DS Fishing Blog

I live in the city.  It's a pretty big and bustling one too.  I've learned through experience that to move forward or to get what you want you often have to be aggressive.  This is nowhere more true than in traffic on the freeway.  In my opinion, besides drunk drivers, no one is more dangerous on the freeway than the person who slows down to try and get over to the exit lane.  I'm talking about the person who is so scared and frustrated that nobody has responded to their signal and let them merge that they end up nearly stopped when traffic all around them is moving at 45 plus miles per hour.

No one is accomodating because it is now dangerous for them to slow down (people use freeways to accelerate and move faster in my experience). I am blown away by this action because it is so obviously hazzardous; being aggressive and accelerating would bring more control and options to this situation.  I'm baffled how foreign this concept is to some drivers.  Now, in my city if you signal, a strange phenomenon happens.  People will tend to speed up so as to close the gap you are trying move into.  (I'm getting to the fly fishing, trust me.)  

Yes, it all gets very complicated, but over time if you are to survive, you learn to understand the dynamics of freeway driving.  In my case it works out very safely.  Getting cut off is part of driving in my city.  You have to learn to accept it or bad things can happen.   Fly fishing is not about survival (for the angler), although, I  do think it might kill me if I couldn't do it.  And, slowing down and being less aggressive usually produces the desired results.  Traffic is part of the reason I like to fly fish.

Over the years, I think more city folk have taken to fly fishing partly because it offers the complete opposite of what I just described:  Beautiful surroundings, fresh air, solitude, a slow pace, and, other than trying to catch some fish, no agenda.  Part of the problem is that more people are taking up the sport of fly fishing and the amount of trout streams is fixed, and, in some areas, actually getting smaller.  This creates a little more pressure on the fish, and more stream side crowds than many are uncomfortable with.  Unfortunately, just like getting cut off on the highway, you better learn how to deal with it.  I remember walking into a fly shop last season and asking the guy at the counter how a certain section of river was fishing.  He responded, "Fine... if you don't mind being elbow to elbow with people who dont respect other fishermen and common fishing decency!"  If I remember he was actually yelling at the end and everyone was looking at me trying to figure out what I had said as I had obviously insulted his mother.  So, now you have city folk coming to these blue ribbon waters and inadvertantly treating other fishermen the same way they would other drivers on a freeway.  

Another part of the problem is that there just isn't much written on stream side etiquette.  So, based on my experiences and what I've researched on the subject, here is my 2 cents.  First of all, I believe if one is going to take the time to learn how to fly fish, and appreciate the rewards of our sport, then they have already moved to the top of the angling heirarchy in my book.  Given that they have an appreciation for the aesthetics of the trout and the art of casting a fly to one, then they must also have an understanding of how seeing a trout rise to a dry fly causes the heart to skip a beat.  So if we all know what that feels like, then it would be aweful for someone to rob us of that experiece, or worse, if we were responsible for robbing someone else of that which has become vital to us.

Now, there are some selfish people out there with fly rods, but I think most just don't know what the rules are.  I think these are the same ones who don't catch much, which says much of their streamside experience.  So, let's start from square one:  Do unto others...

I love the solitude,  I rarely chit chat with others when I'm fishing, but sometimes I do.  It really depends on the mood I'm in.  Recently, I was giving a guy I saw on the water a wide berth to give him his space.  Well, he waved me over and started talking like we were old friends.  Turns out he thought I was his buddy until I got closer.  Well, we laughed at that and chatted for about 20 minutes.  In that time, he gave me about half a dozen flies that he had tied and insisted I fish the pool he had been working with one of them (they worked great by the way and I've tied a bunch myself).   That guy was cool, and I've met some other nice people on the water, yet every once in awhile I run into some grumpy dude who acts like he owns the stream a mile up and down river from where ever he happens to be.  It happens.