how often do you lie?

[jomatty]

ok, here is the scenario.  im walking back from a pond i recently got permission to fish on a golf course adjacent to my neighborhood.  a neighbor (not someone i know by name only some guy who lives in a townhouse near me) sees me with a fishing pole and asks if im fishing the ponds on the golf course.  after i say yes he naturaly inquires about the quality of the fishing in them.  these are very small ponds (3) and i dont want him fishing in them.  he would have to get permission but that is prob doable.  so i say "ahh...its allright, not that great but its close to my house. they are really filled with weeds and scum so they are kinda hard to fish in".

i felt kinda bad afterwards but i just dont want any pressure on these really nice little ponds.  i didnt lie outright as they are filled with weeds which does make them a little tough to fish (kinda).  anyways, who would have told the truth and who would have done as i did or some other way of trying to not make the ponds seem very good.  just curious really what the SOP is on this.

matt

[New Bass Man]

The truth is always better.  

[x-trued]

Hmmm.  I don't blame you for what you said.  I'm not sure what I would have done.  I think I would have told him fishing was good and mentioned the weed issue, or only discuss the weed problems and avoided the it's good, bad or okay review.

I just invited a board member to join me at a local lake I fish because his lakes are so pressured.  I'll admit I thought about it before making the invitation, but did so anyway.  You gatta figure the guys already fishing those holes on your golf course weren't thrilled to see a consistant fisherman like yourself come along.

I wouldn't lose sleep over you coment though.  Those holes could get over fished in a hurry if all the residents out there got interested.  Besides, "its allright, not that great" is a subjective term.  What may be good to you may be "allright, not that great " to him, right?  

Don't feel bad, go catch some fish.

[Matt Fly]

Man laws should apply here, but if thats not exactly covered, stick with the golden rule of fishermen.

Early to bed, early to rise, fish like h#ll, and make-up lies.

Not really a lie when your a fishermen.

[Panamoka_Bassin]

Personally, I would have told him the truth.  If there's just you fishing these ponds, then adding one more fisherman probably won't really affect the fishing all that much.  I know you'd like to keep these ponds "private," but truthfully, he has as much of a right to fish there as you if he goes through the channels to get permission.  This may not be the answer you're looking for, I know, but there's lots of ponds and fish out there.  Who knows, if you were to invite him along one day, he might turn out to be your best fishing buddy...

[jomatty]

interesting to get different opinions on this.  if they were larger (like even a small lake)  i would def have been more forthcoming and honest.  i do have a little guilt but am still not sure i regret the spur of the moment misleading (i did use subjective wording intentionally) and focused on the one bad thing.  interesting moral debate though thank you for feedback.

matt

[cart7t]

If he's any kind of bass fisherman, the pond is that close to your houses and it's on a public use facility like a golf course that would merely require asking permission for access to fish,  than I seriously doubt you telling him the fishing was bad would stop him.

In fact, if it were me, as you were downplaying the fishing and how difficult it was to fish due to the weeds I'd be thinking...

"Ha! This guy doesn't have a clue, I'll go over there and clean house and show this schmuck how to fish."  

[senile1]

If he's any kind of bass fisherman, the pond is that close to your houses and it's on a public use facility like a golf course that would merely require asking permission for access to fish,  than I seriously doubt you telling him the fishing was bad would stop him.

In fact, if it were me, as you were downplaying the fishing and how difficult it was to fish due to the weeds I'd be thinking...

"Ha! This guy doesn't have a clue, I'll go over there and clean house and show this schmuck how to fish."  

Agreed.  And if I were in his shoes I would also suspect that you might not be exactly forthcoming regarding the ponds if the fishing was really great.  

[Whopper-Stopper]

It is always better to tell the truth. But when it is for the good of the lake it is okay to tell a little white lie. It would be different if you knew what kind of fisherman he was.

I have done this before. When you have a nice place to fish you don't want a bunch of people coming and leaving trash, bait buckets, pop cans, or beer bottles. We have that problem on my pond. I say it's mine but it is not.  There are several houses that live on it. I fish there so much that it is practically my lake. Me and a guy that live there are constantly picking up trash. It is very frustrating.

So when someone who has seen me fishing there and asks if there are any good fish in it. I just say that I usually catch small fish and that it is a tough lake to fish.

But if a respectable guy comes up and asks me if I ever do any good I'll tell him I've caught two 30LB+ catfish and have put several 4 and 5LB+ bass in there and catch them quite regularly; because I know he is a good fisherman that will come there and pick up his own trash and release the fish that I've worked so hard to put in there. There only problem is that there aren't very many guys like that around anymore.

[JiggaMan512]

i woulda kindaw stretched the truth maybe. like, "I've caught really good fish in there, most were ATLEAST a pound or two!!"

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

how often do you lie?

never (lie)

[Matt Fly]

A golf course will shut it down if people start littering the course with fishing trash.    Plus when people see others doing so, they will think they can also.    How many golfers have seen the ponds being fished on a normal basis.

I have never seen a lot of golf courses being fished hard, only select few, maybe thats why I always see good bass in some of them.

A truth full answer would be, you'll need to check with the course manager.

Public Course does not mean public fishing hole.

[Rattlinrogue]

I don't lie.I just handle the truth carelessly!LOL

[Jerkbate]

You shouldn't feel bad about what you told the guy. You didn't lie to him. You gave him a general response to his general question. If he had asked a more specific question like "Have you caught any bass over 5 pounds?", etc. then you should have given him a more specific answer.

