High holed - help me understand

[Sylvaneous]

Sorry, I was out on the river in the hot sun in the jet boat having terrible day smallmouth fishing. I'm miffed and a bit crazy from the heat. At least if I was wading, I wouldn't have come close to heat stroke. (Close?)😗🙁😵🔥☀️

 

[Mike]

Somewhere along the line people took the accepted etiquette of personal space to include future personal space or someplace where they might be later in the morning

👍 Yeah, what a crock!

 

[Skook]

Here is a pic of my son from when he was about 16 years old. We were fishing the Salmon River (Bovines section) when he hooked this fish. I had our spinning rods set up with probably 6 lb. leader material, and the drags were set relatively loose to help prevent break offs during the initial strike and run. I would typically carefully adjust the drag during the fight, if needed, to prevent a fish from spooling me.

When my son hooked this fresh, fall fish, we both got pretty excited and made mistakes. I stepped out of the water to grab the net and headed downstream along the bank in hopes of catching up with the fish. This fish was headed back to the lake in a hurry, and my son never thought to carefully tighten the drag a bit to slow it down, so he just headed downstream in the river with it to try to keep up. In doing so, he waded in front of, I'm guessing, a dozen other anglers of all stripes who graciously reeled in their lines, all while cheering him on and offering their advice to help land the fish. The pic is proof that it worked, and, trust me, there is a huge smile on his face.

Obviously, nobody expects solitude during the fall steelhead run on the Salmon River. But folks there might also not expect to have another inexperienced fisherman blast down through the river right in front of them, either. But, every one of those "snaggers" and "flossers" seemed more than happy to participate in this rodeo and help out where they could.

I wouldn't condone nor have allowed my son or myself to behave this way on a trout stream, but I also wouldn't require others to totally disappear out of sight or leave because I happened to arrive at a stretch of public water two minutes before they did, either. Who knows why they didn't arrive before you did. Maybe they are dealing with health issues. Maybe they needed to help take care of an aging parent that morning before fishing. Perhaps they had to get their child off to school before leaving for the stream. Maybe they had a three hour drive and only get a chance to fish that stream once or twice per year.

As was said here earlier, it's just fishing.

 

[Tigereye]

I fish Salmon River regularly. Under the crowded conditions one can encounter, it is proper etiquette to "Yield" right of way to an angler with a fish. Thus the " fish on" yell you hear notifying nearby anglers.

Once in a while you get a butt plug that doesn't comply either by ignorance or choice. It is usually self corrected due to peer pressure.

Nice fish. Congrats

 

[SBecker]

In regards to drift boat fishing "low holing" is the guy who is often looking upriver and if he sees another boat coming he might just lift the anchor and drop down to his next favorite run or pool. I've seen guides do it all the time on the Big Horn in Montana. There are often so many boats on the WB and main stem Delaware that it's hard to know if a guy is "low holing" the guy coming down river or he just wanted to make a move. Admittedly I often like to get on the river earlier than most and just by nature of being out when few boats are out I can fish new water all the way down river until I decide I want to setup in a stretch know to have rising trout.

We have a guide here on the Lehigh that is a well known Low Holer. One of the many reasons every other guide dislikes him.

I don’t get upset about it and personally hate another person just following me down the river. I don’t like feeling like I have to move from a spot. I usually tell others to go ahead.

 

[wildtrout2]

I fish Salmon River regularly. Under the crowded conditions one can encounter, it is proper etiquette to "Yield" right of way to an angler with a fish. Thus the " fish on" yell you hear notifying nearby anglers.

Reminds me of being on a party boat fishing for stripers and or slammer bluefish. It's the "over-under" and the other fishermen yielding to your fish running the lenght of the boat. Some call it courtesy. 😉

 

[EchoRidgeElder]

I am not sure if anyone has had this situation, but I have and it is just too funny. So, I was on a small NEPA stream one day when these 2 young bucks decided to continue to high hole me. They stayed in front of me for maybe a 1/4 mile. They two kids were bait fishing. Of course, I was throwing a dry fly. Every time I got ready to move up, they would move up to stay ahead of me. I watched as they did not catch anything. So rather that fight them, I decided to join them. I just fished the water that they just vacated. Bam. I hook up. Same water they just finished fishing. This went on for about 1/2 hour. I was hooking up on water that the both of them just beat up with worms. And, they just kept right on moving up every time that I tried to move upstream. Every once in a while a could see the 2 lads looking back at me as I was playing a fish.
Finally, we get to a bridge that crosses the stream. I am finished for the day and going to head back to my car. When I finally get to the bridge and up the bank, one of the young kids comes up to me and askes what kind of magic I was using. My reply, not magic, a dry fly. You have to give the fish what they want to eat! "Today, they were not eating worms!" Needless to say, the lad was smitten. I proceeded to my car. I laughed for about 1/2 way home!

