Swamp-Donkey wrote:Sorry Wolfman, but I don't have alot of sympathy for you. I am in full agreement with not posting specific locations, especially if they are small secluded waterbodies. Do your own homework and legwork, buy a couple of maps, and go fish! There's a far greater sense of accomplishment when you finally discover a secluded little lake trout lake thats filled with four pound largemouths that nobody bothers to fish! When you go through that amount of work to finally find a "Quality" fishing spot, I think then you will appreciate why we are so tight lipped about them.
My "hats off" to fellow anglers that follow the "code"!
Fair enough, but I feel I should explain myself.
First of all, believe me I do my homework. I've put many clicks on my car, following backroad maps in search of new water. Some have paid off, others have not. Secondly, I don't see how mentioning the name of a lake is doing someone else's homework for them. If I put up a picture of myself with a decent fish and say that it's from (for example) Scully Lake, it doesn't really help anyone out all that much. It's not as if I have just posted exact directions to the lake, and it's not as if finding it is as easy as going to google-map. All it would do is give someone who may be interested a starting point of what to look for.
I understand that someone in your position wouldn't want to disclose the location of a newly discovered honeyhole, nor would I expect you to. My reports usually don't disclose the
exact spot I was fishing or the technique I was using, but in most cases I see no harm in giving the name of the water body. What I have a problem with, is as follows:
1. People being tight-lipped about spots which are FAR from secrete
Nothing will make you look quite as greedy as posting a photo from 'spot x', if your spot x is clearly a well-known, well-fished location. I remember a few years back, reading a report (different forum) about a great haul of smallies and the guy wouldn't give the location. From the photos it was obvious that his big secret was non other than Hog's Back Park. Another joker in another thread posted about a great walleye outing, and the photos had Rideau Falls in the background. I've seen similar behaviour on this site regarding Petrie. Obviously no one knows about those spots
...better keep 'em in the vault.
2. Hostility some people express when 'their' spot is 'invaded'
It's amazing how many people don't grasp the concept of
public property. Have you ever been on the receiving end of angry glares from locals or questions like "so...who told
you about this spot?" or "why would you come all the way out here?". I don't care if your granddaddy's granddad started fishing this lake years ago and it has been a family secret since then. Public access means public access, f#$@ off.
3. People who get angry at others who so much as mention the name of their favorite lake
Almontefisher experienced this recently; I'm sure everyone reading this knows about it.
4. People who want to protect their favorite spot from invaders, yet themselves do their utmost best to fish it clean
Ever seen a good ol' boy keep three times his limit of walleye, that he caught on twice the legal number of lines? Or maybe you overheard some folks bragging about how the bass were on fire yesterday, and then realized it's mid-May? All the while these same people wouldn't in a million years tell anyone else about their honey spots. I don't know about you, but I would much rather share a spot with ten C&R fisherman, then with one local who keeps fish as though he would otherwise starve. I think it's obvious which will do more harm in the long run.
I don't know if your definition of "following the code" includes any of the above, but I hope it doesn't. I think that if people become too secretive about locations when writing their reports, pretty soon they will be less inclined to share what bait was used, the weather conditions, water depth, etc. Eventually we might start seeing reports that amount to nothing more than pictures of people holding fish, and that would be pretty dull. I realize that thats a pretty big slippery slope, but sometimes I feel that is the direction some fishing forums are heading.
Obviously no one is obligated to share any info. Thats the beautiful thing about free speech - you can choose to share, or not to share. Thats my 2.5 cents
