Rule #1

[Seth]

Sure you should. Just don't expect them to be there next time.

Even when it's in an area where it's illegal to possess fish during the winter season? If somebody shows up and starts keeping fish in this type of area, that's a completely different issue and an agent needs to step in and do their job.

#1 rule - I share 95% of my spots. The other 5% are the ones my friends tell me NOT to share.

Not trying to be a "nice guy". I figure most of my spots on Taney are already fished. If they're spots on other waters, I don't fish enough off my home waters to make a difference. If I find, say, a good crappie spots on Table Rock, I share it cause I'm not going back to it- probably.

But that's just me...

Same here. I dont have a problem sharing some spots, but there are others I won't mention anything about. If a buddy takes me somewhere and we do well, I won't mention anything since it ain't my info to give. If I find a spot/pattern on my own and it just happens to be one of your "spots" that I wish to share with others, well that's just bad luck for you I guess. I know I won't be losing any sleep over it if you decide to hate me forever because of it.

As many times as I have gave spots it amazes me still how people will be there try them and then leave because they didn't catch something fast enough or are so set in "their" spot they wont give a new one a chance long enough for it to pay off or they are unwilling to fish it how I told them to. No sweat off my back but funny to hear them say we didn't catch anything there and I was fishing it the same time saw them and had another great trip.

You can lead a fisherman to water but you cant make them get out of their own habits!

I sometimes think fishermen are their own worse enemy.

I agree 100%. That's another reason why I don't worry too much about giving out informatin about how I caught fish. If they don't instantly catch fish, they just figure I'm full of crap and don't bother fishing it again most of the time. Happens all the time.

I think that's a fairly common practice, but there's more to it than casual consideration reveals. Even if you found the spot on your own with no assistance from others, there's a strong chance that a handful of others already knew about it, and relied on it after expending a lot of effort to find it, maybe for years.

For those that can fish nearly anytime they want, it might not be such a big deal, but for the majority that are limited to weekends it's a real buzzkill to psych up all week and arrive on your hard earned spot only to find a half dozen other boats pounding the snot out of it because somebody else bragged about it. It's happened to me several times, and has sucked the life out of a lot of my fishing.

My satisfaction from fishing comes from figuring something out on my own. It doesn't bother me to spend a lot of fishless days in pursuit of a valuable clue. If someone advertises their hot spot, that will be the last place you'll see me. If that spot happened to be one I had previously developed the hard way on my own... :-(

There's two ways to spin that. What about the weekend angler who goes out and fishes a spot using info he read and has a much better day than he normally does?

[Terrierman]

My policy is very simple. I never ask for information on the internet and I never give information on the internet. It's sometimes different face to face but not always. It depends on who's involved.

Actually I think it's pretty bold to ask someone to tell you where and how to catch fish. The figuring it out is half or more of the fun.

Although I do have to say that last year's drift boat conclave was very very helpful to me as I'd never done any fly fishing whatsoever. So I guess I'm going to qualify that bold statement to allow total rookies to ask for a little help getting started. And when we were in Wyoming the gentlemen in the fly shop was very helpful but hardly specific about where to go and what to use. So there's that stranger in a strange land exemption. But still think experienced fishermen should pretty well do it on their own.

[ozark trout fisher]

My policy is very simple. I never ask for information on the internet and I never give information on the internet. It's sometimes different face to face but not always. It depends on who's involved.

Actually I think it's pretty bold to ask someone to tell you where and how to catch fish. The figuring it out is half or more of the fun.

Although I do have to say that last year's drift boat conclave was very very helpful to me as I'd never done any fly fishing whatsoever. So I guess I'm going to qualify that bold statement to allow total rookies to ask for a little help getting started. And when we were in Wyoming the gentlemen in the fly shop was very helpful but hardly specific about where to go and what to use. So there's that stranger in a strange land exemption. But still think experienced fishermen should pretty well do it on their own.

I don't know how much I agree with that sentiment. It's a matter of common sense. If a stream is fragile, then posting where/what patterns are working is a bad idea. But there are a lot of cases where I think it's basically harmless, streams that are large enough to handle pressure or ones that are heavily stocked.

In those cases, if it's really going to help someone enjoy themselves I have no reservations about telling most of what I know. I got a lot of help not all that long ago and I guess I see it as my job to pass it along when it's likely to cause minimal harm to the fishery in question. I have a few streams that are basically my secret, but those are for good reasons-because they are extremely fragile and even a few more anglers could really impact the quality of the resource. That's always the determining factor in my mind.

[Al Agnew]

Look, the internet is a great learning tool for weekend anglers. I am not a weekend angler...I have a job where I can take off anytime during the middle of the week and fish. I will not publicize spots I fish, because I don't want there to be any more chance than there is already of somebody else being in my spot when I get there. Call me selfish if you want, I don't care.

I also don't publicize spots because it has the good chance of bringing more fishing pressure to those spots, and harming the fishing. Even if it's all catch and release fishing. Fish get conditioned to being caught, and become a lot harder to catch. An undetermined number will die from deep hooking or poor handling, even if released. And there IS always the problem of poachers and other law-breakers. I'm not giving them any kind of help in finding a spot they could decimate.