That situation has never happened to me again on a stream, but at the time it was a real hoot to see the look on these young boys faces.

 

[wildtrout2]

I am not sure if anyone has had this situation, but I have and it is just too funny. So, I was on a small NEPA stream one day when these 2 young bucks decided to continue to high hole me. They stayed in front of me for maybe a 1/4 mile. They two kids were bait fishing. Of course, I was throwing a dry fly. Every time I got ready to move up, they would move up to stay ahead of me. I watched as they did not catch anything. So rather that fight them, I decided to join them. I just fished the water that they just vacated. Bam. I hook up. Same water they just finished fishing. This went on for about 1/2 hour. I was hooking up on water that the both of them just beat up with worms. And, they just kept right on moving up every time that I tried to move upstream. Every once in a while a could see the 2 lads looking back at me as I was playing a fish.
Finally, we get to a bridge that crosses the stream. I am finished for the day and going to head back to my car. When I finally get to the bridge and up the bank, one of the young kids comes up to me and askes what kind of magic I was using. My reply, not magic, a dry fly. You have to give the fish what they want to eat! "Today, they were not eating worms!" Needless to say, the lad was smitten. I proceeded to my car. I laughed for about 1/2 way home!

That situation has never happened to me again on a stream, but at the time it was a real hoot to see the look on these young boys faces.

That had to be satisfying catching them in the water they had just fished. Maybe they'll consider fly fishing after the lesson you taught them. 🙂

 

[Tigereye]

What a great teachable moment you let slip through your fingers. You could have offered to teach them how to fly fish, most likely they would have caught fish and you could have taught them some stream etiquette at the same time.

The fact that they were young boys, I would chalk up their behavior as ignorance. Were they adults, the fact you were catching fish over water they had fished would be enough to get in their craw. I most likely would have just moved downstream.

 

[wildtrout2]

What a great teachable moment you let slip through your fingers. You could have offered to teach them how to fly fish, most likely they would have caught fish and you could have taught them some stream etiquette at the same time.

The fact that they were young boys, I would chalk up their behavior as ignorance.

He did mention that they would look back as he was bringing in a trout, which leads me to think they knew exactly what they were doing, and why. I think he handled it pretty well.

 

[poopdeck]

I am not sure if anyone has had this situation, but I have and it is just too funny. So, I was on a small NEPA stream one day when these 2 young bucks decided to continue to high hole me. They stayed in front of me for maybe a 1/4 mile. They two kids were bait fishing. Of course, I was throwing a dry fly. Every time I got ready to move up, they would move up to stay ahead of me. I watched as they did not catch anything. So rather that fight them, I decided to join them. I just fished the water that they just vacated. Bam. I hook up. Same water they just finished fishing. This went on for about 1/2 hour. I was hooking up on water that the both of them just beat up with worms. And, they just kept right on moving up every time that I tried to move upstream. Every once in a while a could see the 2 lads looking back at me as I was playing a fish.
Finally, we get to a bridge that crosses the stream. I am finished for the day and going to head back to my car. When I finally get to the bridge and up the bank, one of the young kids comes up to me and askes what kind of magic I was using. My reply, not magic, a dry fly. You have to give the fish what they want to eat! "Today, they were not eating worms!" Needless to say, the lad was smitten. I proceeded to my car. I laughed for about 1/2 way home!

That situation has never happened to me again on a stream, but at the time it was a real hoot to see the look on these young boys faces.

Wait, if I’m reading this right, they stayed a 1/4 mile above you? By my definition of courtesy this is not discourtesy. A 1/4 mile is in no way a violation of fishing etiquette. So if applying this 1/4 to downstream as well that’s a 1/2 mile of private water that adjusts and moves with every step or pause. No way can this be true. I have to have misread the post.

Secondly, if you were catching fish behind them why was what they were doing remarkable regardless of their distance? Is this not proof that you were getting all the space you needed.

And thirdly, why would you attempting to move up ahead of them not be high holing as well? This is still so very confusing to me. I suspect I might just be a high holer. I’m good with it that though. If you get to a special spot before me and managed to stay a 1/4 mile away from me to boot, good for you and thank you.

 

[wildtrout2]

Wait, if I’m reading this right, ...

And thirdly, why would you attempting to move up ahead of them not be high holing as well?

