High holed - help me understand

[Swattie87]

That's sound philosophy, but unfortunately some folks just don't abide by it.

Yeah. I’ve had less than pleasant encounters on big streams before, but the handful of times it’s happened on small streams it’s always been pleasant. A couple times somebody got to the lot just after me. We talked and landed on a plan to split up the water, or fished together even.

One time, I ran into another angler in the middle of the woods. He accessed the stream from a totally different approach than me, and there was no way for either of us to know the other was there. We both chuckled about it, and fished a bit together before his plan was to turn back and mine was to keep fishing. Small stream guys IMO generally “get it” and sincerely try to be respectful of the angler who got there first.

 

[wildtrout2]

Yeah. I’ve had less than pleasant encounters on big streams before, but the handful of times it’s happened on small streams it’s always been pleasant. A couple times somebody got to the lot just after me. We talked and landed on a plan to split up the water, or fished together even.

One time, I ran into another angler in the middle of the woods. He accessed the stream from a totally different approach than me, and there was no way for either of us to know the other was there. We both chuckled about it, and fished a bit together before his plan was to turn back and mine was to keep fishing. Small stream guys IMO generally “get it” and sincerely try to be respectful of the angler who got there first.

I was thinking, just your size should get the message across adequately. 😆

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Get to the crick before me (good luck with that...) otherwise, you're cuttin' me off!

If I get to a spot and see another fisherman, and it's a large enough crick, I always ask them if they're fishin' upstream or downstream, then I head the opposite direction of them.

 

[Swattie87]

I was thinking, just your size should get the message across adequately. 😆

Don’t wanna send the thread down that road, but I don’t carry while fishing. Though I assume any angler I encounter on the stream that I don’t personally know, is.

Edit: (I don’t encounter many other anglers on the stream.)

 

[Swattie87]

Forgot another one. One time my wife and I hiked in from a popular trailhead that led to a bunch of places, one of which, being a small/steep trib of a larger stream. There was one Jeep in the lot when we got there. No obvious fishing paraphernalia that we could see. Calculated gamble but we chose to make the half mile hike down the trail to a crossing of the larger stream. Got down there, and darn it if there wasn’t a gentleman sitting there on a large rock lining up. Shoot. So, I asked what his plan was…he replied…same as mine…fish about 100 yards of the larger stream (though still really only large enough for one angler) and then go up the trib. He didn’t offer anything further or an invite to fish or split up the water with him. He got there first. That’s his call. So we wished him well and hiked back up the trail to the car. And fished a neighboring tributary that turned out to be good. And a month later, we came back and fished the original planned stream. And it was good. Found 2 good streams. And got Scranton style pizza twice. All was good.

 

[gfenlikestolosepasswords]

Don’t wanna send the thread down that road, but I don’t carry while fishing. Though I assume any angler I encounter on the stream that I don’t personally know, is.

I do, but what a weird thing to tell someone on the water. That's the sort of casual threat that gets a cop called because I don't need to be threatened by some jackhole and that's the exact sort of person who doesn't need to carry a weapon around.

 

[Swattie87]

I do, but what a weird thing to tell someone on the water. That's the sort of casual threat that gets a cop called because I don't need to be threatened by some jackhole and that's the exact sort of person who doesn't need to carry a weapon around.

Agree. And Agree.

Back to high holin.

Edit: Or low or side holin.

 

[wildtrout2]

I do, but what a weird thing to tell someone on the water. That's the sort of casual threat that gets a cop called because I don't need to be threatened by some jackhole and that's the exact sort of person who doesn't need to carry a weapon around.

IMO That's the sort of person who shouldn't own a firearm at all.

 

[joebamboo]

Someone please advise what the established distance between individuals is considered "high holed"

If my truck is in the parking area I expect other fisherman to completely leave the entire watershed

You and Nymph wristed should get along quite well!

 

[Streammagic237]

Recently I got to stream parked was gearing up and had a guy show up see me and literally grabbed his gear out trunk and started running up stream . Made me laugh like no hi no hello . I just thought to myself what not fun experience to feel the need to run to beat another angler to the water . I hiked it down and fished it up and car was gone . Idk it's hard sometimes but I try not to let others steal the joy of my fishing day .

