WHETHER CALLED formality, good form, civility, etiquette, manners, courtesy, or ethics, one could fill a modest volume on things one should or shouldn’t do in the opinion of real sportsmen if one wished to be regarded, himself, as a sportsman or just a real man on the stream. I could plead that you do not walk up to the bank’s edge if another fisherman is working in that spot. I could suggest that the fisherman working downstream, and meeting another angler fishing upstream, leave the water and circle around at a suitable distance before re-entering the water. The same procedure would be applicable if fishing from the bank or the stream’s edge.

I could advise that a fisherman wading the water and coming up on another angler fishing a particular hole, either from the bank or wading himself, wait until he is finished or get out and go around. I could urge one, if having fished a pool or a good pocket for a reasonable length of time, with others patiently waiting for a crack at it also, to pass on up- or downstream, at least temporarily, until they move on leaving the spot open for one to go back. However, I won’t admonish you on any particular situation but will cover it in one sweeping Golden Rule plea: TREAT THE OTHER ANGLER AS YOU, IN ANY SITUATION, WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED!

If you are a cantankerous, obstinate, self-willed individual who feels you should, for any or no reason, be given preferred exemption and you won’t, by gosh, give an inch, you have no business or right on a trout stream. The Creator gave us a heavenly privilege of fishing trout and he who deliberately cheats or purposely acts contrary to accepted sportsmanship practices should be toted on a knotty rail three times around the earth at the equator and I’ll furnish the tar.