I read it twice as, when they moved upstream, he would fish the same water they just vacated and catch trout. I did not read it as he attempted to get upstream of them at all.

 

[EchoRidgeElder]

Negative, they were NOT 1/4 ahead of me. They were within eyesight the entire way. Maybe 15-25 yards.

 

[EchoRidgeElder]

There was no way that I could have gotten in front of them. Every time that I attempted to move upstream, they moved up. They were determined to stay ahead of me. I have to believe that they knew exactly what they were doing. The fact that one of them approached me on the bridge and asked "what type of magic" I was using it was enough to tell them that I was dry fly fishing.
Nor did.do I consider it smug to have mentioned that "you have to feed the trout what they want!"

 

[wildtrout2]

There was no way that I could have gotten in front of them. Every time that I attempted to move upstream, they moved up. They were determined to stay ahead of me. I have to believe that they knew exactly what they were doing. The fact that one of them approached me on the bridge and asked "what type of magic" I was using it was enough to tell them that I was dry fly fishing.
Nor did.do I consider it smug to have mentioned that "you have to feed the trout what they want!"

I thought I had read your initial post accurately. They indeed knew what they were doing. Again, you handled the situation well.

 

[McSneek]

The two kids repeatedly moving ahead of him as he caught fish in their wake suggests that maybe high holing isn’t as bad as it seems. I give people plenty of room but if someone beats me to my desired spot I just cuss under my breath and move to a different spot. Not worth getting worked up over.

 

[Skook]

What a great teachable moment you let slip through your fingers. You could have offered to teach them how to fly fish, most likely they would have caught fish and you could have taught them some stream etiquette at the same time.

This.

Don't waste an opportunity to make a difference. We have all heard of folks whose parents or other family members weren't sportsmen or women, but they ended up being hunters and/or fishermen because someone else took the time to introduce them to a life-long passion for the outdoors.

My dad grew up in a rural area and had a local mentor who taught him to tie flies when he was a teenager in the 1950s. My paternal grandparents were not into hunting or fishing. My dad enjoyed being an avid outdoorsman until his last days, and, fortunately, he passed this on to me.

 

[poopdeck]

Negative, they were NOT 1/4 ahead of me. They were within eyesight the entire way. Maybe 15-25 yards.

My bad. They were way too close and wrong. Wheeeeeew! maybe I’m not a high holer after all.

 

[wbranch]

Here is a pic of my son from when he was about 16 years old. We were fishing the Salmon River (Bovines section) when he hooked this fish. I had our spinning rods set up with probably 6 lb. leader material, and the drags were set relatively loose to help prevent break offs during the initial strike and run. I would typically carefully adjust the drag during the fight, if needed, to prevent a fish from spooling me.

When my son hooked this fresh, fall fish, we both got pretty excited and made mistakes. I stepped out of the water to grab the net and headed downstream along the bank in hopes of catching up with the fish. This fish was headed back to the lake in a hurry, and my son never thought to carefully tighten the drag a bit to slow it down, so he just headed downstream in the river with it to try to keep up. In doing so, he waded in front of, I'm guessing, a dozen other anglers of all stripes who graciously reeled in their lines, all while cheering him on and offering their advice to help land the fish. The pic is proof that it worked, and, trust me, there is a huge smile on his face.

Obviously, nobody expects solitude during the fall steelhead run on the Salmon River. But folks there might also not expect to have another inexperienced fisherman blast down through the river right in front of them, either. But, every one of those "snaggers" and "flossers" seemed more than happy to participate in this rodeo and help out where they could.

I wouldn't condone nor have allowed my son or myself to behave this way on a trout stream, but I also wouldn't require others to totally disappear out of sight or leave because I happened to arrive at a stretch of public water two minutes before they did, either. Who knows why they didn't arrive before you did. Maybe they are dealing with health issues. Maybe they needed to help take care of an aging parent that morning before fishing. Perhaps they had to get their child off to school before leaving for the stream. Maybe they had a three hour drive and only get a chance to fish that stream once or twice per year.

As was said here earlier, it's just fishing.

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Great comment

 

[Mike]

We have all heard of folks whose parents or other family members weren't sportsmen or women, but they ended up being hunters and/or fishermen because someone else took the time to introduce them to a life-long passion for the outdoors

With respect to fishing, that kid would be me. It was my next door neighbor who started me fishing at age 6, required that I learn to swim before he would take me to the Conowingo Pool on the Susquehanna by age 7, and took me there on about 20-23 Saturdays each year from that time until I was 18 yrs old. My parents exposed me to the non-consumptive portions of nature and the outdoor world.