 

[TerrellBFly]

My advice. Respect others who are there before you. It really is that easy. Early bird gets the worm.

 

[Bamboozle]

I have been high holed two times that I can recall, both times by fly fishermen and based on the reaction I received, I may have high holed someone once.

High Holed #1 - On Father's Day at a creek I used to fish regularly with the entire stream OPEN, a guy slipped in about 30 feet above me as I was moving upstream. I got out of the creek rather sloppily and from a bridge above the stream, I threw rocks in the pool he was fishing while wishing him a "Happy Father's Day."​

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High Holed #2 - On another old favorite FFO stream I guy did a similar thing as I was moving and casting upstream. I waded out of the water like an elephant right in front of him...​

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High Holer #1 - I was getting ready to fish the Letort and encountered a local who I knew with a somewhat dubious reputation amongst other locals. He asked me if I was fishing up or down and I said "up" and he proceeded to walk WAY downstream as I was surveying the stream.​

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Just before I started moving up, I spotted a riser about 10 feet below me. I snuck around behind the fish and not seeing the other guy, I made a few casts and caught maybe an 7" dink. Right about that time the other guy was right behind me, admonishing me because I didn't move upstream or upstream far enough...​

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#1 - If he wanted to fish the spot where I caught the dink and said so when we first met, I would have been more than happy to move up past the next bend.​

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#2 - When someone moves 100+ yards below me, do I have to move another 100+ yards above them?​

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#3 - I caught a dink, not some 20" trophy...​

Which brings me to two spin fisherman encounters; one involving a spin fisherman I encountered who volunteered to move WAY, WAY above me when we bumped into each other on a local stream. I never saw him again that day...

The other was a day when I went to the Delaware to fish for shad with spinning tackle. The spot where I was fishing was popular with the non-wading crowd. When I got down to the river I was dismayed to see the bank lined with fishermen.

I was getting ready to leave when a guy yelled out to me, "Don't go, you can fit in next to me." Then the guys around him moved a bit to either side and I slipped in between.

No arguments, no complaining, miraculously no crossed lines and when someone hooked up, everybody else reeled in their lines so the other angler could play their fish.

Imagine that...

 

[wildtrout2]

My advice. Respect others who are there before you. It really is that easy. Early bird gets the worm.

View attachment 1641252160

As long as it's not "the early bird uses the worm." 😉

 

[Yoder]

It's public water. If someone does that, I'll just get out of the water and walk around them. If it irritates me, I'll leave. There are plenty of places to fish.

 

[TerrellBFly]

As long as it's not "the early bird uses the worm." 😉

So THATS what the zipper on those waders is for!?

 

[poopdeck]

Usually if I see someone in the next area I am working toward, I'll just hop out and keep going another couple hundred yards.

According to many PAFF posts this is the essence of high holing. It’s been said many times tgat hopscotching around another angler is taboo.

To the OP, I wander if you are talking about stocked trout streams too. The rules of engagement are looser there and the fish far less spooky and concentrated near access points.

Nope, the overwhelming vast majority of my trout fishing was on streams that had no names that I was aware of.

I think it traces back to a concept that has definitely been fading from society at large: treat others how you want to be treated.

I wouldn't want someone on top of me on the stream or getting in the way of what I'm trying to do. With that in mind, I steer clear of others because it SHOULD BE common courtesy.

I agree but in no way would I ever act like I was entitled to more of a natural resource than the next person. Sharing of resources is what I do and what I expect others to do. Laying claim to larger or distant piece of water then you can fish is the egregious concept to me and not the way I would treat others. I agree that nobody should saddle right up next to someone unless invited but not being allowed to go above another angler while they slowly fish a completely different area of the creek?

I think calling out somebody for high/low holing is stupid if you're on public water. If somebody is fishing too close to me, I move rather than get pisssy. Easier said than done sometimes, yes.

What happens if I'm missing upstream and somebody else is fishing downstream. We park at different areas but we both meet in the middle. Who is holing who? Who has the right to get pisssy?

PUH-POW!

this seemed analogous to taking the urinal next to somebody in a row of 10 empty terlits.

I like to tell the guy in the urinal next to that he has a nice wristwatch. I agree 50 ft is to close. What about 100 ft?

 

[Nymph-wristed]

You and Nymph wristed should get along quite well!

