Troutbitten's Airing of Grievances

Many people have that same feeling, they dont want the circus in thier yard but then they line up on thier knees to welcome the giant garbage delivery truck, as long as it feeds thier private stretch of the river with those sweet sweet lab created concrete creatures.

Providing public access to the streams they claim to care about is just as important as actually maintaining the waterway itself.
 
Not many places in Pa would be a circus without the stocking truck. Wet foot law with a ban on fishing within a certain distance of a home. Landowners could request the commission post signage to direct people past the home or
Provide an alternate route around the restricted area. I understand there would be challenges if homes are on both sides of the stream.
 
nymphingmaniac said:
I would have loved 30 yards. A couple of weeks ago on the J some old guy and his son dropped in 10 yards below me- out of town dealer license plate frame told the story. I did what you did- just left. I used to get real Po'ed about these instances. Then one time I met back up with the guy who encroached on me earlier and he started talking to me saying he gave me lots of space as not to crowd. It dawned on me that he really thought he gave me space. I asked where he was from and he came from a more densely populated part with fewer fishing opportunities. One person's idea of space is different from another. Sometimes people just don't understand local norms.
Click to expand...
As has been the usual case on the rare occasion that it has occrred in each of the past few years (on stocked trout waters), I have ONLY been “high holed,” as you guys call it, by fly anglers. It happened twice this year, once on Jordan Ck in a township park and once on Kettle Ck. On Kettle about three weeks ago, believe it or not, I was high holed and low holed simultaneously by two guys fishing together . I essentially got pinched out of my fishing spot where I was catching fish on dries by anglers squeezing me from both directions. Rather than being upset, I was laughing to myself because of the extent of the gaul and because of the hissy-fit I believed some individuals would have thrown. There was some real entertainment in getting squeezed from both directions. My fishing partner, who had just arrived, and I decided to leave and drive well upstream to fish in a walk-in location where we also caught fish. We figured that walking down a steep slope would separate the men from the boys and it did. Despite almost all pull-offs and fish spots being occupied as we drove upstream, we had no visitors at our second spot.
 
Last edited:
riverwhy said:
Landowners could request the commission post signage to direct people past the home
Click to expand...
This has been done for decades by the PFBC; that’s why the PFBC “no fishing zone” signs are posted. They encourage the landowner to keep the major part of their riparian holding open to public fishing while allowing the landowner to have privacy directly behind and adjacent to his/her home. I didn’t consider such properties in riparian posting totals.
 
Or a policy that if waterway is posted PFBC doesnt stock within 1 mile. If landowner tries to get cheeky and post after its stocked, its not enforceable.
 
Some of the complaints about the stocking program are valid, but bear in mind that it by far and away it has opened more privately owned riparian land through the solicited cooperation of landowners and kept a lot more privately owned riparian land open to public fishing than it has ever closed.
 
Last edited:
Can be him next to his BFF Commissioner Brock with a case of Straub Beer with this in the background...
1000008076.png
 
I agree that the stocking trucks tend to bring the "riffraff" along with them, but I also think a lot of these issues would be mitigated if the PFBC actually enforced the laws & regs.

I don't doubt that they enforce it when they find wrongdoing, but man is their presence on the water lacking in my opinion/experience.

I get that hiring agents, buying trucks, uniforms, etc. costs money, but I think that the laws & regs are moot if people continually get away with the behavior that has proven to lose access.
 
Mikey2006 said:
My biggest grievance has got to be getting high holed. Last week I drove 90 minutes to fish a central pa river and got on the water at 6:30am. Only car in the lot. Hiked in about a quarter mile or so to the section of water I wanted to fish and had been fishing for no more than 15 minutes when these two guys get in the water about 20 yards below me. They then proceeded to walk up to where I was, asked me how the fishing was, and then continued walking around me before stopping no less than 30 yards above me, at which point they started casting. Based on their appearance, they didn’t look all that inexperienced either. Seemed to me like they knew exactly what they were doing.

