10 replies to this topic

[Knuguy]

What’s wrong with this pic? I was out on the lower part of the Notty Sat AM in my canoe. The river is fairly wide at this point(near the ‘sandbanks’ in town). A couple of fishermen objected to be passing by them in canoe. They said I was scaring the fish. The river is wide enough that I didn’t need to pass over their lines. This surprised me: (a) Drift boat fishermen come down regularly and seem to catch fish, ( B ) on the flatwater and deeper sections of the river people troll for, and catch, bows with their outboards running and, © I was creating less of a disturbance, IMO, that folks wading in the river. What am I missing here, or were those guys out to lunch. I am not really looking for assurances from you that I was doing nothing wrong(although a little of that would be nice), but I’d like to understand where they were ‘coming from’. I’m relatively new steelheader and don’t understand some of the nuances of river etiquette.
thx


for some weird reason 'b' in brackets shows up as a smiley???l

[pop-vlado]

I guess it depends on how close you were to them and if you made an effort to stay as clear as possible. Otherwise though, I wouldn't be pissed at you in that situation. Nobody owns the river. Nobody can restrict you from going down the river (by whatever method you choose). If they are not happy about it, that's too bad. I also agree that wading scares the fish much more so than a kayak/canoe.

I posted this picture awhile back about these guys coming down Bronte (which is a creek and not a wide river) while other guys were fishing. Fisherman might have been pissed but they have the right to do it so there really is no point in getting mad. Just deal with it.

[Rileysowner]

I think some people don't realize how little a canoe would spook fish. I know when I fish off the pier in Bayfield I will often hook up fish shortly after boats go in or out and their motors cause a lot more disturbance than a canoe does. Unless you were whacking your paddle against the water, I am guess the fish didn't even pay attention to the canoe. I know it would not bother me. As stated by a previous poster, the people in waders walking out into the deep water disturb the fish a whole lot more.

[Captain Barty]

Everybody thinks they own the river. There were LOTS of people out this weekend especially down at the beach... I don't have a problem with people passing by in small boats or canoes quietly. I personally don't like putting my boat in the river untill the crowds thin and I don't have to worry about pissing other people off.

I did get a lil pissy with some guys sunday morning that thought the best place to troll was right where I was bottom bouncing from shore ... Seriously the whole river to fish and they have to come work the stretch I'm fishing...

Anyways when I cross paths with the type of guys you encountered on the weekend just give em the one finger wave and keep going...

[grubman]

I'm with Capt Barty, 100%.

[Klamp]

Frankly, I'm surprised someone said something to you. Ducks, beavers, boats, canoes, kayaks, swimmers, and so on are expected on the water by every angler. Never heard anyone complain or even appear upset about it.

Now, if someone farts upwind from me, we got a problem.

[NADO]

Definately nothing wrong with what you did there, the Notty waters are very deep and great for canoeing. There are other situations where it is wrong for the Canoes/rafts to head down the river, but with that being said the canoes don’t likely follow the runs the way we do so I guess there is an excuse there. I remember seeing a post on Facebook of rafters going down the Ganny in inches of water when the salmon were in real thick. The salmon were going nuts and a lot of them ended up beaching themselves while getting out of the way of the raft. That in my opinion is definitely wrong, not from the anglers perspective but from the well being of the fishery perspective.

[christotheashto]

fishermen are a funny bunch

[salmotrutta]

These guys sound like dolts who think they can tell others what to do on public waters, they probably weren't catching much! They need to mtob.

[Spinninreel]

Nothing wrong with doing that kcanoe guy!

[Rainbow]

Well, yes you are scaring fish, but don't let that stop you from enjoying canoeing. The rivers aren't just for fisherman