What is a beek?
You can be called a beek from the moment you walk into a hole, the gear you use, how you use it, how you fight a fish, what you wear, and even how you talk. Here some examples of beeks:
1) You walk in with a tackle box
2) You wear yellow rain gear
3) You aren’t wearing waders
4) You’re wearing rubber boots
5) You show up at 9:00am and say.......doesn’t anybody work anymore
6) You wade into gin clear water and you’ve now spooked all the fish that were right in front of everyone
7) You squeeze in between guys and don’t even talk to them
You stand 4 feet from me
9) You low hole a guy. If you’re a beek, you won’t know what this is
10) When confronted, you don’t understand English after you’ve been speaking it all morning
11) You say......any pinks yet
12) You say......any bites yet (these are called hits or strikes)
13) You say......where’s all the spings (they’re actually called springs)
14) You use a coffee grinder and barely know how to use it
15) You spend half your day with your gear in a tree
16) You're constantly fighting with your bird nest
17) You constantly cast way up river
18) You constantly cast up river over my line
19) You cast down river over my line
20) You use oversize gear for the water you’re fishing (huge hooks, big dink floats, piece of wool 4 inches long never trimmed, 6 foot leader)
21) You use undersized gear for the water you’re fishing (trout spinning rod when there are springs in the river)
22) You floats lays horizontal to the water
23) You’re line is slack in the water while your float drifts downstream
24) You don’t know how to fight a fish
25) You don’t know how to bleed your fish and why you’re even doing it
26) You don’t know how to clean your fish
27) You leave your dead fish in the sun for half a day and wonder why it doesn’t taste very good
Essentially a beek is a rookie. An experienced angler can see a beek a mile away. When a guy walks in to a spot, or even the first few casts.
Is there a problem with being a beek? Well, not really I guess, but it sure isn’t fun fishing beside you. Everyone started out as a beek, nobody knew how to fish the very first time they went out. The ticket is, a true fisherman learns his trade, asks questions, talks to the guys in the know, picks up tips here and there, listens to what people tell him. It’s a guy’s choice if he wants to stay a beek or evolve as a fisherman. I started out as a beek sure. I first used a coffee grinder for my first season when I was 15, then my folks bought me my first Sage rod and baitcaster. I have now fished for 22 years and own 4 centerpins. I loved the sport and I evolved.
The problem I see is that there are so many new fisherman spawned from the huge sockeye run a few years ago and these “fisherman” if you want to call them that, are not evolving. They are still following all the beek examples above because they are truly only there for the meat. This is the other problem, everyone is after meat these days. Take a look at the amount of pinks being bonked these days, you never would have seen that in the past. Take a look at the gong show at the Keith Wilson Bridge, that place used to produce and was a lot of fun but you won’t get me near it anymore. The other problem I see is a lot of the true fisherman are getting squeezed out of “their” spots. Guys are either getting in boats and hitting other water or moving to other systems to have a more enjoyable experience. Some guys refuse to hit the Vedder now.
When I walk into a spot, I survey the water and the other fisherman. I look for the true fisherman, walk up to him and ask how the fishing has been. This guy is usually fishing a pin but don’t be fooled by his gear though. I’ve seen guys decked out with Simms waders and jackets, using Islander CP’s, and don’t know a dam thing about fishing. These are still called beeks.
It has nothing really to do with money as others have mentioned. A guy can get set up with appropriate gear at a fairly reasonable price. If a guy can spend 30 bucks on gas per day to get to the Vedder, he sure as heck can fork out the $400 to get set up.
Being a beek has nothing to do with littering or garbage as other have mentioned. Those are called litterbugs and a disgrace to society. Shame on you!
Snagging is debateable if it’s called a beak or not. In my opinion, it they should be classified as unethical and these rat bastards should be beat with a cue ball in a sock. Don’t fool yourself here either guys, there are people on this site that post fish that have been snagged. They’re among us. They read everyone’s reports of where and when the fish are in, and then head out. Beware when you post a report of your fish and provide the location.
When I first got my centerpin, I went to the Allouette and played around for a while. Nobody else around and I learned before I hit the big time at the Vedder. When I learned how to fly fish, I went to a nearby park without a hook and a piece of wool tied on the end.
The bottom line is folks, if you don’t want to look like a beek or be called a beek, go out and get the proper gear, learn how to use it and practice before hand. Go to a stream near you, go to a park, go to a slow section of the river, or go to the river during slow season. Spend some time at your local tackle shop and learn the lingo. Not many people do this anymore.
You are the only one that can decide if you truly are a beek or not. Whether you want to remain a beek is entirely up to you.
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Topic: What's a beek? (Read 23039 times)