kids showed up and started throwing rocks. So I casually asked their mother if she had seen the copperhead on this side of the river. She screamed “SNAKE” and hustled the little hellions away. I have found that this little ploy produces the desired result without an argument and gives me a sense of satisfaction when dealing with rude people.
Nice. Whatever it takes.
Dom – Another great podcast. I liked your comment about fishing the golden rule. That’s what I follow so as not to be “that guy”. When I run into other anglers I will sometimes ask what direction they are fishing and if they are going in the same direction as me I ask permission to slip in behind them as far as I can. That usually makes for a more pleasant experience.
I seem to have more negative experiences with the younger crowd. They either don’t care or don’t know. But sometimes I’ll stop and chat and just mention that I’ll be fishing further away so as not to disturb the next several spots. Hopefully they take the hint and don’t leap frog.
Keep up the good work!
Tight lines
Mike
In the mid 80s I was cutting my Flyfishing teeth on Steelhead fishing. I and my buddy were learning the fundamentals with help from a great guide and steelhead fisher on the Deschutes River in Maupin, OR.
We were taking a break before fishing a run when a guy walks down and starts fishing at the head of the run. Our guide tells us the dude is breaking the unwritten rules. He has to ask us to fish the run ahead of us said our guide. I believe the guide would have gladly allowed him to fish through had he asked permission. The guide says to me jump in ahead of the guy and cut him off. Needless to say I wasn’t enchanted with the idea but I didn’t want to decline either. So I walked into the water at a spot which impeded his swing. Second cast and I hooked up a nice steelhead. The guide rushes over and watches me land the fish. I looked up after and the intruder was gone. It was a glory moment which I realized later that I would not have initiated on my own.
Timely podcast for us here in the Southern Hemisphere. I’ve had stretches of river all to myself through late spring and summer, but now there’s multiple vehicles at every access chasing pre-spawn rainbows and lake browns.
It’s a difficult adjustment at the start of Autumn (Fall), where you’ve gone from having your own slice of paradise to sharing water. You never quite know if you’ve left enough space, because sometimes people will just park themselves on a run for the day, waiting for waves of fish to come through, and others leapfrog you minutes after the 15 minute hike past water you left them (including past rising fish that were so tempting to have a go at).
All that aside, it’s satisfying when you’ve had a great day with lots of fish to the net, only to discover as you’re about to pack up that you were one bend behind an upstream angler for most of the day, and they’ve had a quiet one.
I hear ya.
Hey Dom –
Thanks for all the great podcasts. You guys are a blast to listen to and really provide some great info and food for thought.
I had to smile at Matt’s description of the San Juan in NM. I’ve fished it a number of times and from an area called Texas Hole on upstream, it’s almost like combat fishing. Anglers are just everywhere and it’s not unusual to see a hundred yards of water with 15 people fishing it. If you’re fishing there, you should understand and be prepared for the fact that any open section of water is open to any angler at any time. When I fish that area, which is not often, I’m in early and out when other anglers arrive. And while you can find other sections of water on that river that are not so heavily fished, the prevailing culture there is that it’s acceptable to fish any part of the river at any time, regardless of how it might impact other anglers. At least that’s been my experience.
Conversely, on my home waters in NE AZ, people are generally very respectful of giving other anglers their space and making sure they are not intruding on them.
The point is, that in the end each area is unique, with its own local culture of what is considered acceptable. And in fact, that culture can change from one to the next section of the same stream. We should strive to be flexible enough to adapt to each of those individual cultures – or just not fish an area that we would be uncomfortable in.
Generally, if I see another angler on a stream I’ll introduce myself, find out where they intend to fish, and then stay out of their way. Communication, at least for me, is the key. I find most people to be pretty decent if you talk with them in a friendly casual manner and try to establish some rapport. Then again – I could be wrong.
Keep up the good work!
Rick
Right on, Rick. Gotta read the room, right?
” the prevailing culture there is that it’s acceptable to fish any part of the river at any time, regardless of how it might impact other anglers.”
