.... while you are fishing otherwise 7 out of 10 you are gonna hear one or more of the followings within few minutes.

1- I wouldn't fish there if I were you. No fish there.
2- Cast over here/there.
3- You are too heavy/light.
4- You should use spinning/Casting rod.
5- Game warden was here. Be careful.
6- You should use a shorter/longer rod.
7- You should use bait/egg/shrimp ....

Sorry I said Hi please leave me alone

then you hook a fish with the wrong rod, wrong lure, in a bad spot ... and it starts all over again.

1- Was it snagged?
2- I caught one there last week.
3- What color are you using?
4- They must have moved up/down.
5- My freezer is full

Time to leave and don't hook another fish or it will get ugly. LOL

A strange phenomenon indeed!

Seems to happen more in bratfest than wild season

I'll never forget a year or two ago, walking out with the biggest fish of the day and having someone stop me and tell me, "that waters gin clear, you aught to be using a smaller corky and less weight!"

I've been convinced that everyone out there is just plain smarter than I am.

Ignorance is bliss.

Bob,
You are absolutely and 100% correct. Meat fishery brings out the worst. I remember releasing a hatchery and it wasn't dark dark but it wasn't chrome either and this guy tells me with a demanding voice "You should have asked me before letting it go. I need some eggs. Next time ask. Don't you like fish?" I said I don't care for steelhead taste and he went balistic blah blah blah ... LOL

I like the guy I've never seen before splash right in to a spot I've been fishing 20 years, stand five feet below me, cast over my line repeatedly and then try to tell me how he's been fishing there since a past life. At those times I really would prefer to not hook a fish or else he'll be my shadow for life.

Hey now...
I try to be cordial to every boat or bank angler that I share the river with during the day. What gets me is when someone can't even return a salutation like "Good morning" or "How are you guy's doing."
What is so hard about being nice even if the river is crowded or fishing is slow?

Well for me it's the fact that I never fish in crowds and my usual bank spots I am the only one there on an average day. Plenty of holes and drifts up or downstream from wherever I am but you get a guy sometimes that seems to need people and bee lines right for you. Makes me sound like an A** but I like the solitude...that's why I am out here all by myself. Anyway, I am not overly rude but I am not overly nice to someone like that either.

Lol!!! You are so right! Forget "good morning" or anything like that. If I had a dollar for every bit of "free " advice I got, I'd be rich! Chum 101 was about the best laugh we had. Some folks can't stand to watch you catch, that's ok, I had fun!

STIHLHEAD: I know what you mean about releasing hatchery fish when everybody around you keeps whatever they catch. I do this all the time and get some pretty wierd looks. I just would rather eat a fish caught in the ocean than one starting to turn colors. I also can not believe how some people release fish by kicking, chucking, throwing, and draginf fish back into the water. It always makes me mad since I always release the fish the way your should, by cradeling the fish in your hands and letting it swim away on it's own.

Agree with Stlhead,

I go fishing in most places to purposely avoid most people. I'll return a pleasantry if offered to me, but I'll go to great lengths to avoid contact with the bearers of unsolicited advice. Admittedly, that tact probably has cost me the reception of a few very good pieces of advice from other fisherfolks, but I usually don't feel like sifting through the bs. I'm the guy who walks past the run you're fishing, leaves you and your fish alone and never offers a word. I'd take transparent over glaringly apparent in the woods anyday,

fishbadger

I had a similar experience on the Green River last winter. I was fishing one of my favorite holes with a bobber and jig when an old timer came down and started telling me how I was wasting my time and that steelhead only bite stuff that's drifted right along the bottom. He went on like this for about 15 minutes until I landed a 10 pound native right in front of him.

I guess I am pretty friendly and will strike up a conversation after a while. If I notice the person is resistant to conversing I will stop out of respect for his or her solitude. However, since coming to this board I have found myself striking up conversations where normally I wouldn't in hopes of meeting another board member. I have yet to succeed. I will also give advice when ASKED. I never offer it freely because I know how much I hate it when it is given freely to me. I get great joy in watching someone else catch a fish and if I can help them do that I will but only if they ask. When asked for advice I never say something like you should put more weight on, rather I say something like I like to use more weight in these conditions to get the bait down quicker and keep in in the slot a little longer. I believe it all ties into proper fishing etiquette just like not casting over peoples lines or parking your drift boat in front of a bank fisherman then fishing his small spot of the river when you can simply drift to the next hole unreachable to bankers or at least asking the banker if he minds if you fish there also. You know, stuff like that.