Etiquette on charter boats and crowded shore marks

Look behind before you cast. A beach rod loaded with a heavy lead delivers it at speed, and the person behind may have arrived while you were rebaiting.

Keep hooks controlled. A rig hanging from a rod tip at head height on a moving boat is the commonest source of hook injuries at sea.

Clear your line when somebody is playing a fish. This prevents both a lost fish and a tangle that has to be cut with a fish attached.

Stow tackle and keep the deck clear. Trips and falls on a wet deck account for a large share of injuries on charter boats, and most are caused by other people's equipment.

Wear what you are asked to wear. Where a skipper requires flotation, that is a condition of being aboard rather than a suggestion.

Tell somebody if you feel unwell. Seasickness is not embarrassing and dehydration from it is a genuine medical problem several hours from shore.

And on shore, do not fish so close to somebody that a hooked fish cannot be played. That is the practical definition of too close, and it varies with the tackle and the ground rather than being a fixed distance.

The conventions extend past personal safety into what people take.

Taking only what will be eaten is a widely shared norm rather than a rule, and on a boat where everybody is catching from the same ground it is a visible one.

Returning fish properly matters more in company, because a fish handled badly in front of six other anglers teaches six people how to handle a fish badly.

Leaving a mark as you found it — line, rig packaging, bait containers and hooks removed — is the convention most often broken and the one that most reliably loses access. Piers, harbours and private shore access are closed to anglers far more often for litter than for anything else.

And retention limits, size limits and closed seasons vary by jurisdiction and by species and change over time. FishingHQ explains the concepts and does not state any current limit; what applies where you are fishing is a question for the relevant fisheries authority.

The safety conventions are essentially universal, because they follow from hooks, leads and moving decks rather than from culture.

The social conventions vary more than anglers assume. Acceptable spacing on a crowded Japanese or Korean breakwater is far tighter than on a Northern European beach, and treating one standard as the correct one is how visiting anglers cause offence.

Whether unsolicited advice is welcome varies. In some cultures offering it to a stranger is friendly; in others it is a criticism.

Whether it is normal to ask what somebody is catching, and whether an honest answer is expected, varies more still.

The reliable approach anywhere is the same one: watch first, ask rather than assume, take less space than you think you are entitled to, and leave nothing behind. That works on every coast.