My weekdays are pretty straight out with work. Not being confined to an office is a great benefit however, we are a numbers driven company and my job is to bring in a number so I fish crazy early in the mornings so I can be home by 8am, clean up and head off for my day by 9. Monday morning was just that routine. I was on the Farmington by 5am enjoy the cool morning and complete solitude of that hour. I fished a particular area for about 45 minutes before moving to a spot that is fairly well known amongst the local crowd. In my opinion, this spot is good for 1 person, given the location I was fishing to. After about 10 minutes, another angler appeared, rigged up and dropped in with barely a "good morning" and began to fish about 25 to 35 ft from me. Yes, I was pissed but I kept my composure and continued to fish.
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| my thoughts on angler's #1 and # 2 |
At this point, it's around 6:30 or so and a second angler appears from the woods and again, without any acknowledgement, proceeds to settle in about 30ft below me...what the fuck, are you both idiots? Now I am pissed...there was NO ONE around the river that morning so you to fools think it would be enjoyable to hope in right on top of me? Sure, this is a good little spot to fish but I think I would have said hello and kept walking. It was at this point that I decided to cut bait and head somewhere else. My Irish did get the best of me and a couple of sarcastic comments were directed toward my 2 burrows as I departed.
I grew up playing golf and, as bad as I was in my younger days, my dad always said, " if you are going to play bad, play fast " - golf is full of playing etiquette as is fishing and I find that there are enough people, doing both, who choose to ignore these courtesies. I have only been a "serious " angler for about 5 years now and still think it's better to give someone a little latitude rather than jump in nearby, regardless of how good the water looks...it's a big freaking river...I'm sure you know a few other spots so hope in your car or go for a walk and find one. I truly do not begrudge anyone their time or space on the water but I do ask that you be smart about it and consider that others are seeking the same thing you are...some time alone, some space, some peace, you name it...
Ok, soap box back in the closet for now. Tightlines!
Amen! Fortunately, I'm mostly a small stream angler so I don't have to worry about seeing other people. I see most of this behavior on the Farmy. I suppose because it attracts the highest number of anglers. I've been fishing the Housy more the past two years and don't see it as much over there.
ReplyDeleteit's tough with the Farmy being so close to home. I might hit the Housy with my family this weekend - I'll make sure not to walk in front of the fish if I see you :)
DeleteLike Steve I to am a small stream guy. But I have experienced the same crap as you did on some of the larger waters. There are more ass holes, than asses in this world.
ReplyDeleteWell said Alan and, sadly, very true! Aside from those beautiful brookies and the scenery, yet another reason to enjoy those small streams!
DeleteUnfortunately you had the displeasure that I ranted about myself, numerous times. The best one I got as opposed to a "Hello" was, "Now you got company". What was even worse was some hater got on my blog and ranted about how I don't own the river and didn't grow up here. I guess that is the bar in terms of how we get treated streamside..... "Oh, hey that's Strolis over there, he grew up north of here and it's not his river so lets ransack his moment".....
ReplyDeleteSometimes, I do the bigger thing and be above the situation, reel up, hook the fly to the keeper and leave....
Cheers to solitude..
funny, I didn't know manners and being considerate were dictated by where you grew up...I guess ignorance knows no boundary.
DeleteI agree Steve, manners, common sense is out the door these days. People have no consideration and no concept of what that is. I usually try to avoid areas where there are others or give other anglers a wide berth.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by Pete...luckily, it's a big river and there are lots of places to hide :)
DeleteI hear you both loud and clear. I guess the trick is to not let it bother you so much, but sometimes it is really hard. Keep fishing, it never seems to disappoint you, no matter what the outcome is.
ReplyDeleteexactly...the good thing is I usually let it go at that moment as I just want to get back to fishing!!
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