17 Aug Just Be Nice

Last week, Spencer Higa, the Fishing Manager at Falcon’s Ledge lodge and I took a quick trip to Wyoming to fish in Star Valley. We had a great time exploring new waters. The final night we were there, we returned to a spot where we had found a number of larger cutthroats and took turns catching them and filming each other doing it. It was the perfect end to a great trip.

Unfortunately, when we returned to the truck (carrying handfuls of trash we collected along the river), we found a note stuck into the driver’s side window, apparently left by the guide who was unloading his clients from his boat when we headed out.

The .com reference on the note apparently was a reaction to the www.UtahFlyGuides.com on the back window of my truck. Certainly, the note didn’t ruin our day, but it was something of a surprise, and it started us discussing the importance of stream etiquette, in all its forms. Here in the West, we are blessed with a great diversity of fishing opportunities. And sure it’s nice when you’ve got a river all to yourself as we are often fortunate to do, but the political realities are such that anglers need each other to protect our rights to do what we love.

Political considerations aside, there is something to be said for common human decency and respect. On that same trip Spencer and I shared greetings with several other anglers, some fishing flies and some throwing bait. All of our other interactions were cordial and even seemed made easy by a shared passion for the outdoors, wild fish and wild rivers.

There just isn’t any place for discourteous behavior on our waters. That this instance apparently came from a member of our “profession” is disheartening to say the least. But it’s not unimaginable. Not anywhere.

The writer John Geirach once wrote something to the effect of, “It may be that there are only two kinds of fishermen: those in your group and the a******s.” He may be right, but it needs to stop and the best way I know to make it stop is to take the initiative to just be nice to those we meet on the river. Share some information. Occasionally, being polite might require that we move on to other waters or even pack it in for the day. There are worse things.

For all of our sport’s claims to being relaxing, contemplative, thought-provoking and even mystical, if we can’t be civil to one another we won’t deserve the rights we seek to preserve.