Don't be like these guys:




Friday I was out fishing a beautiful little stream I had never been to before. I parked the car and started working my way upstream, when a red pickup truck pulled up next to my car. If full view of me fishing the stream just yards away, they geared up and hopped 100 yards upstream of me and began fishing. I had only been fishing for about 20 minutes and had planned on at least several hours at this spot.

I should've marched up and confronted them for their douche-baggery, but I just don't have the time or energy for it anymore. It's likely they would think they did nothing wrong anyway, or probably just don't care. Either way, I choose not to waste my time on them.

For your newbies out there, if you come across someone already at a bridge or an access point, move on to the next spot, or find another stream. Or at a minimum, ask whoever is there first if they mind if you fish in the opposite direction they are fishing.


-Bill


PS: and, if by chance one of these guys is you, the least you could've done was asked if it was OK instead of just pretending you didn't see me.

Edited by user Sunday, September 30, 2018 6:10:06 PM(UTC)  | Reason: added text

Quite a dick move on their part. I, for one, count a section as "taken" if there is a vehicle parked nearby. The area has so many places to fish, there's no need to crowd others. This weekend, on the North Fork Badaxe, I only saw two other vehicles on the whole river. Plenty of room.

Most guys on Timber Coulee are cool at least what I’ve seen.
For that one asshole, I just fish behind them and start pulling in fish from water that they blew thru.
On the flippety flip, once on Timber I saw a huge fish rise next to me but my stomach was rumbling for some lunch so I left(dumb move) and as I was walking back to my car ran into an older guy I’ve talked to before and told him what I saw and told him exactly where I saw that biggun at.
Went to lunch and went back to where I stopped fishing before lunch and he was a couple holes up from where I told him and he thanked me. He got a 20 inch brown.
Felt good.

I’m not trying to defend bozos like that but I honestly think most that pull that dick move don’t realize they’re not following the unwritten rules of trout fishing. Those that do and pull it anyway are jerkoffs and probably the same morons we pick up after on the streams.

With that said, it’s also why I don’t fish close to access points anymore either. A 20-30 minute hike does wonders to get away from the masses and d-bags that we encounter from time to time.

Edited by user Sunday, January 13, 2019 7:34:07 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I think we're a little spoiled in the Driftless where fishing within sight of another angler is frowned upon. Hell, I've fished the San Juan below the dam where you're OK as long as you're not touching anybody! (not much fun, BTW). I think every access point (bridges, at least) is allowed 2 cars. One can fish up, and one can fish down. You can't have both. First to arrive gets first dibs. Some folks used to put a little note in the car window indicating what direction they've gone. Maybe we should all do that again. When in doubt, though, be nice...please.