Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Is Secrecy Dead?
I used to resent old crotchety fisherman for never sharing their secret fishing holes. As I've grown older and continue to work my way up to being a crotchety old fisherman I understand why they are this way. There are somethings and knowledge that should be obtained by exploring and developing relationships with people. The Internet is killing this way of discovery. All you need now is a computer, message board post, some GPS coordinates and you can find a spot that took others possibly a lifetime to discover. Perhaps the people who are having the best fishing days aren't the ones blogging or writing about how they caught 50 trout in a forum. Perhaps it's the people who keep track of their fishing adventures in their mind or share them with close friends.
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Are you suggesting that you shouldn't be blogging?
ReplyDeleteThat's a great question. If I find my blog is causing more harm than good to my favorite fishing holes than yes. I should probably quit blogging.
ReplyDeleteIn many of my posts I try to be vague about the name of the rivers I'm on. Sometimes I give false locations all together. I've gotten to the point where I'm even thinking about making a post about a certain river later in the year or in a different season. Mainly so people can't link the current fishing conditions to a specific location.
ReplyDeleteKevin
Believe me when I say that secretly is alive and well on Smith Lake, my home lake. Not so much for the bass, but the crappie fishermen are tight lipped when it comes to passing out locations. When you have worked your butt off to prepare a crappie habitat area, then one can understand why you don’t want to share. -------------In fact I am one of those secret fishermen-----good post!!
It's hard to say,I only give location when it is not an area that can be over crowded. Then again most the spots out by me are well known. Not a lot of secrets when you live in a dry valley.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy making up names for streams I post about... Crotchety at Thirty! It's fun! Want name dropping on streams, go to the tackle shop. Keep the blogging more like your title, focus on the tying, tools, techniques, and flies. Not specific locations. First rule about fight club is, Don't talk about fight club!
ReplyDeleteHmmm, what happens in Kevin's head stays in Kevin's head? If I knew any secret places I would tell you Kevin, but I don't know any.
ReplyDeleteBill, thanks for the comment. I can imagine if I had a lot of personal time invested in making a fishery better I'd be super protective.
ReplyDeleteDaniel and Swamp Yankee, I do the same thing where I name creeks. Some I don't bother trying to hide because the locations are obvious and the rivers are really well known.
Cofisher, I need to start saying that.
Few anglers want to earn it anymore. Most want instant gratification. The information age has clearly changed the face of angling, but the best anglers are still the ones that learn first hand and don't just paint by the numbers. Many of those new to the sport will never know the gratification of trying for years to solve a puzzle or learning a piece of water through countless patient hours of observance. They are missing out on something truly special.
ReplyDeleteFred, I totally agree. I love how you say "earn it". I think that is what it's about.
ReplyDeleteIn Maine there are so many streams, most people will only fish 50 feet off the dirt road- as long as you are willing to walk farther, you get into fish.
ReplyDeleteOh man Kevin I bet you hate NC Wildlife's new interactive map then.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ncwildlife.org/Fishing/WheretoFish.aspx