Article by Dennis Vander Houwen
Sorry to start this on a negative point, but this is about a bad day on the stream. It was on a sunny Friday when I decided to put off some yard work and get a line wet instead. I was zipping up to one of my close by, go-to streams. It was a nice day and I wasn’t the only one ditching his yard work so many of the pullouts had somebody already parked in them.
Looking at cars in pullouts, I could see the obviously fishermen with rear windows displaying die cut stickers of Patagonia, Simms, and colorful rainbow trout. Other cars, mostly sedans, are folks out that day for rock climbing, hiking or they are picnicking families taking a dip in the stream or throwing their dog sticks right into pools of the prime fishing spots. Grrr… share the river… share the river…
After many twists and turns up the canyon road looking for a place to stop, I finally spotted a favorite pull off but… nope, there was a car parked there already too. I couldn’t tell if it was a fisherman or just someone having a picnic. I took the chance anyhow and parked. I got out of my car and opened the hatch door on my Xterra. Just as I was getting my first boot on, another car pulls in and two fishermen step out and stretch. They clearly are planning to fish in this same spot. One guy popped the trunk and started pulling out rods and rigging them. The other starts to meander towards me.
With no time to put on my second boot, the guy with the out of state plates approaches with a friendly hello. I must quiet my dog who is triggered now by the stranger in dark sunglasses and hats sneaking up on us. I return the hello. He asks me about the breed of my dog. “German shepherd mix,” I say lacing up my boot. He goes on to tell me about a springer spaniel he had… incredible hunter, etc. blah, blah, blah… He then asks me how the fishing is going? I gave him a short answer that “this was my first stop.”
Going further despite my curt answers, he asks “what flies you using?” I quiet the dog again and remain polite, I then go into the whole explanation of kebari, tenkara rods, casting, no drag drift, etc… This is usually something I don’t mind doing, but this is my first stop and I more than “kind of” want to get to the river. He tells me he has heard of tenkara but never tried it, qualifying that he catches “too many big ones to chance using a rod like that.”
Continuing to go on, he tells me about his trip last weekend on some private water and pulls out his phone. Before I can think of a way to stop him, he shows me some pictures of the monster browns he caught. I say “wow, nice fish”, and try to get the rest of my gear together. This is getting rather ridiculous and annoying.
In my head I am trying to solve how I am going to get my dog out of the car and down to the trail without him breaking free and tearing this poor obtuse angler’s throat out. I shake my head and come back to reality that I was having a personal violent fantasy. My dog for the record, is all bark and no bite. Note that no anglers were harmed, and I am not hearing voices or telepathic messages from my dog.
Getting my second boot laced the rest of the way up, I grabbed my rod in hand, a water bottle on my hip, and I started to get my dog leashed up. His buddy shouts over “Hey Jon, are we going to fish or what?” Jon wishes me a good day fishing, tells me “God bless” and that he is going to pray for me. He grabs his rod that his buddy brought over, and they start down the trail ahead of me. Wait… Ahead of me?
I get myself and the dog back into the car and head further upstream, thankful to never see Jon or his buddy again.
I will be honest. The above story is pure fiction. But it is based on several encounters I have had over time. There was also the time that I was once again startled by someone behind me shouting out “HOW’S THE FISHING?!!!” To which I replied “Fishing? I’m not fishing. I’m looking for the body of the guy who startled me last week.”
Joking aside, people are people and are going to do things that are basically clueless and rude. But anglers should learn and know better. Nobody is perfect and I suppose we all find ourselves in a situation sometimes of not knowing what the right thing to do is. I like to think that we are all searching for that “right thing” to do so I am generally forgiving.
It doesn’t take more than a season once you start fishing to realize that there are protocols and etiquette points in fishing that we need to learn and try to follow. They are mostly unwritten things that you learn from experience and by applying the not so common, common sense.
If only someone could put these unwritten rules into words and then others could share those rules?
I present to you,
“The Now Written… Unwritten Rules of Angling Etiquette.”
1. Be Thoughtful of Others: Always consider others’ experiences. Give space both physically and socially and be overtly thoughtful.
2. Don’t Crowd Parking Areas: Avoid pull-offs with more than two cars, this indicates overfished areas. When you do park, walk up or down stream a bit and find unstressed waters.
