Out of line ?

[Bird]

You did what most would do, I do it to.

 

It's not selfish to protect the livelihood of the body of water we fish most often and social media can certainly make that challenging. 

 

Back in late February I had a surprisingly productive day on a local lake and wife posted pics on FB.

Well it wasn't long before her post was bombarded with inquiries........" what lake ? What was he using? Does he mind if I tag along next time ?.

 

She replied " he's practicing social distancing and declined to comment " lol

 

Sharing your favorite spots with close respectable friends is one thing but not FB.

 

 

 

 

[NYWayfarer]

I read the title and thought @slonezp was out of mono, braid, co-poly and fluorocarbon...

 

And no you were not out of line. Especially now. It seems everyone realizes fishing is a social distance sport. My spots are crawling with people who are tired of staying at home.

[the reel ess]

IDK why anyone would post good fishing reports from their favorite lake. I would only say "I tried Lake X again today and not even a sign of a fish. I think there was a fish kill. I would not recommend going there. BTW, the fish in all my social media pics came from elsewhere."

[MN Fisher]

I think instead of posting 'North Arm' (300 acres) or 'Phelps Bay' (350 acres) I'm just going to say 'Lake Minnetonka' (14,500 acres) instead.

[Scott F]

I moderate a forum for my fishing club. The club besides being about fishing, is also about conservation. If we were going to make any mistakes, it was going to err on the side of caution. We made a rule that you were not allowed to post specific spots on the open forum. 
One thing the guys who wanted to post spots had to say was that most people who use the internet to get exact locations aren’t good enough fishermen to catch fish even if you put them on the best spots anyway.

[TnRiver46]

4 minutes ago, Scott F said:

. 
One thing the guys who wanted to post spots had to say was that most people who use the internet to get exact locations aren’t good enough fishermen to catch fish even if you put them on the best spots anyway.

Exactly!!!!! Im not worried one bit about people whose fishing strategy is to go online and try to duplicate success at exact locations. They will always be a couple steps behind 

[BassNJake]

I'm with the full disclosure crowd.

I also have absolutely no problem with someone that chooses not to disclose specifics.

 

Either way, I enjoy the hunt as much as the catch

Telling me where to go and what to use is kinda the opposite of the freedoms I am seeking on the lake

[Ratherbfishing]

10 hours ago, slonezp said:

Sent a message to a guy on a local forum to not post reports on a great fishery. Worried the buckethesds could decimate the small lake.

Was I out of line?

I suppose it depends on how it was phrased.  Expressed one way, you could come off as a great guy.  Put another way, it could sound like you're the gestapo.  With regards to trying to keep a place a secret, who wouldn't want to do that?

[Born 2 fish]

4 hours ago, slonezp said:

When I post positive reports of that specific lake, I post them in a thread dedicated to my home water. Which this is not. My home water gets a ton of pressure and is large enough to sustain that pressure. I post negative reports in this lakes dedicated thread. This lake is only a couple hundred acres. Used to have a decent musky population and a real good bass population. Both have dropped significantly in the past 15 years from harvesting and weed kills. It is the absolute best panfish lake I know of. Thru stocking programs, the musky and bass are rebounding as are walleye. I see the way the bucketheads harvest fish from my home water. This lake is 5 minutes from there. If word got out they would surely destroy the fishery.

I think I know what lake your referring to.

[TnRiver46]

27 minutes ago, Born 2 fish said:

I think I know what lake your referring to.

Well let’s have a lake name and some GPS coordinates. Lord knows no one ever figured out fishing on their own 

[CountryboyinDC]

I'd say I'm on the side that thinks that it was probably a little out of line.  If you showed the angler the place and then he or she posted a bunch of pics that's one thing.  But if the spot is public and you didn't point the person to it, I don't see how it's your place to tell that person what they should post.  FWIW, you won't catch me posting about any honey holes.

[redux]

I know a guy who was banned from a forum for going crazy with detailed posts about other people's favorite fishery. Posting articles, state water management reports, detailed maps, etc. He was asked publicly and privately to stop posting about it, did not listen, got banned, was uninvited from fishing trips, and lost friends.

 

I went ahead and met up with them for a trip on this specific series of lakes. I was expecting them to be tough on me since they know I am friends with him, but they were all very friendly and we all had a good day fishing. The thing that really sucks is all of them would have welcomed him if he bothered to show up and apologize.

 

There's nothing wrong with a friendly note. However, things can escalate depending on how people chose to respond. Be nice and clear then let him make his own decision.

[J Francho]

Spot burn is real.  It's also a lame excuse for not catching.  I used to worry about it, but at this point, it almost doesn't matter.  I continually looking for new waters.  It might be worth it to leak a decent spot, just to throw them off the scent.

[Hower08]

Me and my buddies that are on some forums together post honest reports but are always very vague on where. And never post what lake it is. Most our lakes fish relatively similar so you can take one local report and apply it to many of our other lakes and piece together your own success 

[Logan S]

I don't think it's out of line, but I don't think I'd bother these days.  The only time I've done it is when someone posted a report about a lake and included details on what I did in a tournament that he heard at weigh in (on this site actually).  I asked the person not to do it again, but I look back and think I probably should have just left it alone, not worth the ensuing awkwardness.  

