Bronze Supporter
- Messages
- 6,741
- Reactions
- 21,483
There I was with the kids, catching trout on a grassy, thorny bank. Plenty of strangers out there, spaced every 30-50 yards in both directions for a mile. We were in a tighter group so I could help with tangled lines, slimy fish, bloody hooks, etc., probably 20 yards total for 4 of us, basically wherever the weeds were sparse enough to land a fish. Yes, the kids were killing too.
So some dude, who'd been pestering people for smokes and hooks came strolling over between us and threw across one of our lines. He lifted his pole over the kids, reeled back in, and then started casting onto our target snag like we weren't even there!
It didn't turn into an argument or fight. But there was definitely a 3-minute debate about him needing to go find a spot of his own. His opinion was that "it's a free world and there's plenty of room." He took a slightly less intrusive position a few yards upstream, still drifting into our lines 10-20 seconds after each cast.
I was ready to tell him I wanted the hook back that he mooched from me earlier (or just snag him and take it back). But he finally wandered away to panhandle some others. Probably 7-8 minutes start to finish. Problem solved, for my group anyway.
I've fished some much more crowded banks before, but it wouldn't occur to me to just "drop in" on a family, between the adults and kids, and start casting over them because their spot looked promising.
Admittedly, I fish only 2-5 times a year, so I'm hardly the All-Knowing American Angler with all the "rules" stored under my hat. So that's why I'm asking. Was I being overly touchy, or was he just begging for a swift kick in the jimmy?
So some dude, who'd been pestering people for smokes and hooks came strolling over between us and threw across one of our lines. He lifted his pole over the kids, reeled back in, and then started casting onto our target snag like we weren't even there!
It didn't turn into an argument or fight. But there was definitely a 3-minute debate about him needing to go find a spot of his own. His opinion was that "it's a free world and there's plenty of room." He took a slightly less intrusive position a few yards upstream, still drifting into our lines 10-20 seconds after each cast.
I was ready to tell him I wanted the hook back that he mooched from me earlier (or just snag him and take it back). But he finally wandered away to panhandle some others. Probably 7-8 minutes start to finish. Problem solved, for my group anyway.
I've fished some much more crowded banks before, but it wouldn't occur to me to just "drop in" on a family, between the adults and kids, and start casting over them because their spot looked promising.
Admittedly, I fish only 2-5 times a year, so I'm hardly the All-Knowing American Angler with all the "rules" stored under my hat. So that's why I'm asking. Was I being overly touchy, or was he just begging for a swift kick in the jimmy?