3 Dec 2010 at 10:23
There has been a lot of talk on this site recently with regard to being alone with nature, why I love fly fishing, competition, at oneness with nature, happiness, solitude and so on ~ a lot of esoteric, touchy feely and really important stuff.
Speaking for myself, I enjoy being with my friends while fishing. I honestly do. But to be perfectly honest, it’s the solitude that I enjoy most. An interesting dimension relative to my fly fishing experience is that my friends understand this and share my beliefs ~ we can be alone together. For the most part we stay out of each other’s way and give each other physical space. Oh, as I have grown older I have to admit that I enjoy more being with my friends while I fish and will even upon occasion whilst in the mist of a really good run step aside and say, “why don’t you give it a shot?” Once again, it is just fun to watch. At 30 years of age this was not possible for me.
Occasionally, I will venture out on fishing trips “by myself” usually by necessity because friends have other things to do. Being retired, I often find this to be the case. But, as I’ve said before I enjoy the solitude. Last fall on one of my solo trips I arrived at my destination fishing spot a little early and was taking my time rigging up when a Jeep SUV pulled up behind me. A fellow of a certain type gets out and commences talking with/to/at me. “Have you fished here before? Is it any good? What fly do you usually use? etc.” I politely responded as best I could under the circumstances. The guy walks back to his SUV, quickly rigs up, and begins walking down to the river. I said, “you are not walking in on me are you?” To which he replies, “yes, I guess I am. I got down here first.” Now in my younger days that response might have begun as we say one of those “teachable moments”. Fortunately, this particular river has about seventy miles of paved road running next to it ~ access is not a problem and the “good spots” are many. I was irritated to say the least, but I calmed down and thought, “well, I guess he needs the solitude more than I do” and drove on up the river. As a kid growing up in Montana you never messed with a fellow’s girl, and you never ever stepped in on a fellow while he was fly fishing. Gentlemen just didn’t do that sorta thing.
As a retired accounting professor I realize the important of ethics and how difficult it can be to teach ethics. I also understand the concept of situational ethics. I also grew to appreciate that with young people, simple ignorance was often the basis of poor manners, i.e. they simply didn't know what was expected of them. Fortunately, most of the fly fishers I have met have been highly ethical and thoughtful people. Unfortunately as with most things in life it’s the exception to the rule that we dwell on. Worst thing I could think of was, “he must have been a lawyer and a small claims one at that!” lol ~ just kidding!!
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Because I exceeded the maximum number of symbols allowed for a comment I decided to paste this response on to the original blog. ~ gordon
David,
The thought occurred to me that some of our friends on this site might consider us to be somewhat "snobbish". We have the luxury of fishing in some fairly remote places where the chance of human encounter is slight ~ well at least small. In turn we consider our privacy ~space~ to be a "right". As our population increases the chance of encounter with other folks obviously increases. I was reminded of this while fishing with a good friend in Wisconsin where he lives. The area we were in was sparsely populated but the interaction with other humans was definitely greater than it was in Northern Idaho. There definitely was a slightly different set of ethics regarding our fishing conduct.
A close friend of mine had the opportunity to fish in England last Spring. It was interesting to learn of their customs and of the environment in which they fished. Good manners are certainly influenced by the sociological environment within which they exist. More people ~ more chance of personal encounters ~ more rules ~ I am sure.
Would be interesting to hear from our UK friends on this topic. As an example, is the old saying attributed to the English true that "good form" requires that you cast only to a rising fish.
Are there rules of conduct that we should be aware of as pressure increases on our favorite fishing sites?
Speaking for myself, I enjoy being with my friends while fishing. I honestly do. But to be perfectly honest, it’s the solitude that I enjoy most. An interesting dimension relative to my fly fishing experience is that my friends understand this and share my beliefs ~ we can be alone together. For the most part we stay out of each other’s way and give each other physical space. Oh, as I have grown older I have to admit that I enjoy more being with my friends while I fish and will even upon occasion whilst in the mist of a really good run step aside and say, “why don’t you give it a shot?” Once again, it is just fun to watch. At 30 years of age this was not possible for me.
Occasionally, I will venture out on fishing trips “by myself” usually by necessity because friends have other things to do. Being retired, I often find this to be the case. But, as I’ve said before I enjoy the solitude. Last fall on one of my solo trips I arrived at my destination fishing spot a little early and was taking my time rigging up when a Jeep SUV pulled up behind me. A fellow of a certain type gets out and commences talking with/to/at me. “Have you fished here before? Is it any good? What fly do you usually use? etc.” I politely responded as best I could under the circumstances. The guy walks back to his SUV, quickly rigs up, and begins walking down to the river. I said, “you are not walking in on me are you?” To which he replies, “yes, I guess I am. I got down here first.” Now in my younger days that response might have begun as we say one of those “teachable moments”. Fortunately, this particular river has about seventy miles of paved road running next to it ~ access is not a problem and the “good spots” are many. I was irritated to say the least, but I calmed down and thought, “well, I guess he needs the solitude more than I do” and drove on up the river. As a kid growing up in Montana you never messed with a fellow’s girl, and you never ever stepped in on a fellow while he was fly fishing. Gentlemen just didn’t do that sorta thing.
