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[Matt]

Rotational angling works really well to let a bunch of people fish a section of river harmoniously.  Its really simple and prevents conflicts.  Furthermore, most fish take your presentation first couple cast, so constantly covering new water only increases your effectiveness.

*Avoid entering the water downstream of another angler who is already fishing, unless invited to do so
*Leave adequate room between the downstream angler and yourself but do not remain stationary unless no one is following you
*After catching a fish, step out of the line and return to the head of the pool, or start of the line
*If you are not sure about the local etiquette, avoid any problems by first inquiring about the procedures from the anglers already on the water

If everyone follows this, it works really well.  When someone deviates from it, people get upset.  If you wonder why someone got upset when you stepped below them, that's why.  Its in the regs: http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/fw/fish/ethics/

[CohoMan]

I always try to abide with what you are saying.

What would you do if the person seems to be stuck and not moving? Do you wait or go up to him/her and ask ?

[DRP79]

I have some questions on this as well. When there is no choice but to go down stream of someone, how much space is proper? Also, when working your way through and come up to someone slower, how close should you get to them before just lap frogging them and moving down river?

[roseph]

When there is no choice but to go down stream of someone, how much space is proper? Also, when working your way through and come up to someone slower, how close should you get to them before just lap frogging them and moving down river?

Not sure how there would be 'no choice but to go downstream'.  If someone is at the head of a run, I usually ask if it's ok to fish above them and wait until they've moved enough to give us adequate room. 

If I come up to someone slower than me I will usually fish their pace or move on somewhere else if it's too slow.  I will ask to fish through only if it looks like they've planted themselves and want to really work that one spot.

[Matt]

I always try to abide with what you are saying.

What would you do if the person seems to be stuck and not moving? Do you wait or go up to him/her and ask ?

Ask them if you can fish through and start below them.

I have some questions on this as well. When there is no choice but to go down stream of someone, how much space is proper? Also, when working your way through and come up to someone slower, how close should you get to them before just lap frogging them and moving down river?

Divide the river up into sections of water that one would fish without reeling up and stepping out of the river.  I can't see anyone reasonable getting upset if they were fishing a run and you fished in the pool below.  As for distance, I wouldn't go any closer than the length of line I'm fishing so that my hook wasn't swinging past the guy as i was retrieving/ reeling in.

[milo]

I have some questions on this as well. When there is no choice but to go down stream of someone, how much space is proper? Also, when working your way through and come up to someone slower, how close should you get to them before just lap frogging them and moving down river?

It varies from situation to situation, but a good rule of thumb is (when drift-fishing) not to allow your float to go further downstream from where the person below you is standing (unless you have asked beforehand).
In salmon season, this is rather difficult to observe on the more popular flows, so you are best off asking the guy below what he/she is comfortable with.
Most people respond surprisingly pleasantly when approached in a respectful manner, and will just tell you to fish and not worry. In case you run into an idiot that starts yelling profanities at you, just move on. There's plenty more water below him.

Fly fishing is an entirely different ball game. Double-handers especially. Those guys need at least twice the space drifters do. Anything less than 50 feet is 'dangerous' territory.

[Noahs Arc]

If a guy is fence posting PASS but you had better keep moving once you pass otherwise stay behind him, either way if he has a clue he will be on his way soon to other waters

[DRP79]

Not sure how there would be 'no choice but to go downstream'.  If someone is at the head of a run, I usually ask if it's ok to fish above them and wait until they've moved enough to give us adequate room.  

If I come up to someone slower than me I will usually fish their pace or move on somewhere else if it's too slow.  I will ask to fish through only if it looks like they've planted themselves and want to really work that one spot.

I mean that when heading to a spot and you see someone working an area, how far down from them is acceptable to start casting, 100 yards, 200 yards, more?  It's just not practical to slow your pace to a crawl because of someone slower or to pack up and look for a new spot every time you see someone. You would end up walking and driving much more than fishing and that is not what I want to do when going to the river.

[Matt]

It varies from situation to situation, but a good rule of thumb is (when drift-fishing) not to allow your float to go further downstream from where the person below you is standing (unless you have asked beforehand).
In salmon season, this is rather difficult to observe on the more popular flows, so you are best off asking the guy below what he/she is comfortable with.
Most people respond surprisingly pleasantly when approached in a respectful manner, and will just tell you to fish and not worry. In case you run into an idiot that starts yelling profanities at you, just move on. There's plenty more water below him. So true, I've never got a rude answer to asking If I can fish through past someone.

Fly fishing is an entirely different ball game. Double-handers especially. Those guys need at least twice the space drifters do. Anything less than 50 feet is 'dangerous' territory. Literally!  I've seen fresh 20# tippet snap when the fly got caught on something while being launched with a Skagit line.  Getting hit by the line alone is painful.  If that fly touches you it won't just penetrate your waders/ jacket, it will rip flesh.  Give spey guys a wide berth for your own safety.

[Matt]

I mean that when heading to a spot and you see someone working an area, how far down from them is acceptable to start casting, 100 yards, 200 yards, more?  It's just not practical to slow your pace to a crawl because of someone slower or to pack up and look for a new spot every time you see someone. You would end up walking and driving much more than fishing and that is not what I want to do when going to the river.