I don't blame you for wanting to limit the amount of pressure on these small ponds. I fish a public lake during Feb. & Mar. that produces big fish. I've caught several 8+ pounders with 2 over 10 pounds in the last two years. No one else that I am aware of fishes this lake until sometime after April. Most other sportsmen are recovering from deer season, crappie fishing Grenada Lake, or getting ready for turkey season that time of year. I've only told my pastor and my dad about this early spring honey hole. If you can't trust those two guys then who can you trust? If anyone ask where I'm fishing I don't lie to them, I just let them know that I am not going to tell them.

[BucketmouthAngler13]

i would have just told him the puplic wasn't allowed to fish them.

thats the truth becuase you need to get premission.

[JiggaMan512]

dont lie lie, just stretch the truth

[JiggaMan512]

furthermore, if he was  truly interested in the fishing there, he could go through the same steps you had to go through to see for himself

[Keithscatch]

I don't know if I am all that guilty of lieing so much as tresspassing  ;D because I have fished allot of golf course ponds at night before without permission  :-X oops. Was I suppossed to get permission?  ;D

[Bass Smacker]

ok, here is the scenario. im walking back from a pond i recently got permission to fish on a golf course adjacent to my neighborhood. a neighbor (not someone i know by name only some guy who lives in a townhouse near me) sees me with a fishing pole and asks if im fishing the ponds on the golf course. after i say yes he naturaly inquires about the quality of the fishing in them. these are very small ponds (3) and i dont want him fishing in them. he would have to get permission but that is prob doable. so i say "ahh...its allright, not that great but its close to my house. they are really filled with weeds and scum so they are kinda hard to fish in".

i felt kinda bad afterwards but i just dont want any pressure on these really nice little ponds. i didnt lie outright as they are filled with weeds which does make them a little tough to fish (kinda). anyways, who would have told the truth and who would have done as i did or some other way of trying to not make the ponds seem very good. just curious really what the SOP is on this.

matt

Don't feel so bad. I once had a little honey hole. it was realy small about 200 feet long, 25 feet accrost and the deepest spot was 6 feet deep. Just a wide spot in a small creek I happend apon.

but i could pull some 2lb bass and some huge crappy out of it. Well some yaho seen me fishing and askes if i was rely catching any thinh out of there. just then Bam mt little roster tail got slamed and

it was a 2lb bass. the next week i went out there 3 guys where fishing it trash every where and not a fish in sight. Some one had come along with some night crawlers and cleaned it out. then left the boxes and beer bottls there to boot. I was gonna tell the guy I was only catching blue gill and small ones at that.

[RollONTwo]

What if you told the guy the truth and he told 10 more and so on?? I would never do that but I have known a few that would.

If to many people start asking the golf course to fish the ponds you can bet they would put a stop to anyone fishing at all. Especially with all those little round liability bullets flying. I am only speaking about my golf game :-)

[Smib]

Is this a lie?  Towards the end of a club tournament I passed by a couple of my club members.  They asked how many I had.  I responded one.  

At the weigh-in I walked up with my 5 fish limit.  They did a double take and told me, "Hey, I thought you only had one!"  I responded that I did in fact only have one--ONE 5 fish limit, which is the truth.  I only caught 5 keepers all day.

If this is lying--guilty as charged.

Smib  

[RandySBreth]

Lie. Lie Lie.

Repeat as often as necessary to keep dillhole littering drunken bucketsitters from ruining a great little thing you have.

Trust me, I live where if people find out about a place you can walk right up to, it will be ruined in short order.

[Siebert Outdoors]

its allright, not that great but its close to my house. they are really filled with weeds and scum so they are kinda hard to fish in".

I dont see how that is a lie.  You evaded his main question, but he was content with the answer.  Even if he thinks you cant fish afterwards who cares your catching fish.

Remember if you evade the question you never lie.  

Or you can answer the question with a question.  

"So do you fish those ponds and give me any pointers?"

I should be a politician  ;D

[Gorgebassman]

The Truth Will Set You Free!!!!!

[jomatty]

i think my wording put me in a little worse light than i deserve, although there are a number of people who seem to understand where im coming from.  lie is prob not the right word although there is no doubt i was not forthcoming and did not tell the whole truth.  the prob is not only do i not want these ponds to be fished to hard but permision at a pond that is in my back yard is something that is very important to me.  the greenskeeper was very specific in his permission and i can only go there before the course opens and in twilight after almost all traffic has died down.  also he said that no fish were to be kept.  i follow these rules explicitly because it is something that is important to me.  to someone who dosent care as much, they may think that six oclock is late enough and if golfers complain then...trash could obviously have the same effect.

to LBH who asked how often i lie and suggested never to do so, i will answer although it prob was not a real question.  i almost never lie.  if i did so regularly then i doubt that one incident of not being fully forthcoming would make the forums.  

out of curiousity, since i know your lake is very precious to you, so precious that you would not claim a world record bass to protect it, imagine that you could cast across it and be told to leave at any time if other fishermen did not treat the property properly.  how would you handle this scenario?  i really am curious (and know it may take some imagination because im sure you wouldnt make a pond your regular fishing hole).

hopefully this dosent sound too defensive, i put it out there and i respect everyones opinions and think that its great that so many people would have told this guy you have never spoken to that you just caught a 5.5 and numerous 3's and a nice bass a cast for like 20 mins and been totaly truthful.  im not sure its the right course of action but i definetly respect the conviction.

thx for responces,

matt