It is not my responsibility to make sure everybody who reads a message board learns of spots to fish. If they want to give me a private message asking where I caught some fish or where they should go, and I have a good sense of what kind of angler they are, I'll help them, but I DON'T know everybody that reads the message board, and it would be stupid to trust that they are all good people who care for the resource.

Keep in mind that it isn't even just the people who read these messages. How many other people do they tell about what they read, or how well they did following the info given?

I cringe when I read about one of my favorite stream sections being touted on here. I've certainly been known to private message posters and plead with them not to give away spots or play up the fishing on certain stream stretches. We all want to tell about great trips we've had and great places to fish that we've found, but stop and think...those places are probably great precisely because not too many people know about them. My best stream sections are not only great fishing but places where I can almost depend upon finding solitude when I go there. The solitude is as important to me as the fishing. So if you start blabbing about those same stretches, you're gonna be in my doghouse.

[ozark trout fisher]

I feel like I use the proper amount of discretion of revealing spots that I fish. I always try to be careful, like I said, not to do something that has a good chance of causing damage to a resource. If I was revealing the exact location of a pool containing a 4 pound smallie, then you have the right to get upset. If I am saying that an 8 mile stretch of a floatable stream I fished has some nice bass in it, then in my opinion you do not.

How secretive you want to be, in the end, is a personal decision. If I found the body of water myself, with little to no aid from someone else, then what I post about it is my own decision to be based solely upon my own values.

[LarrySTL]

You mean like this one Larry?

About like that, F&F but I much prefer florescent orange to that pink color.

To me it mostly depends, as I think many people are saying, on the type of water it is including whether its a big reservoir or a small stream or whatever, If I say deep crankbaits like a Poes 400 or Strike King 6X, on 45 degree chunk rock banks and we are at Table Rock, I have just described several hundred miles of shoreline. If I say "and between the Kimberling Bridge and Point 9" you are still going to be winding fulltime for a day or two if not more.

If I say "in the mile of Aunts Creek closest to the mouth" its pretty much served up on a plate *IF* those fish dont move which is often a big if.

If its "the dam on Fred's pond" or "the points where ABC creek join XYZ creek" its a whole lot different.

[David Unnerstall]

Never ever, ever, ever, ever tell anyone on the internet where you are catching fish!

Yes, I'm a jerk

Mitch,

If I ever find a spot where I catch fish, I won't tell -- I promise.

[Idylwilde]

Funny thing about sharing fishing spots and information on what your catching them on, is out of 100 anglers who fish an area about 10 will catch a fish no mater how hard they try. Like Phil I share all the information I have with everyone who ask and post it on the internet. I fish a put and take fishery and I can say that I do not fish weekends unless I am ask to. I do fish a trophy (Blue Ribbon Area) and I do not give out the holes I know holds brown trout or post the ones I catch, because the brown trout resource on that area has been so abused and has declined in the past 4 years.

I have taken anglers to the areas I know holds rainbow's and fished with them. I have caught 3 to one over the weekend angler simply because I fish 200+ day's a year and keep up on the flies and drift of that area. Most of the people that know me know where I fish and know that just about every inch of the stream is fished almost every day. Yet there is a abundance of fish left at the end of the day. What Al said is true. Once the fish are hooked and released they get smart fast!! That is why I can fish the most popular bait area in the late afternoon and catch fish on a small fly when the bait angler complain they have not caught a fish all day out of that hole.

I tell clients to spend the first hour on the stream watching what the other anglers are doing that are catching fish then move to another area similar in depth and flow then do the same. I have seen anglers lined up on a section of water and out of 25 anglers they might be 5 catching fish one after another, and most of time the 5 anglers are friends and have shared information on what to do.

I completely understand the hush mouth secret holding on the Smallmouth streams. I do not even tell anyone I fish for them but I do. If asked where I will give a description of area as put in take out! That may be several miles long.

I do not post photos of big fish I catch, I see no reason & I release all my fish except for a fish that has showed signs of not reviving. Those are taken to the nursing home and gave to the anglers that can not fish anymore they love it!

I know that some of the weekend bass worriers have been known to hire guides to show then the lay out of the lakes they are new to. Then find the day of the tournament the guy they hired a few days ago won the event That is the art of hiding the honey holes and still being able to take clients out and having them very happy over how many fish they caught. I know that there are some secrets places and baits that everyone depends on every trip to the water, but I also know you can fish your best hole with high explosives on some days and not bring up a fish then next day some gal with a french-fry can come to that same hole the next morning and catch a state record fish. That's fishing!

[Ham]

My policy is very simple. I never ask for information on the internet and I never give information on the internet. It's sometimes different face to face but not always. It depends on who's involved.

Actually I think it's pretty bold to ask someone to tell you where and how to catch fish. The figuring it out is half or more of the fun.

So the guy that was a BASS "Pro" that read my fishing reports on the Red River and asked me to buy some maps, mark them with my favorite fishing spots, and then mail them to him at which time he would reimburse me for the money I was out would fall into your "bold" category?

[Mitch f]

So the guy that was a BASS "Pro" that read my fishing reports on the Red River and asked me to buy some maps, mark them with my favorite fishing spots, and then mail them to him at which time he would reimburse me for the money I was out would fall into your "bold" category?

Yea, I'll mark up the maps, NO PROBLEM!