3. Respect the Early Bird: The first person parked has priority followed equally by the first person on the stream. If someone is ahead of you, let them choose where to fish. You can decide if you’re willing to wait.
4. Limit Socializing: Many anglers prefer solitude. Keep greetings short and sweet. The parking lot is an acceptable place to negotiate a fishing plan. But questions about flies, fishing reports or fishing for secret places is just poor form.
5. Respect Personal Space: Don’t crowd other anglers. Maintain a liberal distance on the stream, at least two or three runs between you. You may go past another angler. Just go past them again two or more runs.
6. Wade Carefully: Minimize water disturbance by wading only when necessary. Move upstream from the shoreline and enter again carefully to avoid fouling the waters.
7. Avoid Startling Anglers: Let fishermen fish without interruptions. Don’t shout questions; be mindful of their focus and private time.
8. Pack Out Your Trash: Pack out your trash and consider picking up any you find. Carry a garbage bag or fill your net.
9. Educate Politely: If needed, politely educate others about etiquette. Lead by example, use “please,” and avoid confrontations.
10. Apologize when needed: Everyone makes mistakes. It happens. Be the one who is working to do their best.
Dennis Vander Houwen is an early adopter of tenkara, he lives and fishes all over Colorado. For more information on living simply or approaching a richer life with fewer things check out his blog, Tenkara Path, where you can also support his tenkara lifestyle by purchasing one of his amazing, handmade tenkara line spool, fly keepers. Learn more about Tenkara Lifestyles here.
This article originally appeared in the 2024 print issue of Tenkara Angler magazine.
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It’s a big problem on crowded rivers. I’m very egoistic when it concerns fishing, and prefer to fish alone on the stream. If I see too many anglers in popular spot, I’d better drive to some other area . Most of the people (including anglers) are lazy and concentrated near the convenient parking spots. Once I fished all day, hiked along the river, and spotted nobody farther then half mile distance from camping and parking area.
Another excellent article that needs to be heeded! People have lost respect for others’ personal space. In an overcrowded world, I go fishing to ESCAPE people, not socialize with them. If you want to talk to me about fishing, hit me up on Facebook, not on the river!
It’s a pretty Sad state of affairs when an angler says don’t talk to me about fishing on the river but instead hit me up on Facebook. I guess that’s the environs these days.
My solution for this is to find and fish places where I won’t run into anyone else. My rule for great fishing is to find places that are more difficult to get to. Sometimes I find an area on a stream that gets traffic but MY sectioin is more of a boonie-crash. Generally, these areas stay that way because, thankfully, most fly fishers are lazier than I am and don’t want to do the work. Yesterday, on my difficult-to-access small stream I saw NO sign of anyone – no trash or footprints at all – and, more importantly, I caught 20 lovely rainbows in the 2 hours of fishing in the evening, from 8 inches to 11. The walk out of there was all the more enjoyable because I had this fishing to myself.
I feel like this is strongly being effected by your location. Having lived on the Front Range shortly, I get it. It was difficult to find places of solitude, even on week days, whether it was a stream, climbing area, bike ride, whatever. I happily moved to a place where solitude was the given, not the exception. I now find myself a whole lot less prickly when I run into the odd individual who wants to socialize. Not that I disagree with the common etiquette of leaving people to their own devices, that’s my default mode as well. It just no longer bothers me when I meet someone who has a different personality, and the occasional chat has given me a lot of great shared experiences and netted me free beers, flies, and even access to private waters. I get where you’re coming from, it may just be good to consider that location may be influencing the tone of your interactions. I just try not to live up to the image of fly fisherman being high nosed and unapproachable. There’s a middle ground to be had
Maybe leave the barking dog home
that’s quite a littany of opinions written up as the rules of fly fishing. I love high holeing the out of staters, especially the Texassassins.
the unwritten rule of the neighborhood is that on my home water I’m the local so show some respect or stay home and fish in your own state.
Just a reminder to all readers. The story I told I clearly admitted to making up as a conglomerate of actual experiences I have had. I had one person contact me directly about my “vicious dog”.. apparently the use of my dog as a literary device was too much for them. I was really clear about that I thought. It was a fun article to write and hopefully we can all work at being thoughtful.
Maybe an actual true story is better than a literary device.
Let’s not confuse Sy with anything that requires mental work