As a retired accounting professor I realize the important of ethics and how difficult it can be to teach ethics. I also understand the concept of situational ethics. I also grew to appreciate that with young people, simple ignorance was often the basis of poor manners, i.e. they simply didn't know what was expected of them. Fortunately, most of the fly fishers I have met have been highly ethical and thoughtful people. Unfortunately as with most things in life it’s the exception to the rule that we dwell on. Worst thing I could think of was, “he must have been a lawyer and a small claims one at that!” lol ~ just kidding!!
~~
Because I exceeded the maximum number of symbols allowed for a comment I decided to paste this response on to the original blog. ~ gordon
David,
The thought occurred to me that some of our friends on this site might consider us to be somewhat "snobbish". We have the luxury of fishing in some fairly remote places where the chance of human encounter is slight ~ well at least small. In turn we consider our privacy ~space~ to be a "right". As our population increases the chance of encounter with other folks obviously increases. I was reminded of this while fishing with a good friend in Wisconsin where he lives. The area we were in was sparsely populated but the interaction with other humans was definitely greater than it was in Northern Idaho. There definitely was a slightly different set of ethics regarding our fishing conduct.
A close friend of mine had the opportunity to fish in England last Spring. It was interesting to learn of their customs and of the environment in which they fished. Good manners are certainly influenced by the sociological environment within which they exist. More people ~ more chance of personal encounters ~ more rules ~ I am sure.
Would be interesting to hear from our UK friends on this topic. As an example, is the old saying attributed to the English true that "good form" requires that you cast only to a rising fish.
Are there rules of conduct that we should be aware of as pressure increases on our favorite fishing sites?Comments
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4 Dec 2010 at 06:29Gordon..
What can I say, some people get this and some don’t, fortunately most do though.
Last season on the Oldman I witnessed something that I thought was just ridiculous, but it did appeal to my sense of humour.....
I could see a guy upstream slowly working his way down to a really good pool, another guy downstream walking the bank, heading to the same pool....
When the downstream guy spotted the upstream guy he started running, these 2 characters are about 500 m apart, to lay claim on the pool, to get there he needed to cross the river, and the moron fell in.
Even after all this he verbalized his claim to the pool!
- 4 Dec 2010 at 10:59Gordon
You make an excellent point.
On the post I made on My Home Water “alant” made a comment “Fantastic, you sure are lucky to have that on your doorstep”
Have really wanted to respond to that comment, but wasn’t sure on as to how.
I think that being in Canada and the US we share a common rule in that we are allowed to fish any stream or body of water if we gain access and stay within the high water mark?
Which makes us more lucky than just having this water close at hand.....
Have to admit that the water I have seen and read about in the UK looks fabulous, even more tempting than some of the freestone water I have on my doorstep.
For some reason though, I think that good trout water in the UK is privately owned?
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5 Dec 2010 at 08:05I too look at the UK water with "lustful" eyes. Much of what I have viewed reminds me of the spring creek water that I was familiar with as a youth in the Livingston Montana area. When I visited the U.K. in the early 90's I saw creeks in Wales that reminded me a lot of our free stone creeks. I did not have the opportunity to fish, however. Like you, I had the impression that assess was a definite problem, i.e. private ownership. My friend who fished in the lakes region last spring had a guide who had purchased the right to fish the stream on Thursday afternoons. He enjoy the experience but admitted it was "different". Hope all is well "up North". Cold here. ~ Gordon -
5 Dec 2010 at 20:45I very much enjoy being by my self when I fish, even when I am with others. I am in my pram they are in theirs. Early last season I had the pleasure of taking a young 8 year old boy fishing at a local lake. After about 15 minutes and a bit of impatience on my part I realized it was more important to let the boy fish than it was for me to fish. We both had an enjoyable day. I asked him today if he wants to go again he and about 3 other boys that heard us talking expressed a desire to go. I think I will be busy this next season. Hopefully I can get other dads to go along. Fishing is a wonderful way to create memories for children and dads. - 6 Dec 2010 at 08:46Hi Jerry,
I know what you mean about fishing with children. I really enjoy fishing with my grand kids, but it takes patience. After boat fishing with my older grandson, John ~ he is about 10 years old ~ I decided it was time I got him started on the fine art of fly casting. I rigged up an old fly rod with a old reel. I took off the fly and started him casting, i.e. one o'clock high, back forth, etc. etc. It took him about 3 minutes to figure out if he did it fast enough the fly line made a popping sound like a bull whip. I couldn't convince him that the sound wasn't what we were after. We went back to trolling.
Even as a professor of approximately 30 years, I'm not known for my patience. Maybe next year.
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