River etiquette between jets, drifters and bankers.

[Wa hunter]

     Please add your suggestions. 

I've been with fishing with friends and they do things like wait till a guy quits fishing before he runs over a hole.  Or come in close to a bank fisherman so he dosen't run over the guys fishing hole.  I'm new to the river and want to follow the un-written rules.  I know running the Keni river in Alaska people are riquired  to take a course in etiquette before they can run the river.

[BigGoonTuna]

i try to follow the old golden rule on the river, treat everyone the way i'd like them to treat me, and give them as much space as i can within reason.

when i'm on the bank, i don't walk up and start fishing right next to someone unless it's a hatchery hole where it's commonly accepted.   if i'm in my little sled i try and avoid people as much as possible...it is why i bought a boat after all!

i've never understood the guys in boats that come right up on the "bankie spots" and crowd right in.  on most of the rivers i fish, bank access is hard to come by and it's a little depressing when a guy(guides especially) come up and try to push you out of the hole, when they could have almost any other spot to themselves.

[Button Nubbs]

Pull up at the head of a hole, drop anchor and let the plugs out!

[cohoho]

Don't know about any etiquette classes in AK for boating?  Unless they started it a couple years ago.  Be a great ideal for about 90% of the Non-Resident guides.....  Most were total idiots, especially the ones running the Kenai...   Used to run alot of small rivers up there in a shallow jet, problem is alot of bankies do not realize boaters need power to run up and especially down river, to keep off the rocks.  We would try our best to make a run on opposite shore as possible, sometime not possible.  Sharp bends and shallow water = need for power is required.  Kind of hard to slow this down when you are trying to maintain step to keep the boat on top of the water.  It was really got hard when we would run the Airboat up these same rivers, no way to avoid the exhaust wind when turning bends...  Slowing down meant stopping and that was only going to make the situation worse for the bankies...  Seems a few guides on the Columbia are staking claim to bank holes by dropping anchor the night before and tying up when they arrive from picking up clients at the dock.  If I paid good money for a guide, last thing I would want would be for the constant conflict throughout the day...

[eggster]

Pull up at the head of a hole, drop anchor and let the plugs out!

Sounds like the cowlitz in july........

[dylanb]

whats really good is when someone anchors right below you when you've been anchored for a while and they c:atch fish or you bust a fish off in there anchor line

[mallard79]

Whats good is the guy who pulls into a hole where multiple boats are side drifting or anchored up vasting to shore and he decides to back plugs down the hole or troll between the boats and the bank they are casting to. See it happen every year......I get that it aint MY river but common courtesy says find another hole to pull your plugs or join the side drifting line. Same with bankin it......dont show up to a hole where everyone is float fishing and think drift fishing is gonna happen without pi$$in someone off......possible yes.....but not likely.
I give as wide of birth as possible but it is sometimes not gonna work for whatever reason.
I have had guides and people in bigger boats try to intimidate me into leaving an area for who knows what reason....so its not just a banky vs jet boat vs drift boat thing. Some people are just inconsiderate.

[BigGoonTuna]

Used to run alot of small rivers up there in a shallow jet, problem is alot of bankies do not realize boaters need power to run up and especially down river, to keep off the rocks.  We would try our best to make a run on opposite shore as possible, sometime not possible.  Sharp bends and shallow water = need for power is required.  Kind of hard to slow this down when you are trying to maintain step to keep the boat on top of the water.

i've gotten glared at for doing this, by people who don't understand.  if there are bankies working a slot on the far side of a small river, i will run full speed through the shallows to get past them!  in doing so, i keep from sucking up rocks into my pump, and avoid running over the water they're fishing as well.  it also seems to throw less of a wake.  just reel in, and i'll be out of your way in a second.

if you are wading out far enough to where i can safely cut around behind, i'll idle past usually.  with a jet, i always run full speed or just at an idle, i find it inconsiderate to run at half speed and throw a big wake and take forever to get past.

[fisheral87]

I think your bank guy will look at the exact same situation differently than your boat guy. Alot of times that shallow water you are running through can be where the fish is holding, depending on clarity and you just spooked him out of there due to your proximity.

Also, bank guys need to chill out about sleds running over deeper water where those fish may be holding, and they are fishing, those fish are less sensitive to that sled than your average bank guy is. 

 I had the opportunity to observe how steelhead in fairly small streams will react to a sled in AK. In most cases after 5 - 10 mins they returned to there prior location and/or state.

The biggest deterrent to catching fish is those big nets at the mouth of the river. That is where we should focus our energy IMO.

Chill out, you aren't at work.

[allen]

BGTuna said it right.  Treat others as you would like to be treated.  That being said sometimes it just doesn't work out .  As a drift boat fisherman, I always try to give bankies & other boats their space.  But occasionally we've had a difference of opinion on the "right" procedure.  Hey, if it weren't for differences of opinion we wouldn't have horse races. 

Keep a positive attitude & fish on!

[Wa hunter]

Thanks for the tips. 

[WSU]

I have a drift boat, and try to float by close to bank fisherman and not go over their water.

[Huntbear]

Bank fisherman hikes into hole with flashlight, rigs up, starts fishing, drift boat guy pulls in anchors in the middle of the hole, then jet boat comes screaming thru, swamps drift boat, gets bank fisherman wet with wake, and blows out the hole for the next 2 hrs......   

Pretty much been my experience. 

Oh, and then people start yelling about getting a gun and shooting holes in boats, etc....  Bank fishermen tossing 4 - 6 ounce sinkers at boats with treble hooks....

I am kidding...... unless of course you are fishing Drano for Springers... 

[cohoho]

Bank fisherman hikes into hole with flashlight, rigs up, starts fishing, drift boat guy pulls in anchors in the middle of the hole, then jet boat comes screaming thru, swamps drift boat, gets bank fisherman wet with wake, and blows out the hole for the next 2 hrs......   

Add the AK experiance, Airboat blows over hike-in fisherman's tent, water spray soaks his sleeping bag and clothing, rocks pelt his graphite rod, cracks on first cast, shivers uncontrollably from the onslaught of hypothermia.  Shore guy hikes back to the road surface- no fish, broken tent, wet sleeping bag, broken rod... Pissed off forever!  Goes and buys a airplane and buzzes all boats on the water..  Circles like he is landing to get them to move off anchor and flys away....

[BigGoonTuna]

Bank fisherman hikes into hole with flashlight, rigs up, starts fishing, drift boat guy pulls in anchors in the middle of the hole, then jet boat comes screaming thru, swamps drift boat, gets bank fisherman wet with wake, and blows out the hole for the next 2 hrs......   

Pretty much been my experience. 

Oh, and then people start yelling about getting a gun and shooting holes in boats, etc....  Bank fishermen tossing 4 - 6 ounce sinkers at boats with treble hooks....

I am kidding...... unless of course you are fishing Drano for Springers... 

sounds like the wynoochee in february