Conundrum: keep a secret place to myself?

[Darth-Baiter]

My good fishing friend moved to the Midwest.  I still fish with another group, but it’s different. I enjoy a partner that explores. Finds new waters, etc. my good friend would go solo and explore,  me I do the same.  We share notes. And we do really well.  It’s fun saying, “I found a new spot!”   Or, “let’s go check out this small lake”. As a result I have a decent inventory of lakes.   At a giant lake like Clearlake, just finding a new kayak launch that puts you near a new honey hole is solid gold. 
 

my remaining group?  They like to rely on me. Haha.  While I prefer to NOT fish solo, I know if I take someone, they take someone else.   We know now more than ever, things spread.
 

I know it’s stupid, but I think fishing info should be traded.  I found a new spot yesterday with real promise.  Nobody was interested in exploring with me, but now that I hooked a few Mrs. Bigs… people are, “hey, where did you go?”  
 

nowhere. I was nowhere. 

 

 

[scaleface]

I took a guy fishing , he has no boat . So we went to one of my best spots and caught some nice bass . Should be safe , he has no boat . Someone else took him and he says  "I know a good spot . "

[A-Jay]

The past several years, I've taken exactly 2 humans fishing with me.

My Wife & Big Fish Jeff; who happens to live in Memphis, TN.

I fish public water.

I post threads here that often include dates, times and even some video.

Routinely demonstrates much of what I do and how I do it.

Specific or exact locations are deliberately omitted. 

Clearly any basshead with some local knowledge & a keen eye, could identify where I'm at.

And I considered this prior to adding my fishing to the interwebz.

So far, it hasn't really been a factor one way or the other.

If & when that changes, I may need to reevaluate my approach to this. 

Finally, I have no interest in fishing another mans fish, ever.

Seems, that might not be a common theme amongst the general masses. 

So there's that.

A-Jay

https://youtu.be/3OXnPQs0bqQ?t=644

 

[CrashVector]

I video about 1/3rd of where I fish on purpose.

 

I don't want the bucket brigade coming out and littering up my favorite spots.

 

Plus, I located a BIG fish...at least a 10lb bass.  I know exactly where she's hanging out, but couldn't get her to bite on anything yesterday despite the fact that I could SEE her there. I'm not posting anything about it until after she's caught and released.  Even then, I won't post the exact location.

 

I NEVER keep bass I catch during the spawn.  Too many others in my area will keep anything they reel in...from 4oz to 12 pounds...spawn or no..they don't care, so I'm not gonna post videos of where the big bass are actively spawning.  I keep that to myself.

[12poundbass]

I can’t find fish let alone big fish so there’s no conundrum here. ?

[CrashVector]

2 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

I can’t find fish let alone big fish so there’s no conundrum here. ?

 

I find em.  Getting them to bite is a whole different question lol

[Finessegenics]

All my fishing buddies only go fishing with me..they’re really the casual type. So I’m not afraid to show them the spots. 
 

When it comes to dock talk..I keep my mouth shut. I don’t ask other people where they were fishing either. If I assess that someone is a risk to my fish then I really don’t say a word ?

Edited February 19, 2022 by Finessegenics

[casts_by_fly]

4 minutes ago, CrashVector said:

I video about 1/3rd of where I fish on purpose.

 

I don't want the bucket brigade coming out and littering up my favorite spots.

 

Plus, I located a BIG fish...at least a 10lb bass.  I know exactly where she's hanging out, but couldn't get her to bite on anything yesterday despite the fact that I could SEE her there. I'm not posting anything about it until after she's caught and released.  Even then, I won't post the exact location.

 

I NEVER keep bass I catch during the spawn.  Too many others in my area will keep anything they reel in...from 4oz to 12 pounds...spawn or no..they don't care.

 

i don’t video but I do share pictures.  Mostly of my hand, the fish, and a touch of the net/water. Occasionally I’ll post a picture of a lake, but only if it’s one that’s already highly pressured. We have a ton of lakes around here but the majority of them that I’m fishing are under 200 acres, some as small as 15. Adding just 1-2 people makes a difference to how you can fish it so I don’t post anything about the smaller or more sensitive lakes. I also fish alone in a 1 man kayak so taking someone isn’t a choice. 

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

There is one lake I wont tell anybody about or take them to. I have fished this little lake 40 years and only 3 times has there been another person fishing it at the same time. Its has beautiful clear water, its a walk to get to, have never been skunked, theres gills crappie bass cats. I have posted pics here of some catches but wont tell or take even my best friend and best man at my wedding to this spot. I havent even taken my 2 sons they are 21 and 16.

Its MY happy place.

[MIbassyaker]

I'm a cranky loner.  I fish by myself and keep my spots to myself. 

 

In my area there are lots of small bodies of water rather than a few larger ones, so a "spot" is more likely to be one small lake than a particular location on a large lake.  Everywhere I go has public access, but many are a bit off the beaten path and some aren't very well-known. Even a minor increase in traffic would probably affect the fishability of some of these places.  I figure since I had to spend a lot of time and effort to find some of these places, anybody else should too. Price of admission, as it were.

