What's your opinion?

So I have an instagram account where i post all my catches and this one famous account on instagram direct message me and saying this.
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What is your opinion?

Well, old school says hide the spot.
But, the internet is about sharing.
 
  On the other hand, tell them that is not the spot you caught the fish at.
    Just some place "want-to-be's" say they fish.

You got to do what you feel best about.

I totally respect his intension. I just gave him a thumbs up.

Thats cool you make the call, I feel that though's secret spots will be found in time social media might expose them some but they will be found in time. To each his own I say just keep up the good work and do what you think is best.

Old school says, "If you don't want anyone to know about the secret fishing hole...don't tell them! It's not a secret if you tell people!"

Fishing pressure is a real concern. Last year I read a lot of research material concerning this very subject. You would be shocked just how much of an impact fishing pressure has on a body of water or area.

Most people aren't interested in fishing, just catching. As soon as someone says, "I caught it over there." Everyone flocks over to that spot. The problem with fishermen is bragging. Oh how we love to brag and embellish.  

Welcome to the new world in fishing: Social Media

My opinion; nothing wrong with keeping a secret spot a secret. Especially if it helps preserve our sport. I had to work to discover my fishing holes. Let them discover theirs.
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I think you have to make your own personal call on what you show on social media. This subject has been talked about for as long as I can remember. People would blur out the back ground only showing the fish or a hand holding a fish. Blurring out sky lines, coast lines, docks etc. Personally, I really enjoy reading fishing reports and seeing a nice catch photo with good composition showing background etc. LAB for example, there are people that feel they discovered "LAB". Which is not true. It's a open ocean waterway to the public. I checked out your Instagram and it looks great. I say keep on doing what you do. LAB is not a big secret and if an angler doesn't know bass fishing, they would rarely find the Spotties anyway.

I see no reason to edit the photos , but i will say this if you can take a picture facing the water or away from the area you are fishing it is for the better , as Bigfish stated once a area is exposed people find it easy off of social media and its done for , the bucket brigade will show up. Its not about hey people coming in and catching the fish thats cool to me , its the CPR that's not done with these anglers that just browse social media outlets .

My lesson learned : I helped a nice guy i have known for many yrs and showed him one small area i had found , simple instructions to him (about taking photos and telling tons of people) well to say the least he went home and instantly posted photos on that exact spot on a popular fishing forum. I went up the next day to see several boats on that exact spot and harvesting all fish they caught . totally killed that area i fished .. This was 5yrs ago and this yr the area is now finally starting to rebound ..

WES

Misfitdog wrote:I see no reason to edit the photos , but i will say this if you can take a picture facing the water or away from the area you are fishing it is for the better , as Bigfish stated once a area is exposed people find it easy off of social media and its done for , the bucket brigade will show up. Its not about hey people coming in and catching the fish thats cool to me , its the CPR that's not done with these anglers that just browse social media outlets .

My lesson learned : I helped a nice guy i have known for many yrs and showed him one small area i had found , simple instructions to him (about taking photos and telling tons of people)  well to say the least he went home and instantly posted photos on that exact spot on a popular fishing forum. I went up the next day to see several boats on that exact spot and harvesting all fish they caught . totally killed that area i fished .. This was 5yrs ago and this yr the area is now finally starting to rebound ..

WES

WES, you are completely correct and I forgot to add that in my post. The reason to shoot a photo as you stated is because people can poach the spot and harvest the fish. It has happened to me as well. I guess taking the photo in a way to not give details on the spot is the best way.

I am mixed on this one. I personally have not found a huge drop in fishing in LAB but I have only been fishing it for around a year and half. There does seem to be a lot more interest in fishing it over the last few months then I have seen in that year and half but I am not really sure the fishing has diminished. In the spring the fishing was very good and I have found in the summer the fishing is not great. I chalk this up mostly to the increase in boat traffic. The spots I tend to fish are not accessible from shore so the meat sticks can't get to them unless they have a boat. And I have not notice anyone fishing the areas more with boats. But I think in a state like CA there is no such thing as a secret spot just less used spots. But I generally try to take photos or video that don't have a lot of noticeable backgrounds. If you see a couple white boats in the background hard to tell where I am fishing.

The 'Bucket Brigade'. That brings to mind a terrible story.

A couple of years ago I went to a private spot where the owner lets everyone come in and fish it as long as he gets to meet them and they stick to state limits so the place doesn't get wiped out. Everyone I know has always respected this as it's a nice fishing hole.

Anyway, I show up one afternoon and one of the regulars told me this story:

Someone that had permission to fish there published some pics and a MAP to the place on social media. My friend showed up and found a group of people fishing there. They had six five gallon buckets filled with Crappie! Not swimming around but stacked in.

He didn't recognize them and so he asked them what they were doing. They told him it was none of his business. They told him about the posting on social media and said they weren't doing anything wrong. He explained to them they were on private land and the owner didn't allow any more than state limits in regards to harvesting.

At this point they left, taking the SIX BUCKETS of fish with them! There wasn't much he could do.

Since then, no one has caught a single Crappie there. The owner has also now closed the place down.

I guess there isn't any harm in sharing fishing holes with people. The problem is with people. Some people simply have no respect for preserving places so everyone can enjoy them. Taking six, five gallon buckets of fish is out of control. I'm not saying that if you share a fishing hole people will do this. Some people will do this sort of thing no matter what.

I enjoy fishing. But I also enjoy the community that places like the FTFF creates. I love the pics and reports from other fishermen/women. I love the stories and reports. Just like singletrack, I'm mixed on this subject. Should we censor pics and stories? I don't think so.

I can't change other people from being destructive and disrespectful. Nor is it my job. I'm going to do what I do all the time; enjoy fishing, promote the sport and volunteer time to help conserve places so that others may enjoy it as well.
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Well said Bigfish. I think your intententions and sentiment are right.

My 2-cents .....

If we start to limit the photo backgrounds and just photo the occasional boat, the water, your fish and or your measuring boards in the photos from now on; this should suffice.
Just leave your .... "X" .... "Marks the Spot!" out of your session report so that you can go back there tomorrow and not find 15 stixs already sitting there in your honey hole!

We could all save the detailed information of our sessions for our fellow FTFF Members through phone calls, PM's and texts, this way we can limit how many anglers we share our fishing Intel (honey spots) with in the future, preserving our fishery.

I really don't have a problem with naming the AO's: SDH, NPH, HH, LAB and LAH that I fish at in my reports. They are all good sized harbors with loads of excellent fishing spots. Hard to pin-point spots.

I think what people are saying is .... please ... just don't pin-point the launch site or name the street where all of the fish are being caught.
I think less advertising of your honey hole is key here and not to start a fishing frenzy at our AO's.

Be more stealth.
Only share with the FTFF members ..... and not the entire world.

We seriously need to protect our fisheries people.

We all recognize that our fishing habitats are rather limited for our salt water harbor fishing sessions.
People already know and recognize all of these locations.
We just need to slow down the swarming effect of our AO's by not posting it up so readily.


Just a thought .....

1) In becoming a contributing full time FTFF member (say ... 50 posts or more)... this will entitle you to all the spots with your FTFF Membership friends.
2) Protect AO's
3) Limit backgrounds in photos.
4) Need more people to get involved in CPR, in order to preserve our fisheries for the species survival and for all the future anglers.

SP Dan     <"))><

Considering that he said that harbor patrol is starting to step it up, it sounds like it might not be legal to fish there. You might want to take that into consideration as well.