That’s a terrible culture.
Cheers.
Dom
That is a terrible culture. But when so many anglers are trying to share a relatively small section of water – well, I think it’s inevitable.
What I believe, and I get a lot of flak for this, is that there are certain waters that need to restrict access if they want to try and preserve not only the resource but the experience. They do that with river rafting now on many western rivers. They only allow so many trips a season and if you don’t draw a permit you don’t go. It sucks to think about going down that road with fishing access – but the alternative is ending up with waters like the San Juan that are trying to accommodate more anglers than the river can reasonably support.
Best
Thanks for the reply Rick,
Nah, I just don’t agree with this, on two fronts.
First:
“the prevailing culture there is that it’s acceptable to fish any part of the river at any time, regardless of how it might impact other anglers.”
That is not inevitable. And it should not be accepted. My issue is the last part, “regardless of how it affects other anglers.”
NO. Because it is, in fact, possible to fish with many other anglers around and yet be respectful of one another so as NOT to affect another angler’s fishing in that way.
Second:
It’s up to anglers to spread themselves out and find space. Stop fishing the same waters that everyone else does and at the same times. We discussed this in the previous podcast. Mine may not be the most popular opinion, but I believe that in almost every area where there are trout, there are places to go where the crowds are not. And if anglers take it upon themselves to seek these out and then spread out, that’s the best answer.
Just my thoughts.
Cheers.
Dom
The Upper Delaware system is in desperate need of drift boat restrictions. Seasonal permitting would be ideal but restricting use during low flow levels would work too. Allowing a limitless use policy for a limited resource usually does not end well and the handwriting is already on the riverbanks.
Agreed!
Agreed
When someone asks, “what you using” just answer with, “ Joe Humphreys”. Or for that matter “Troutbitten!”
Thank you for addressing this. I fish largely on the Front Range waters in Colorado. I know that the rivers are bound to be busy on the weekends and set my expectations accordingly. Having said that I do think many of us don’t understand the unwritten etiquette.
Point is, that it happens too often, and thank you for addressing it.
Cheers
I encountered a different example of rude behaviour on stream last month, that may prove to be helpful for someone.
It was an extraordinarily busy day on a local stream and I wasn’t able to find any car parks over a 20 km stretch that didn’t already have at least one vehicle. I avoid fishing near anyone like the plague, but I had to find somewhere to park. I saw one vehicle parked at a large pullout, with three anglers having lunch, so I thought I’d try to have a friendly chat and see if they were coming or going.
My usual “Howdy” was met with a curt “We are fishing this spot.” I ignored the tone and remained pleasant, and explained I didn’t want to fish there but was thinking about 1 km downstream and I have to park somewhere off the road. I also came to realize the unpleasant response came from the guide to a middle-aged couple. I suggested that I wouldn’t fish any of the other 3 “good spots” down from where they were starting, but rather the heavy boulder water 1 km downstream. The guide told me that would be “bad etiquette.” I have fished this stream for 40 years and have never seen anyone else fish this heavy boulder water, and it was obvious that this out-of-shape middle-aged couple would not be physically capable of doing so, would never even walk that far down the stream, and likely did not have the skills required to fish this challenging piece of water. Again, I have never seen anyone fish this water, or even this type of water on this stream. So I repeated to the guide that I wouldn’t poach any of the good runs and I was going way downstream. The guide said that was also “their water.” I was dumbfounded, and very frustrated. I took a long breath, looked the guide directly in the eyes and said firmly “I don’t believe you.” And then I left.
I grew more and more angry the rest of the day about this, and cursed my surprisingly civil response, thinking that I should just nymph right up through this guide’s claimed water, but it wasn’t the clients fault (the main reason I remained polite to this guide was not to negatively affect the innocent clients), and that wrecking their water would make me the bigger prick…but oh man I sure wanted to!
PS: This guide and clients never left the first pool by the car park. They spent the entire afternoon flogging the one easy spot, predictably.
Sucks