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[greybark]

    Hey Nicole , I was not refferring to flyfishers and apologies if I inferred so , I also am well aware of the defination of rotational angling .Thank you Rodney for expanding what I wanted to post in a most elegant way .

[Nicole]

Sorry for misinterpreting you greybark, no offense taken

I will happily walk around you and I'll also say hi out there btw

Cheers,
Nicole

[Athezone]

My 2 pennies worth, I fished Lickman today and there were people everywhere and among them were quite a few elderly retired men and  one of them was John. Hes 82 years old he said and when he fishes he sits in his chair. A nicer fisherman you would never meet but rotational fishing would'nt work for him and probably not for many other elderly gentlemen so I am all for what Greybark said. Myself, I sometimes will fence post and sometimes I'm on the move. My choice. Being mouthy and confrontational is not a good solution. People are nice most of the time when dealt respect but push the other way and see what happens. Making rotational fishing a regulation, Uh, I don't think so. How would you ever enforce it and like taxes there really are enough rules and regs. John, if you read this thanks for telling me about that
secret spot. I love it.Thanks all.

[Geff_t]

From my observations of the growth of quite a few young anglers on the discussion forum in the last several years, I can relate to what Greybark was implying. Some have become experienced and familiar with the Chilliwack River fishery after taking in advices from others, but they seem to have forgotten the grassroot of fishing. New fishers are frowned upon. Someone new and not familiar with the Vedder, stands at one spot to fish, is frowned upon. Someone catches his very first steelhead and is extremely excited, makes a mistake by holding the fish wrongly so he could capture the joy that we have all experienced, gets bashed upon as if we want to humiliate the person instead of helping him to understand. Instead of helping those who we once were, we decide to exclude them because the river is already too busy, hoping that eventually they would just go away. Some go as far as judging a person without know him or her by rating the clothings, rod and reel, terminal tackle, as Greybark has pointed out. I don't actually call this "elitism" anymore, the word is used so often that it kind of has lost its meaning. This is poor attitude, and it's unfortunately shooting in our own foot.

You are so right. When reading this I was thinking of an article I just read called "the evolution of the angler" . It is in the latest edition of Sport fishing BC. It was a really good read.

[nosey]

Rotational angling as it's done in Europe where people line up at the top of the run and work there way through 1 at the time taking one cast then moving before casting again seems to work fine although it's done on rivers where you are paying to fish and everyone is in agreement before they start. Unfortunately a lot of people in the Thomson seem to think rotational angling means you can go stand at the top of a run take thirty or forty casts before moving and yell at anyone that fishes within 400 meters downstream of them that they are taking away their water. In the Vedder there are all kinds of fishermen, old, young, stationary, moving, whatever we just have to adjust our ethics so as not to interfere with those others fishing if your moving though a run and somebody is fishing stationary just fish up to him, then move around and fish below or above them depending on which way you are moving, I don't want to force anyone to move because I am, I would like to force people to quit flossing but that has no place on this thread. Even when the Vedder is crowded there is still lots of water to fish just take your time and be courteous, as for the people picket fencing a hole at least it keeps them away from where I am.  You have to have faith in the gear and bait you're using and realize that just because other people have fished the water doesn't mean that you are not going to catch one.

[goblin59]

As anyone who has fished the vedder for years knows.... there are more and more anglers every year. Through word of mouth and forums such as this one, they gravitate to where the fish are being caught. If they choose to stand in one run for the time they are out, so be it. I think most would agree.... the more water you cover, the better your chances of hooking fish. To force anglers to more just doesn't seem right to me. If we wanted to take it that far why don't we just divide the licences up into time slots, maybe you only get to fish for a month but there's less than half the anglers out.

[blaydRnr]

wow, its been a while since i've posted....been more of a lurker than a participant, but i just don't get it.  i've also been fishing the vedder/chilliwack system for a long time and even to this day, i manage to find new water to try out. who cares if someone decides to fencepost? there's over 40kms of fishable changing water that can be reached (by those who truly have the desire to explore).
 if  someone happens to catch up to me while fishing a run, they're more than welcome to fish through (i'll simply step back for a quick break and allow them to work their way down).....usually not a problem.  seems some of the suggestions being recommended is being fuelled by self entitlement to certain locations....however, i do agree people need to learn river etiquette, at the time they're learning how to fish...with that, the more seasoned veterans need to learn how to recognize beginners and should make the effort to try to help them out.

i'm also familiar with rotational fishing. great for smaller systems with limited anglers....but the vedder?....with dozens of anglers (doesn't matter which hole)...with different skill levels.... using different terminal tackle?....good luck.

[veddereject]

Rotational angling is definitely a lost art on most river systems in the Lower Mainland, due mainly in part to the increased numbers of fisherman new to the sport with little or no understanding of the heritage behind angling etiquette.  On some of the more pressured systems such as the Vedder, old time etiquette may be lost forever simply because times have changed and the flux of new sportsmen has increased exponentially.  Perhaps fenceposting is an evolutionary response to overcrowding, much like the decrease of the resource is a response to climate change.  Whatever the case may be, true enjoyment of the sport is essential to its growth and popularity and at least a few rules should be observed fervently by anglers new and old in order to maintain a longstanding fishery.  If you're like me, you prefer to avoid the crowded banks, but in a growing city with accessible waters seemingly in short supply, we have to try and preserve the respect for one another, and more importantly, that of our cherished past-time.

