"Frontplaters"

dudemanspecial

dudemanspecial

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Westmoreland County
I see a lot of comments on the board about out of state anglers parked along our streams. Most of the time I get the impression that the comments are in jest, but often I sense a twinge of seriousness layered in there. Other times there is no hiding the distain.

I am curious, do you actually get upset, bothered or angry when you see out of state anglers in the parking lots? What about the situation upsets you? Do you ever fish outside of our borders yourself? Are there different levels of frontplating that range from being okay to being unacceptable?
 
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dudemanspecial said:
I see a lot of comments on the board about out of state anglers parked along our streams. Most of the time I get the impression that the comments are in jest, but often I sense a twinge of seriousness layered in there. Other times there is no hiding the distain.

I am curious, do you actually get upset, bothered or angry when you see out of state anglers in the parking lots? What about the situation upsets you? Do you ever fish outside of our borders yourself? Are there different levels of frontplating that range from being okay to being unacceptable?
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I don't at all.
In fact, I welcome it.

Pennsylvania is a great place to trout fish if you like hatchery trout, wild brown trout, spring creeks and some marginal brook trout streams.

The brook trout fishing here is sub par IMO and it is why I spend my trout fishing mostly fishing in other states.

I probably have angry anglers cursing the back plater in those states.
 
I don't get upset when I see out of staters in parking lots, its too be expected especially on big name streams. For example, I saw a bunch of different states plates for the cicada hatch on Central PA streams. Like other states, there is plenty of draw for out of state anglers to come and fish PA. Usually I see MD, VA, NJ, or NY plates if I see any.

I think when I get upset is if I see ANY vehicle in an area I'm not expecting too, and its more so with myself for not getting there first. Streams that aren't big names I usually don't typically expect to see out of staters, but still it doesn't bother me.

I fish out of state quite a bit, last year I fished Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, Montana, and North Carolina in addition to PA. So it would be hypocritical to get mad at out of staters.

My only "bad" experience with out of staters is when a group of NY guys pulled up to the spot and quite literally sprinted from the parking lot to cut us off as we were walking. Kinda weird, but I guess their day hinged on fishing that one spot, lol.

My opinion on front plating is that so long as you are buying a license, following local fishing regulations, and treating your surroundings & other anglers with respect then there is no issue. I think guys get upset when other people are in their "secret" spot.
 
I feel much the same as tjsingle: I'm happy to brag about PA's fisheries when running into frontplaters in well-known parking lots, and if I'm in a good mood and they are friendly enough, I may even pass along what patterns the fish are hitting that day.

Admittedly, I am guilty of having some bitterness when I see a NY plate beat me to one of my "secret" honey holes. Ultimately though, out-of-staters buying PA licenses, even if only for a day or two, only (theoretically) puts more $$$ towards our fisheries.
 
Seeing a few at places like Penns or Spring during hatches is a little different...

When you live close to a border like the Delaware as I do and have most of my life (and it not just the border but WHERE on the border), and there are constantly many "frontplaters" in the lots of your favorite creek when you want to fish...

Or the same number of "frontplaters"swimming when you want to fish, leaving garbage & blasting loud music...

Or places like Beltzville not allowing anyone else in the park because of all of the "frontplaters" coming on weekends & holidays...

Or the local burg has to pass legislation so the locals can actually enjoy the stuff their taxes pay for or they just close the facilities entirely...

It does get a little annoying.
 
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sixfootfenwick said:
I don't at all.
In fact, I welcome it.

Pennsylvania is a great place to trout fish if you like hatchery trout, wild brown trout, spring creeks and some marginal brook trout streams.

The brook trout fishing here is sub par IMO and it is why I spend my trout fishing mostly fishing in other states.

I probably have angry anglers cursing the back plater in those states.
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I like the out of staters. They suck at brookie fishing with the 12 pound test and giant hooks. They aren’t hurting anything.

I would completely disagree big brother. Leaving our state for trout fishing? We have the best! Native Brookies are our only good fishing! Our stocked trout fishing is lousy. The trout they stock are small and sickly. Except Straub brewery. Their stockers almost look nicer than wild Browns. If we could get the wild browns out of the creeks and get some Staub brewery fish in there we would really be on to something. They should try this in Freeman run. Too soon??? 🙂 Plus they don’t stock small frys. Our Brown trout fishing is awful. They are tiny little minnows. For a species that gets 36-40inches our 13-16 inchers are the exact same as catching a 6 inch brookie. Tiny babies. Not even worth the effort. Although the brookies might be older. We have very little quality trophy Brown trout water in this state and no good spring creeks. Penns our “best one” is just a dink factory like spring creek. Can’t hardly ever get those young adult sweet 22”-30” fish there. Never anything over 30”. Browns less than 19” are like brookies less than “7” why even bother with the babies?

