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I offer information if asked and if I have been successful, but people just do the opposite anyway. I pay little attention to what others tell me, as it is usually just diversionary hooey or a good stretcher, but nothing helpful as to fishing, and I know how to fish anyway. So in general I don't chatter too much unless I've observed a person fishing and noted that he knows what he is doing. If it's something a little new or different to me, I don't need to be told much anyhow; I can figure it out through observation. If someone really wants to learn and is seeking advice in earnest, then I'll just about stop fishing to show and help them and take a lot of pleasure when they start catching fish. Good mentors are very rare, but good proteges are even rarer. So in general when people ask me "How's the fishing at such and such, or what should I use at such and such," I just say, listen, how do I know. I was there yesterday but I'm not there now. If you want to know where the fishing is good and what to use, you have to do exactly what I do: Be there often and experiment often. You have to fish. In other words, if somebody just wants to catch but doesn't want to fish or know how, which is easy to discern, I don't chatter with them too long.

Pmag, I know full well that was not a Super dooper which you told the guy you were not using. It is good with spinfishing, which I hardly ever do any more, to say Mepps when asked. That was an excellent answer. In Maine they always say Mooseluk wobbler, and many fish are caught in "the brook you cross on the Pond Road." Anyway, I figure you were using a Castmaster. Great story, which illustrates an important point. Most people who ask what you are using--in fly fishing anyhow--are only marginally capable of catching fish with that particular fly. It is the wrong question to begin with, an early indicator to me that I will be wasting my time trying to give helpful advice, which I will gladly do if asked good questions. If someone asks about depth, type of current, and presentation that's been successful on a given river, that indicates to me they understand fishing a bit. I'm not saying which boulder had the big fish behind it, but I will gladly say that the boulder strewn runs are holding fish if you can get a fly down quickly to them in the pocket behind. We might get to the successful flies eventually, which is no use knowing without the more important information. And before the fly, if they have a ten-foot leader and I suggest something a little shorter and stouter, and later they don't change the leader but instead bite some split shot on to a 5x tippet, there's still no use me bothering to suggest flies. If they have a bobber (strike indicator) on their line, I would just say hello, and then steer clear. I would watch, though. If they caught fish steady (very unlikely on most of the water I fish), I might check in my vest for something fluffy to use. Great story, which got me thinking all this because your catch had already shown the guy where fish might be holding--far more important than the particular spinning lure.

In case you can't tell, I know full I well I can get a little cranky astream. I consider fly-fishing a solitary, contemplative pursuit, and I concentrate intensely, so I don't like to be pestered astream (as in calls from across the river, "what fly are you using," and such). I don't pester others, either, and try to respect their space. In this way, you wind up fishing or after-fishing chatting only with like-minded individuals, who often have something to share or something to learn, usually both. That is good. In the more intrusive conversations with people who won't get it anyway, I get taciturn pretty quick. I never lie, though, for people often have, at least, the right general attitude with open-ended questions. Two that are usually in this spirit but don't work very well are, "How's the fishing." I can always answer truthfully "good," although the interlocuter/interloper may really mean how's the catching. Similarly, "Any luck?" is usually intended as a friendly opener for which I have no reason to be indirect. The answer is always the same: "No," since whether I've caught fish or not that day and place, "luck" has very little to do with it.