Fishing Etiquette 101
The following is a guest post by Marshall McDougal from Cowtown Fly Co.
Long gone are the days where you can fully get to enjoy a river without running into other people. Save for some remote places out west and across our northern border, it is common to run into other anglers on the water nowadays. The old "honey hole" you grew up fishing is now crowded with out of state license plates and anglers that picked up fishing during the pandemic.
The White River is no exception to this. Home to world class fishing, the White stretches from the north central part of the state until it feeds into the mighty Mississippi. What used to be a well kept secret is how great of a trout fishery the first 50 miles of this river is after exiting Bull Shoals dam.
Well folks, the secret is out and it has become one of the best destinations in the lower 48 to chase trophy brown trout. With the larger crowds and increased boat numbers, it seems the fishing etiquette has been thrown out the window by people getting into the sport.
Time for fishing etiquette 101.
Take this as a chance to learn a thing or two about ways to navigate the river, handle fish and give back to the resource we all love while sharing it with fellow anglers. And maybe not get cussed out by an old timer.
Walk Wade vs Boat Fishing
The White river offers some very unique ways to chase fish. There are a plethora of public access spots, boat ramps and wading opportunities during lower flow.
Arkansas is a highwater mark state, meaning that all river bottom is public. As long as you stay within the high water boundary, you are able to wade as far up or down as you'd like when accessing the river from a public area. This also means that when you are in a boat, you can legally use your anchor anywhere on the river.
Navigating the river on foot or in a boat leads to some unwritten rules that have been followed for decades.
Wading and Bank Fishing
We'll start with wading and bank fishing. As a general rule of thumb, and what should be considered common sense, is don't crowd strangers.
You knowhow you always hear your mom talk about stranger danger growing up and how you should distance yourself from people you don't know? The same applies to fishing. I'm not saying don't be friendly when you run into other people on the river. I'm saying keep a respectable distance away from other people fishing.
“You know how you always hear your mom talk about stranger danger growing up and how you should distance yourself from people you don’t know?
The same applies to fishing.”
There is nothing more irritating than fishing a run just to have another angler walk up and start fishing right next to you. I typically see this at most of the public boat ramp access points, and a great way to mitigate this is to give other wade and bank fishermen space.
The unwritten rules:
If you are within shouting distance of someone fishing, you are fishing too close.
Always wade upstream. If you pull up to a spot that you want to fish, start downstream of any angler already fishing that run and work your way up.
If you run into someone on the river that is camped out in a single spot, pull your line out of the water and work your way around them. They were there first and there are plenty of fish to be caught above where they are fishing.
Boat Etiquette
This is for everyone bringing their own boat and renting a boat. You will see looooots of guides out on the river and they typically follow some of these suggestions.
There is nothing more frustrating than seeing an out of state boat blow by and wake you at full speed with no remorse for how close they are getting to people with lines in the water.
The way this river is typically fished is by jetboat. Anglers will put in at a ramp and either run up or down the river until they find a bank they would like to fish or a run that has been hot. They will then proceed to drift that run using the oars, just to hop back on the motor to run up river and drift that same line again.
This means that some areas could have multiple boats floating the same run and all fishing back to back. Etiquette for situations like this is just waiting your turn. If you are around other boats, talk to them and see what their game plan is as well. Communication with other boats goes a long way and can prevent frustration for guides who are on the water every day.
The biggest rule to follow is to be considerate of your wake. If there are sections of the river that open up and have less boat traffic, opening up on the throttle is more than acceptable. When you are passing another water craft or someone fishing from the bank, throttle down and minimize your wake.
Obstacles to Watch Out For
Obstacles depend on water output from the dam. Some of the biggest include:
Beaching your boat at minimum flow
Submerged rocks or trees that may have shifted during a high water event
Other aquatic crafts such as kayakers or rafts
Be cautious and alert when operating a boat out here. There are plenty of things that can turn a great day into a bad day very quickly.
Proper Handling of Fish
Let's take a look at proper fish handling. After all, the biggest resource in this river are the trout that bring people here from all over the country.
If You Are Keeping Fish
We can start with anyone looking to take some fish home to eat. Local regulations from Arkansas Game and Fish Commission are posted online and are readily available to anglers.
Following the bag limits that are set by professionals who survey this river year round should be followed and not exceeded. These are the people maintaining the trout population on this river for decades to come, and I promise you don't know more than these guys do, so listen and follow the regulations.
Handling a fish you plan to keep:
Use a rubber net and try to keep them in the water while checking their length.
If you determine they are a keeper, dispatch the fish quickly and flush the blood. This preserves the meat and ensures stress hormones are not released into it.
Get it on ice as soon as you can to help preserve the taste.
Leaving fish on a stringer and letting them suffocate slowly tends to produce less quality in the taste of the fish.
"Culling" fish, which is where you replace kept fish with a bigger legal fish, is highly discouraged and oftentimes illegal.
When you decide to keep a fish, handle it with care and dispose of it quickly and humanely to respect that fish's life.
Catch & Release
Catch and release proper handling will require taking a few things into consideration.
Rethink your hooks. One of the biggest causes of death to fish is post release shock. Trout caught on bait can face anywhere from a 13 to 30% mortality rate after being released. A lot of this is due to fishing with treble hooks, where the fish swallows the bait and the hook in turn tears up its intestinal track.
One way to help mitigate this is to only fish single barbless hooks. Yes, there is a chance that the fish gets off during the fight, but after landing a trout, this style of hook makes a quick release very easy. This can also be done on artificial lures. Consider replacing the factory treble hooks with single, barbless stinger hooks.
Stay away from the gills. One other cause of post release death is damaged gills. When handling a trout, never put your fingers or hands near or in the gills of these fish. It is almost a sure way to hurt the fish before releasing them.
Keep them wet. A great way to practice proper fish handling when releasing a fish is to keep their heads and gills in the water when removing the hook and taking a photo. Use rubber nets so as to not damage their skin.
If you do want to lift a fish out of the water for a "trophy" shot, hold them by the tail with one hand while the other hand rests under the fish's belly. Try to minimize the amount of time the fish is out of the water and get him back in the net as quickly as possible after the picture is taken.
Let them catch their breath. The last thing to make sure you do for a healthy release is to make sure the fish is strong enough to swim off. If you have fought a fish for a while, they have been exhausting themselves trying to get away. You can imagine this as doing wind sprints up a hill. You need time to rest in between exerting your energy and so do the fish.
A great way to do this is to hold the fish by the tail with their head upstream. This pushes oxygenated water through their gills, allowing that fish to catch their breath. When that fish has recovered and is ready to swim off, they will kick hard and usually take off back to the middle of the river.
Conclusion
Get on out there! This river is for everyone's use and enjoyment, but it is also everyone's responsibility to make sure the river stays healthy for future generations of anglers to fish.
Be mindful when you are out on the water of other people and, most importantly, follow the rules and regulations set by Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
“Don’t Kill Your Co-Workers”
That is one of my favorite quotes I have ever heard from a guide, and it pertains to the fish. Make sure they are handled properly and released healthy.
After all, these trout are the reason we all look forward to coming back to the incredible White River.