Trout Park Ethics

As we know when large groups of people enjoy a sport or event of any kind their are unwritten rules we have to adhere to for everyone to enjoy the event. For example if we attend a ball game we don't want a person setting in front of us to have on a very large hat that blocks our view. Or someone who has had to much to drink using foul language in front of our children. Fishing has some of the same things to contend with.
The Trout Parks are a very different fishing environment than the wild river experience. On weekends they may have 800+ anglers on a two mile stretch of river all jocking for the best place to fish. Parents with their children, elderly, and weekend anglers, Bait anglers, first time anglers, fly fishing anglers, & the trout park pro all compete side by side for the enjoyment of the outdoors and catching fish. The all have their own thought of how the day should go and all these ideas sometimes don't mix.
The Parks are divided into sections for each set of anglers. The bait area, fly section, catch & release section. The bait area caters to the weekend anglers, first time anglers & the older folk to set in a chair and read a book while waiting for a fish to bite. Fly water has a mix of spin cast and fly rod fishing which both can be used with jigs & flies. This is the first place we see conflicts between anglers. The spin cast anglers and fly anglers sometimes don't understand the mechanics of each others actions. The fly angler have a long back cast with longer drifts than the spin cast angler. The spin cast anglers employees a longer up stream and down stream cast with little or no drift just retrieve back to the reel. The spin cast anglers tend to move about the river quicker and do less sight fishing, the shot gun type of angling is their style. While the fly angler depends more on sight fishing and price presentation to a specific fish.
The mane things we see that causes a conflict is anglers walking behind a fly angler when he is doing a back cast not knowing someone behind them. Or spin casters casting over the fly anglers drift. We also hear complaints from the fly anglers about the spin caste rigs even being allowed in the fly water. The fly area are limited in the type of lures both anglers use. Most true flies can not be cast with spin cast rigs, and most of the jigs used by the spin casters use don't work well on a fly rod. But the fly area anglers of both sets tend to release their fish more than in the bait area so the area has more fish through out the day.
The bait areas tend to be the biggest areas of the parks. These areas are stocked at the same ratios of fish as all the other sections of the park. This is where the weekenders tend to fish to get a meal for the family. They tend to fish closer together and also tend to have more patents with fellow anglers. They tend to bring more comforts of home with them to the rivers edge. Coolers, picnic baskets, chairs, rod holders, you name it, it will appear on the bank. They tend to spend hours in one spot watching a bobber & reading a book or just taking a nap. To a majority of the folks this is relaxation and enjoying the outdoors. I tend to agree this is also fishing. But with some of the TROUT PARK PROS these people get in their way of looking for big fish. Their is where the big complaint happens. The bank walker have sections of the water they can't scout for big fish because of the anglers setting in the chairs along the bank. They call them bank squatters. And they tend to gather at the stocking areas. These areas also tend to be pretty much fished out early in the day.
Then there are Handicapped areas placed around the parks for the folks that can not walk the bank or wade. these areas are well marked. This is another hot area for complaints. Both the fly anglers and the spin casters walk or wade in front of these areas with no regard for the handicap anglers using them.

Why do we forget this when fishing? It's simple we are so wrapped up in the actual thoughts of the event at hand we forget we are not alone. We as anglers are so tunnel visioned in on the hook up of a fish we simply don't think about others until we are our self bothered by another angler who happened to wander into our bubble of consecration.

Other than adding a list of don't and do things it is so easy if you just reed the golden rule and remember it while on the stream. Then understand that some of the other anglers are not thinking like you. And teach your children how to do this while they are fishing by demonstrating it to them, point out the people who are not being a considerate to others, and explain to them how they can keep from being looked at like that person.

The Trout Park is a public put and take fishery. They draw from all the gamut of people, Rich, Poor, all religions, all ethnic, sober, intoxication, The same people who have road rage are fishing by the same people who have cut them off on the highway. The next rule is to have Patients and just Think about the rule above. You will have a great day.