 

Between super popular YouTube fisherman publishing videos on some small local lakes and the BASS/FLW tournaments pinpointing exactly where all the top anglers are fishing on the Potomac and Upper Bay...Everything around me is essentially 'spot burned' ?.

 

IMO, 10% of the anglers have 90% of the success...So there might be extra people out there, but most aren't hurting anything.  It keeps you on your toes .  

[PourMyOwn]

6 hours ago, Bird said:

You did what most would do, I do it to.

 

It's not selfish to protect the livelihood of the body of water we fish most often and social media can certainly make that challenging. 

 

Back in late February I had a surprisingly productive day on a local lake and wife posted pics on FB.

Well it wasn't long before her post was bombarded with inquiries........" what lake ? What was he using? Does he mind if I tag along next time ?.

 

She replied " he's practicing social distancing and declined to comment " lol

 

Sharing your favorite spots with close respectable friends is one thing but not FB.

 

 

 

 

She gets it. I've seen a lot of spot burn because girlfriends and wives on social media have no issues giving out information. 

 

[WRB]

First and foremost there are no secrets in bass fishing. With accurate maps and Satillite overhead photos of nearly every body of water is available on the Internet.

Share your knowledge, not your specific fishing spots. Just be aware someone is watching and your secret spot or lake will be disclosed. 

I have been helping anglers for decades to learn how to locate productive structure, yet few fish them. The most obviuos on any lake is the launch ramp, yet very few boaters ever fish there. The boater launches the boat and runs to the other end of the lake 90% of the time. It's always greener on the other side of the fence. 

Tom

[flyfisher]

Not out of line at all.  Only time I worry about it though is when people post up small mountain streams when chasing brookies as they can be decimated real fast if conservation minded people decide to go there.

[Bankbeater]

If it's someone I know, and I know they will not trash the lake, then I share my info.  If it's a complete stranger then I caught that fish on the other side of the state.

[Sam]

11 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Everything from now on was caught out of Lake Michigan, problem solved. 

I have no problem not telling anyone where I caught bass.

 

In fact, I will make up a place if the individual is persistent in wanting to know.

 

So I add my vote to the "no, you were not out of line" tally.

[Vilas15]

I think location is the most important factor when you add it all up so I'd err on the side of secrecy. Season, time of day, weather, type of bait, bait color, bait size and it all comes down to the fact you can't catch them where they aren't. Maybe back in the old days your spot would make it through the grapevine to a few of the locals, but now with the internet and social media anything you post is available to thousands of people and plenty are willing to drive a few hours to get there.

 

Generally I think it all comes down to what size is the lake. Big nationally known lakes have plenty of spots and plenty of people already going there, so it likely won't impact the fishery much. The smaller the lake the bigger effect people make have on the fishery or the experience when it gets too crowded. The ultimate example which one person mentioned is remote brookie stream that can get destroyed. Naming streams is not OK unless they're one of the top most popular destinations. I'll give you a county but that's about it.

[dodgeguy]

18 hours ago, islandbass said:

Depends on how you told him. 
 

for example if you told him, “If you post a report about this lake, I’m gonna kick your donkey, you #*}*{^{^.” That might be considered out of line. 
 

but if you said, “Hey bud, that is awesome that you caught a lot of fish and had a great day and I know you want to share your excitement with others and that is cool. But did you ever consider the ramifications of what could happen to your new honey hole if you let the cat out of the bag? Everyone and their covid-idiot cousins will be out there, fishing your honey hole fishing it dry — you wouldn’t want that would you? So if you want to post a report, go ahead but don’t disclose the location.”

 

true and hopefully persuasive and the honey hole is saved and no one got their feelings hurt or blood pressure raised, lol. 

agree 100 percent. this is especially true on small lakes.

[DitchPanda]

Not out of line in the least as long as you weren't crude or jerky about it. If you were reasonable about it then nobody should have an issue and should understand. Me and my fishing buddies do this sometimes usually in 2 scenarios. 1st scenario:get on a good pattern on a small local pond/lake..this needs no explanation it explains itself why this is bad. 2nd scenario:get on a unique bite on a heavily fished body of water...for example a few years ago a buddy was fishing a local lake with alot of perch and walleye pressure but he figured out a cool way to catch numbers of big crappies. We told a couple close friends and family but that's it. To this day we can go out and catch as many 11 to 14 inch slabs as we want most days...and never see anybody outside our grouping this technique.

[slonezp]

This is a 300 acre lake at best. Doesn't take much to figure it out....and the questions are already starting. New guy who has never posted in the thread for that particular lake is asking about the creel limit for the walleye. I've fished the lake regularly since the mid 90's. Way back then, they had a bait shop and boat rental on the lake. It was sold late 90's and is a residence with no commercial zoned property on the lake except for the property the ramp sits on which has been for sale for many years. Early 2000's the lake rebounded. Word got out and after about 2010 went into another slump. The last 3 years have been extremely good fishing for all but musky. I did catch 1 last year that was probably stocked the year before. 

[Guitarfish]

Our local lake 'recommends' catch and release, but does not enforce.  The only type of fishermen I see are the boat load type with bait.  They are ruining it for sport angling.