[nosey]

The very idea of making it illegal for some old guy (or young guy as the case may be) to find a place to fish and stand there and fish stationary just rubs me the wrong way, also I find fishing with gear I fish through a run probably five times faster than a lot of spey fishermen with their heavy tippets and their long slow sweeps, and they also take up way more room on the runs than gear fishermen as you can probably fish about twenty bait rods in the same amount of room that six spey fishermen. Spey rods like bouncing betties are the new kids on the block when it comes to fishing BC river systems and I for one do not want to see rule changes to accommodate these new fisheries and put the traditional methods at a disadvantage. The interpretation of the rotational fishery rules is so up to the individual that I can see it causing nothing but grief for everyone involved, say for instance you were the first one in at Lickman road for example and for all intents and purposes chose the head of the run to be the top of that gut that everyone flosses in. Now you being a slow methodical fisherman start to work your way downsteam while 20 other fishermen show up waiting patiently behind you to follow you through, now someone 300 hundreds yards downstream in that bait fishing water you can see down there actually has the audacity to start fishing, what do you do about it? I mean he is taking away your water under rotational fishing etiquette he has the nerve to fish downstream from you when you started fishing the run first it doesn't matter that at the speed you're travelling you won't be that far downstream for another two hours that or that you already have forty people lined up the bank behind you waiting to fish through at you're pace he is technically fishing your water and if you use the same ethics as  a lot of the spey fisherman on the Thomson that would give you the right to yell at him, insult him and generally complain to all your buddies in the coffee shop after about how you were beaked out of your spot by some bait fisherman chuckin guts. Keep the rotational fishing someplace else and just use a little common sense and courtesy towards your fellow fisherman for everyones sake, I've got nothing against the way you fish I just don't want it forced on me.

[Rodney]

Good points Nosey, especially the part regarding the difficulties both anglers and conservation officers would face when it comes to practicing rotational fishery as a rule, because it isn't black and white. I think the general rule that we can all agree on is that, with some consideration for others around you, everyone would have a good fishing outing, with or without a fish. The only point in your post that I don't exactly agree is the speyfishing part. For some reason there is a assumption by most gear anglers that speyfishermen are flossing fish with their sink tips. Speyfishing, when done correctly, can avoid foul hooking fish most of the time. It has been practiced in Europe for decades and most of the time the fishing depth is close to the surface where Atlantic salmon are induced to come up and attack the skated fly. Any style of fishing can snag a salmon if that is the intention of the fisherman. Speyfishermen also indeed require more room on both sides when casting, so gear anglers should respect that space and provide the room needed.

[charles]

I fish the last saturaday.  It was heavy snow, sometimes rain.  It was cold.  I was fishing above a fellow.  He was an old gentleman and I finished fishing the water above him before he did his.  In the mean time, I actually stopped fishing and trying to warm up my hands.  But I still finished before he did.  I walked up to him and asked if I can fish a distance below him.  Had a nice chat and off I went.  He was happy fishing his area and so was I.  

Instead of applying more rules, why not focus our energy to better educate others WHILE we are on the float.  
You asked nicely if you can fish below some guy, and hopefully next time, he will do the same cause you are setting an example to him.  Show an example for picking up trash, lose lines, leads, the art of C&R, etc...  

So what people stand in one place...  I do both.  Some day more walking than fishing, other day, more fishing than walking...  You can't tell me to hurry up and fan cast.  I like to enjoy my time out in the river rather I catch or not.  I don't want 50 people behind me staring at me with angry eyes hoping I should hurry up and finish my cast...  Come on now...  The enjoyment of fishing is not just fishing, it is who you are fishing with, the natural, the time in the water, the sound of the eagles, and the ice cold water...

I also see how rotating fishing method can benefit as well.  If you choose to practice that and see a guy standing there, ask and go around him.  

[Nicole]

I acutally witnessed very good etiquitte over the weekend...

Two gentlemen from this forum came over and said hi, and asked if they could step in above me... I happened to be flyfishing at the time...

I was very shocked! No one has ever done that before...

And for the record you don't need to ask to step in above a person flyfishing, only ask to step in below them.

Observe first if they are stepping through the run. If they are not moving at all, ask if you can fish below.

But by all means say hi regardless of what you're doing

Nice meeting you two! You guys looked pretty happy to be out there, and that put a smile on my face...

Cheers,
Nicole

[pepsitrev]

 ;Dwow nice to see that there is still some polite fishermen out there.

[Rodney]

People from this site actually practice good fishing etiquettes in real life??

I think Charles and Nicole's examples just show that positive threads such as this one spread the words and influence the fishery quite quickly. If you make a dozen anglers' experience on the water pleasant, then that dozen of anglers will possibly do the same for 12 more dozens. That's over 150 people who use the river. Overtime, such little consideration of others can really change the entire fishery positively.

[BwiBwi]

This is getting off topic but how about limited licenses(lottery based) for nonresident(Sardis/Chilliwack area) anglers or even a separate license like the Thompson.

CK this is like saying you have to have special license to cross Port Mann Bridge for anyone that's living outside of lowermainland.  We all paid for the upkeep and establishment of the dykes, hatchery... etc.  No localized licenses based on local residence should ever be implemented.