RIF (Reading is Fundamental)

Did you guys even read my original post about high holing? I did not yell at anyone or engage. I just fished behind him. I also noted that I am the first person to see a another car in the lot and go to 20 other places I have on my mental rolodex (yeah, I am old). That was not an option that morning. As @Swattie87 noted, dude should have gotten up earlier.

I would not have called it high holing if it wasn't a flagrant foul. I also noted that I did not let it ruin my morning and that dude was likely a newbie and got some grace.

I was asking if I was a bad guy for catching a bunch of fish, a few of them big, within eyesight of where he'd just fished.

I was euronymphing too, and so was he, so does that mean neither of us had the right of way, you jamiokes 🤣

 

[Swattie87]

I’ll say this too. Most, nearly all in fact, of my encounters with other anglers have been pleasant and positive. The jagoffs are the exception, not the rule.

This was a negative one and did actually bother me pretty good at the time though. I was surf fishing Broadkill Beach DE with gear, and I was the first one on the beach that day. I had just baited up and chucked my first casts out, and a Toyota Tundra comes rolling down the beach. Not another vehicle in sight as far as you can see in either direction (several miles). He pulls about 20 or 30 yards past me and backs up and parks. I walk over, and politely explain that I have one rod rigged for sharks, and if I hook one, there’s a good chance it could run into his lines, and before he unpacks and sets up I’d appreciate it if he’d pull another 100 yards or so down the beach. His truck was still running and he was still buckled into the driver’s seat. He responds by saying he can park wherever he wants and that he’s not actually fishing, he just gets a surf permit so he can drive on the beach. (This is actually fairly common in DE and needs better enforcement. Guys buy an el cheapo rod and just tie on a pyramid sinker and chuck it out there to “look” like they’re actively fishing should DCNR drive by, which is a requirement of the permit.) You could tell the guy’s wife understood what I was saying and that her husband was being a jerk, but I walked away, reeled in, packed up, and drove about 3/4 mile down the beach and set up again.

I debated calling DCNR on him, for not actively fishing, but didn’t want the hassle or trouble, I just wanted to fish, so I did.

 

[poopdeck]

i had a young dude high hole me last year. i was working my way up a run fishing dries and he came down the path between me and the head of the run and started walking right up the bank towards the top. i said yo man, i'm heading that way. he said so, what are you one of those Jersey guys? I was like, no i ain't from Jersey and i've been fishing this creek since long before you were born. He basically flipped me off and kept heading upstream. I reeled up and walked up to him, he patted his chest and said i got a gun. I honestly wanted to take it from him and beat him with it. I was f'n pissed!! i mean really, a punk is going to shoot someone over fishing? so that's hardcore high-holing for ya.

Yes but how far was the top of the run from you. Was it a couple hundred feet or was it a roll cast away?

Someone please advise what the established distance between individuals is considered "high holed"

Exactly. The mentioning of distances is a needed factor in this discussion. As stated earlier time is also a factor. If your fishing the bottom of a run and working your way to the top of the run but you haven’t moved in a 1/2 hour, are you still working to the top and do I still need to give you the entire section.

I think we can all agree that within casting distance us to close but a couple hundred feet is reasonable.

Likely varies from stream to stream, but a little common sense, which isn't so common, goes a looong way.

Amen. I look at it more like can’t we all just get along. Everybody should treat others the way we like to be treated. It’s what I do but it seems we have different beliefs in how to be treated. Some, seemingly most, believe they are entitled to a large swath of stream while fishing so that’s what they expect from others. While others, like I, believe in sharing what realistically belongs to everybody and that’s how I expect others to treat me.

I agree with this comment.
I was on a popular stream area last Fall when two hikers wanted their dogs to swim where I was fishing. They asked if I minded them swimming one hole away (which was in close proximity). At first I was PO’d a bit, but they did ask and I said yes. I have a dog too and what dog owner doesn’t like to see other dogs happy?

Yep! I always say my brand of fun does not trump someone else’s brand of fun. I have no problems sharing the resources with dogs, dog owners, kayakers, swimmers, tubers or whoever. I’m still working on my acceptance of Jet skis but I’ll get there.

 

[FisherOfMen]

I just high and low hole each person I see, you cant please everyone and this just seems more fair.