The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Mind your manners on the river
You’ve heard about water safety, but what about river manners?
A Saturday afternoon on the banks of the Schuylkill River in Berks County’s Jim Dietrich Park featured many people minding their manners — and a few folks who were not.
Whether on the Schuylkill near Pottstown, Phoenixville or Norristown, or on Lake Nockamixon or Green Lane, the same principles apply: Mind your river manners.
Here’s a test on your water-courtesy IQ. What would you have done is these situations? Slippery slope To get to area waterways, it’s common to have to negotiate short, but fairly steep, loose dirt paths to walk.
A woman with her hands full discovered just how loose the dirt was when, halfway down, her flimsy flipflops started to slide. She was not sure how to safely take the next step.
Steve Troutman, 38, of Pottstown was standing in the river when he noticed her, walked out of the water, up the hill and offered an arm to steady the remainder of her descent.
Helping an unsteady stranger — mark one for good manners. Perfect spot Troutman and a friend were scouting a place to fish for smallmouth bass. Troutman went back into the river, looking for structures in the river where bass might hide.
He found what looked like an ideal spot: partially shaded, with bugs skimming over the water, jumping fish and barn swallows swooping around pecking at bugs — all signs of bass nearby.
Troutman decided not to fish there. Another angler, Bill Quigg, 60, of Shillington, was still up the hill gathering his equipment, but he had arrived first and Troutman didn’t want to crowd him.
Quigg arrived on the river bank shortly thereafter, clad in hip waders and toting a box of flys, which he showed Troutman and his friend. The men enthusiastically discussed lures and locations, and soon Troutman was on his way to find another spot.
Graciously giving up a fishing spot — second check for good manners. No nibbles Quigg is treasurer of the Berks Fly Tyers and makes his own lures. He practices the artful casting unique to fly fishing every day in his yard, and says it is almost as fun as fishing itself.
“There is a whole timing to it,” he said.
Quigg learned to fly fish from his paternal grandmother, Mae Quigg, when he was a child. He has a little shrine to her on the wall at home, including her fly rod, a shadow box with all her flys in it, and her 1976 fishing license from the last time he fished with her. He passed the hobby down to his son.
Working in the middle of the river, Quigg flicked his wrist and the line swirled over his head like a ribbon in the wind, the lure whipping past his face, drying off in the air, then plunking into the river, waiting for a nibble that never came.
A few children swimming upstream started inching closer to him. He moved downstream to keep enough space between them.
He fished in peace for a short while, then a group with coolers and float toys marched down the path and, although there was plenty of open space, decided to park their picnic right in front of Quigg.
They lit some cigarettes, popped open the cooler and led a toddler wearing inflatable arm floaters into the water, close enough to get hooked if Quigg was not careful. He was. He soon left the water, smiled at the group and decided to go find a quieter place.
Crowding a fisherman — this goes into the bad-manners column. Day of floating A group of people paddling 20 kayaks arrived along the same river bank late in the afternoon. They’d started their journey near the Leesport post office, part of an event organized by the Berks County Parks and Recreation Department with the cooperation of Blue Marsh Outdoors, the Borough of Leesport and Muhlenberg Township.
It was Cindy and Tom Ravel’s first time down the Schuykill River. Although the Greenfield couple have been paddling for about five years, mostly at Blue Marsh, they always wanted to try the river.
Along the way they saw a blue heron, and said the river is beautiful.
Karen Schreiber, Muhlenberg recreation supervisor, and Becky Richards, Berks County recreation program supervisor, said a kayak flipped during their excursion and several other paddlers quickly helped get the overturned boat and soaked paddlers back into a floating position.
Later, as everyone got out of the water tired, some helped others lug their boats to their cars.
Helping fellow boaters: good manners win the day.