[Bird]

I have 12 lakes that I fish annually, some more than others. 

I don't have to say a word as it's obvious that other fisherman know of my favorite spots. 

It's a matter of who gets on the water first.

 

[Mike L]

90% of my fishing for the past 15 yrs has been as a co angler. I don’t own a boat and don’t intend to get one. 
I’ve been to so many places all over the SE that I’ve come to be familiar with a lot of lakes that I wouldn’t get to fish. 
 

The advantage is that most of the time I’m paired with a local who pretty much knows all the where’s, how’s, and when’s. 
 

Since I tend to fish mostly Florida tournaments the majority of the time now especially Big O, Kissimmee Chain and a few others, I’ve learned much more than I would have. 

Problem is a lot of guys who aren’t local but frequently fish the MLF and BASS Regionals know that and always ask. 
They know I won’t give someone else’s spots to another as they wouldn’t want me to give anyone theirs but they still try. 
 

I’ll give a wide general area, but never any more than that. 

 

 

Mike



 

[ironbjorn]

I fish small water. You get nothing from me unless you call me dad or sleep next to me.

[DitchPanda]

I share bass info with 2 people..a good buddy who is also a good bass angler and I trust him to give me quality info in return. The other is my best buddy of 15 years who just started bass fishing last year..he keeps his yap shut.

[Jigfishn10]

Boat or land I will point to a general direction to adults as to where I fish.

 

Kids, I’ll give them the exact location and will give them a couple of soft plastics and hooks I used to catch fish. 

[JustJames]

I fish small 400 acres private lake where everyone knows the spots already to get bass either on boat or shoreline. It is about first come first serve and who get the right lure and right presentation. 
I pretty much known to catch bass/big bass around here but I got my a$$ kicked most every time with this old lady if we fish the same area. 
Her and I always post IG publicly and we have quite a number of private followers that live on the lake.

For crappie though I try not to post much anymore, even though we only have a few well known spots but they don’t know when they come (shallow) or where the school up. I think I’m more protective for crappie than bass now ???

[slonezp]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

The past several years, I've taken exactly 2 humans fishing with me.

My Wife & Big Fish Jeff; who happens to live in Memphis, TN.

I fish public water.

I post threads here that often include dates, times and even some video.

Routinely demonstrates much of what I do and how I do it.

Specific or exact locations are deliberately omitted. 

Clearly any basshead with some local knowledge & a keen eye, could identify where I'm at.

And I considered this prior to adding my fishing to the interwebz.

So far, it hasn't really been a factor one way or the other.

If & when that changes, I may need to reevaluate my approach to this. 

Finally, I have no interest in fishing another mans fish, ever.

Seems, that might not be a common theme amongst the general masses. 

So there's that.

A-Jay

https://youtu.be/3OXnPQs0bqQ?t=644

 

So you're really not fishing Lake Menderchuk? The lies!!! 

[PhishLI]

[Bluebasser86]

I tell where I'm fishing most of the time. I've seen enough times the guy in the back of my boat struggle to even get a bite while I'm having a good day of fishing to know that just because you know they're there doesn't mean you can make them bite. 

 

I wish the guy hadn't deleted his comments on one of my videos, one of the very few I didn't come out and say exactly where I was. Occasionally, I find off the beaten path spots that are productive and I keep them to myself. I posted a couple videos from one of these spots last fall and a couple people really got into their feelings that I wouldn't give them the GPS coordinates to where I was catching these fish at ?

[Aaron_H]

I will take immediate family members (father, siblings) to any of my best spots, and taken a couple of my best friends (who are just casual fishermen) as well. But the waters I fish are smaller (10 acres max) and I don't want to risk a bunch of yahoos coming in and trashing them up just because they heard I caught a DD out of one. I put in the work to find quality spots, and so can they.

[12poundbass]

30 minutes ago, slonezp said:

So you're really not fishing Lake Menderchuk? The lies!!! 

That’s the only lake he’s revealed. 

[BrianMDTX]

Fish? Fishing? What is this “fishing” of what you speak? I was merely enjoying nature. Sorry I cannot help you!

[Tennessee Boy]

I have a good friend that I fish with.  I would trust him with my life but not my fishing secrets.  Why?  Because he likes to catch fish.  I can’t expect him to not take his son to one of my spots if they’re having a bad day.  
 

There are two ways to share a spot with someone.  

 

1) I caught a few here a couple of years ago.  It’s worth making a few cast to see if there’s any here.

 

2)  Dude,  this is my favorite spot ever.  I caught three of my five biggest fish from this spot.  I caught all of them by casting a black and blue jig between that stump and that rock.

 

I usually stick with #1.

[Bankbeater]

A lot of the local water I fish gets some heavy pressure when the weather warms up so there is really no secret spot.  There are secret rigs and retrieves, but I keep those to myself.

 

[Columbia Craw]

There are no secrets, just locations you haven’t seen being fished up to this point.