Mind you, there’s like 2 miles of water in this section of river to spread out on and we were the only people out there. I just said screw this and got out of the water and got back in probably 50 yards above them and fished quickly for the next hour to avoid potentially playing leapfrog. Tired of bs like this
Click to expand...
That’s why I don’t fish for trout very much anymore - though smallmouth waters are getting just as bad
 
Mikey2006 said:
My biggest grievance has got to be getting high holed. Last week I drove 90 minutes to fish a central pa river and got on the water at 6:30am. Only car in the lot. Hiked in about a quarter mile or so to the section of water I wanted to fish and had been fishing for no more than 15 minutes when these two guys get in the water about 20 yards below me. They then proceeded to walk up to where I was, asked me how the fishing was, and then continued walking around me before stopping no less than 30 yards above me, at which point they started casting. Based on their appearance, they didn’t look all that inexperienced either. Seemed to me like they knew exactly what they were doing.

Mind you, there’s like 2 miles of water in this section of river to spread out on and we were the only people out there. I just said screw this and got out of the water and got back in probably 50 yards above them and fished quickly for the next hour to avoid potentially playing leapfrog. Tired of bs like this
Click to expand...
Ditto. Had some loser start sweet talking me in a spot that I had to hunt for. Right around Memorial Day, you guess where.

Guy sneaks up on me and starts off with “Yaknow we could be having a blast back here and no one would know it!”. I hoped he would pass.

Then he starts telling me to look out for bears, cuz “they’re real bad up here”, talking about black bears as if they’re grizzlies in the fall, saying how he forgot his mace blah blah. Told him it ain’t all like that blah blah they’re spooky and it is one busy, busy week. Guy proceeds to high hole me no more than 10’ away. Seeing that, I trudged out and demanded that he enjoy it. He looked pleased.

This year, I have had groups squeeze me on both sides, guys coming right up on my ***—like they’re trying to corral me , and the usual high holers choking me from the spots I had been actively working. So lame. I don’t wanna fish if I can even see another angler, let alone hear them.

Totally cool with a quick chat, and I’m always willing to yield to another angler, especially a polite one. I refuse to yield to impatient anglers who insist on pushing me along, while robbing me of my focus and, worse, my solitude.

I’ve had an odd spate of anglers that lead me to believe that they must be concerned about my safety. I move, they move, and they high hole me every time. I get frustrated and move far, and they move and go right above me again and again. So strange. So enraging.
 
jifigz said:
Okay, and finding easements. In Wisconsin, easements are everywhere. Yes, they have a "wet feet law," but they also have lots of places to access the streams. In that regard, I wish PA had easements like Wisconsin does.
Click to expand...
Dear jifigz,

That's the difference between two States settled hundreds of years apart. PA stream laws date from the days of William Penn and are based on English common law of the time. Wisconsin was visited by French traders coming from Canada in the 1600's, but they were largely transient. Permanent settlement came later by a more diverse European population. All they wanted to do was survive. Establishing something akin to a home away from home was not high on the agenda.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂
 
ntallen said:
Ditto. Had some loser start sweet talking me in a spot that I had to hunt for. Right around Memorial Day, you guess where.

Guy sneaks up on me and starts off with “Yaknow we could be having a blast back here and no one would know it!”. I hoped he would pass.

Then he starts telling me to look out for bears, cuz “they’re real bad up here”, talking about black bears as if they’re grizzlies in the fall, saying how he forgot his mace blah blah. Told him it ain’t all like that blah blah they’re spooky and it is one busy, busy week. Guy proceeds to high hole me no more than 10’ away. Seeing that, I trudged out and demanded that he enjoy it. He looked pleased.

This year, I have had groups squeeze me on both sides, guys coming right up on my ***—like they’re trying to corral me , and the usual high holers choking me from the spots I had been actively working. So lame. I don’t wanna fish if I can even see another angler, let alone hear them.

Totally cool with a quick chat, and I’m always willing to yield to another angler, especially a polite one. I refuse to yield to impatient anglers who insist on pushing me along, while robbing me of my focus and, worse, my solitude.

I’ve had an odd spate of anglers that lead me to believe that they must be concerned about my safety. I move, they move, and they high hole me every time. I get frustrated and move far, and they move and go right above me again and again. So strange. So enraging.
Click to expand...
Next time I’m tying on a triple sex dungeon, casing right at them, and stripping it into their waders as hard as I can
 
SBecker said:
I use Meta Ray-Bans, so I guess I am safe.

I use them mostly to make highlight videos for my clients. They seem to really enjoy them.
Click to expand...
I have the Meta Ray-Bans too. I’ve never posted a video (or intend to). Their greatest benefit is visual proof that “the big one got away.”

Thumbs up to the OP.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages

Share this page

Back
Top