Ask them if its a longer run or fish below wherever they'd have to reel in their gear (end of a pool, set of rapids etc).

[adecadelost]

I mean that when heading to a spot and you see someone working an area, how far down from them is acceptable to start casting, 100 yards, 200 yards, more?  It's just not practical to slow your pace to a crawl because of someone slower or to pack up and look for a new spot every time you see someone. You would end up walking and driving much more than fishing and that is not what I want to do when going to the river.

I would say if your in the same run there is no acceptable distance downstream to step in.  If someone is working the run it's only right to step in above them and not below.  No matter how long the run is.  If the person is fence posting that's a different story but stop and watch for a minute.  Too many people get to a run and race in so fast.  Stop and watch what others are doing, if they are stepping down, even slowly, allow them to move down a bit and then step in up top.  If they are moving too slow for you then sit and wait a bit for them to get a good distance ahead then start working it.  You will often find that once you step in and show you're moving as well they will increase their pace a bit too.

On Tuesday a buddy and I showed up at a run likely about 50 yards or so long with 4 guys already on it.  We stopped and waited and they noticed us and started working down the run.  We moved up top and fished down above them.  They worked down to a lower run and then returned back up to the top.  We had 6 guys effectively working a fairly small run with no problems.  We had spey, single handers, pins, and drifters and it worked great.

As a Spey guy it's nice to hear people saying to leave room.  We can however fish fairly closely with gear guys, in fact a gear buddy and I have fished almost shoulder to shoulder in a canyon section, but I wouldn't recommend getting that close to a stranger and casting.  With Spey casters you have to remember that they often need to swing line upstream to set their anchor.

Best rule of thumb with any caster is STOP take a minute and watch what they are doing and give them the appropriate room.  It's not going to kill you to take an extra minute.  Hell sit down have a beer or a bite to eat and asses the situation.  You'll also likely have some better success when you take that extra time to read the water and plan your attack.

[Nucks]

Here’s a story for you on fishing etiquette..........

Last year I was fishing the Vedder for steelhead with another buddy. We parked in a popular spot, walked in, and saw lots of people. I try to avoid fishing with others so I walked downstream and around the corner. I found two other guys fishing this sweet hole. I stood back, surveyed the water, watched these two older guys for a bit and it was obvious they knew what they were doing. There was about 50 meters of fishable water above them. I walked up to the guys and said hello. One guy turned around and grunted, the other fellow did nothing  . I stepped a little closer, and asked how the fishing was. One guy was receptive to a conversation so we ended up chatting for a few minutes. Then I asked, you mind if I fish above you guys? He said “ya sure, go for it”. There was a pause, and then he said “thanks”. I said thanks for what? He said for asking if you could fish above us  . Then we got into a discussion about fishing ethics and the lack that is on the rivers these days  . These guys were in there late 40’s, early 50’s so they’ve been around when fishing etiquette was alive and kicking. I’m mid thirties and have been around long enough that I’ve witnessed some etiquette and have always practiced it myself.

So I fish upstream for 20 minutes, and get nothing. I look downstream at the guy that I was talking with, and he gives me the head nod to fish in his spot  . I gather my belongings, and head down to him. We have a chat and he tells me that there is a steelie on the far side and he wants me to give it a go. He lights a smoke, stands back, and lets me swing my pin. I fish it for about 5 minutes in the spot he tells me, float down, fish on  ! I bring a nice 7 lb doe steelie to shore. He shakes my hand and takes a picture of me and my fish and tells me he gets more joy out of someone else catching a fish than he does  .

This goes to show you that fishing etiquette does go a long way and can still be seen every now and then...........even on the Vedder  


Here’s another story from the same day, just a few hours after.

Same fishing hole, just me and my buddy now. Two young guys (late teenagers/ mid twenties) come around the corner fishing their centerpins. They don’t come up and chat at all, they just start fishing right away from the top down to my buddy. I was fishing a little further downstream at this point. These guys fish the hole right up to my buddy, probably within 10 feet, let their float drift about 20 feet past him  , then move around him, probably 10 feet below him again and keep fishing  . You can see where this is going. My buddy is fairly confrontational , and he gets into it with those two guys. Anxiety levels ramp up within seconds, I walk up and ask what’s going on. The young guys said your buddy just started screamin at us for no reason. I explain the scenario that happened earlier on in the day to these young lads, they say nothing, and move on  .

Same fishing hole, two different approaches, two different results. It all depends on your approach  

Just thought I’d share this with everyone since there seems to be an etiquette theme going on lately.

[Nucks]

  Hell sit down have a beer or a bite to eat and asses the situation. 

You said asses 

[CohoMan]

I think we all started fishing without "thinking" about others when we started.

Eventually, we learn the proper ways and hopefully, these two learn to appreciate your story a bit more and be better fishermen.

Heck, when I started someone told me fishing with just a bare hook was the proper way to catch a fish. Not knowing any better, I tried it but pulling a fish backward is just not my thing. I learned from talking to people and over the years I became better at what I do.

Live and learn.

[blaydRnr]

great stories that we can all relate to...i was fishing boxing day and the exact same thing happened to myself and a couple of buddies, where we were waiting to fish a run someone was working when this yahoo corked in below all of us right into the tail out.