The brook trout fishing is off the charts. Definitely some of the best moving water Native brook trout fishing in the Country numbers wise. Sure there are states with better ponds and lakes. But who wants to catch a brook trout there? Takes all the fun out of it.
I’ll take 100 fish days with a chance at a dozen trophy 9”fish a day all day long brookie fishing in Pa. You have an almost zero chance of catching a trophy 20” Brown trout in Pa. Certainly aren’t catching 10 or more trophy fish in a day like you can with brook trout.

Just Messing with you @sixfootfenwick . Just Joking around.
I just got back from 4 weeks in the Adirondacks and upstate New York.
~5footfenwick
 
dudemanspecial said:
I see a lot of comments on the board about out of state anglers parked along our streams. Most of the time I get the impression that the comments are in jest, but often I sense a twinge of seriousness layered in there. Other times there is no hiding the distain.

I am curious, do you actually get upset, bothered or angry when you see out of state anglers in the parking lots? What about the situation upsets you? Do you ever fish outside of our borders yourself? Are there different levels of frontplating that range from being okay to being unacceptable?
Click to expand...
I get p*ssed! I leave NJ to get away from those people, I don't want to see them out of state too!

Seriously though, it doesn't bother me, come to my state, buy an out of state license, fish a few days, be cool. It only bothers me when people trash a place or violate the rules, like swimming. Those folks can stay home but of course many are, I have the same issues at home that Bam has, except they are front platers from NY or eastern NJ.

I just got back from a work trip to Onondaga, NY. I ended up buying a NY license and fishing NineMile and Skanteales creeks. The people I met couldn't have been nicer and gave me no issues as an out of stater. Same thing when I went out to dinner or to the bars in Syracuse, everyone was uber friendly. That changed when I came down into the Fingerlakes, much more like NJ attitudes there.
 
5footfenwick said:
I like the out of staters. They suck at brookie fishing with the 12 pound test and giant hooks. They aren’t hurting anything.

I would completely disagree big brother. Leaving our state for trout fishing? We have the best! Native Brookies are our only good fishing! Our stocked trout fishing is lousy. The trout they stock are small and sickly. Except Straub brewery. Their stockers almost look nicer than wild Browns. If we could get the wild browns out of the creeks and get some Staub brewery fish in there we would really be on to something. They should try this in Freeman run. Too soon??? 🙂 Plus they don’t stock small frys. Our Brown trout fishing is awful. They are tiny little minnows. For a species that gets 36-40inches our 13-16 inchers are the exact same as catching a 6 inch brookie. Tiny babies. Not even worth the effort. Although the brookies might be older. We have very little quality trophy Brown trout water in this state and no good spring creeks. Penns our “best one” is just a dink factory like spring creek. Can’t hardly ever get those young adult sweet 22”-30” fish there. Never anything over 30”. Browns less than 19” are like brookies less than “7” why even bother with the babies?

The brook trout fishing is off the charts. Definitely some of the best moving water Native brook trout fishing in the Country numbers wise. Sure there are states with better ponds and lakes. But who wants to catch a brook trout there? Takes all the fun out of it.
I’ll take 100 fish days with a chance at a dozen trophy 9”fish a day all day long brookie fishing in Pa. You have an almost zero chance of catching a trophy 20” Brown trout in Pa. Certainly aren’t catching 10 or more trophy fish in a day like you can with brook trout.

Just Messing with you @sixfootfenwick . Just Joking around.
I just got back from 4 weeks in the Adirondacks and upstate New York.
~5footfenwick
Click to expand...
I was reading this and thinking to myself that I need to mix up what ever you are drinking.
You got me 😂
 
People from out of state are okay,until they high-hole me or park where I usually do. I kid...😁
Met some nice young fellers from North Carolina or Mississippi that were camping close to where I live. Them boys weren't having much luck so I chatted it up, gave them some flies that were producing, got out the crick, encouraged them to fish that run, and coached them up a bit while I medicated. I don't understand Southern accent well so when they would say something I didn't understand, nod and smile. Seen them 2 the next day and they were very nice and appreciative. Sometimes it feels nice to be nice. But goes both ways. When met with rudeness,I can be rude too mean even..
Forrest Gump was a movie of great wisdom with the whole" life is like a box of chocolates."
 
As superficial as it may be, the only thing I’d really mind is having to drill holes in the front bumpers of my vehicles.

Edit: It was a Covid thing. They wanted to go someplace safer and nicer. Pennsylvania is both, so they did. They largely went back though IMO.
 
Silliness…. Fish where you want and can. If it’s legal, have at it. Just so long as it’s not my spot, I found it and claim it. Kidding, silliness all of it.
 
TheDuke44 said:
Admittedly, I am guilty of having some bitterness when I see a NY plate beat me to one of my "secret" honey holes. Ultimately though, out-of-staters buying PA licenses, even if only for a day or two, only (theoretically) puts more $$$ towards our fisheries.
Click to expand...
If a guy with NY plates beats you to your secret hole, he either used to live here or its not a secret.
 
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