Fly Fishing - The Unspoken Rules

I was talking to a fellow fly fisher about the conduct of others we encounter during our fly fishing trips.

Seems that everyone is in a hurry, rushing to get to their favourite spot first. Some fly fishers shout profanities about the way you fish or the gear you’re using. I even heard about a fellow angler having a pool stoned while he was fishing it.

Maybe this is a good time to recap the unspoken rules of behaviour that make fly fishing the gentle sport. How should you act around streams, lakes, and ponds? You should go gently, you should:

• Offer the fishing first to a stranger when arriving at a pool at the same time.


• Go around another fly fisher who is fishing a pool and take the pool below or above.


• Offer helpful information or flies to companions and strangers met on stream.


• When salmon fishing, rotate the pool.


• Never fish without a landowner’s permission, never park in gateways in a farmer’s fields; never cut fences; never leave close gates open when passing through.


• Never race another angler to gain first shot at the pool.


• Never cast over another fisherman’s line.


• Give an angler breathing room to fish.


• Pick up litter from the stream banks and carry it out.


• Leave lost items where they are found. The chances are that the owner will return for them quickly once he discovered their loss.


• You should be courteous, helpful, and understanding at all times on stream.

Cookster fly fishing

I believe very few fly fishers are impolite and I hope it is just a small minority. It may be that the pace of our lives is quickening so that we rush to the streams to vent our frustrations. If so, some of us have lost fly fishing’s greatest contentment – the joy of relaxation, of letting tensions slip away. FISH-ON! Cookster