What makes a good fishing report?

[Oahe MrL]

I'm curious what most of you think a good fishing report on the internet should be?

If there is a good bite somewhere, should the word be put out? What if it damages a fishery? Should it include coordinates of good spots? What if someone is fishing in an area already...should a person tell others about it? And just how private are fishing spots?

I know that this could entail a lot, but I'm wondering what some of you think about this topic.

Oahe MrL

Who said, "Pour some water on it!"?

[went522]

I used to be all for sharing info, fishing reports. I've recently stopped giving ANY fishing reports.

A little story from this winter...there was a good walleye bite on a local lake. A few guys were on it, as was I, the were small but fun. I was on another site where I read a topic from a "newby"..."LAKE #%$* BEST WALLEYE BITE EVER!!!" I clicked on it, my stomach was in a knot knowing what I was about to read! Blah, blah, blah, caught 70 walleyes, best fishing I've ever had, blah, blah, get out there and take advantage while it's HOT.

I was PIZZED...This lake was not especially known for a great walleye bite, most fish it for crappies.

Two days later, a saturday, I'm unloading my wheeler at the landing, guy pulls up, heard they were pounding them out here, I asked where he heard that..."the internet". I'm just getting on my wheeler, another guy pulls up, "hows the fishing been"..."we read on(internet site) that it was hot for walleyes!" That lake went from 20 portables to EASY 300 in a weekend.

The terrible part of the whole thing is it was ONE year class of fish, most were in that 11-12" range...guys were LOADING up there buckets with these small fish. This lake got all but fished out about 10 years ago, these fish were the only real year class of making their way up, they are now all but gone..all it took was one load mouth. I now see very few on the camera and have only catch one every couple trips.

If you have a good spot or are on a hot bite, best keep it to yourself, especially if it's small local lakes. The big lakes, doesn't really seem to matter, the word will get out regardless.

This incident will stick in my mind forever, it's to bad really, those fish would have been viable spawners in a few years, not any more.

BIRDDOG

[Dodge1]

I post on this site http://www.fishinfo.com/cgi-bin/boar...forum=ForumID8 and while I’m willing to share some information, I’m not going to give anyone coordinates, or my real go to spots.

Leech is a huge lake, with a good population of fish (after the cormorants were culled), so I’m willing to help fellow anglers with some general tips. However, I fish for walleyes on two lakes here in Nebraska that I’ve never told anyone on the internet about because there somewhat on the small side but hold some huge eyes. The Omaha World Herald newspaper ran a favorable report on one of these lakes and as you can guess everyone and their cousins decided to pay it a visit. The vast majority of these people were meat hunters and they managed to put a hurt on that lake that lasted well over 4 years.

So when it comes to fishing reports on the internet, I’m extremely reluctant to provide anyone with detailed information on anyplace that I like to fish.

[Raybob]

I make near daily sweeps of popular bass n' walleye sites lookin' for crumbs n' tidbits to twist into my daily softwater sUMo chase on my home lake... My main interest is in M-E-T-H-O-D-S only :)

I mostly avoid the playpen/newbie multi-specie sites...


da old fart,
Bebob da I-Bobray

We all have fish story of discuss.
The Mississippi Red wing/ St.Paul.
There is/was a great spot or two that my good friend the X fish biologist found 30-years ago while shocking fish on the river. These spots held huge pigs a certain time of the year.
After leaving the DNR and years later becoming an author he would invite me to go with him to catch these huge Walleyes. These fish were mainly for pictures in his publications.
The spots was used a couple of times in later years for some good tournament fun. Many eyes opened up when the huge stringers were brought in.
In earlier days you didn't worry about somebody learning how to catch these fish cause back trolling and vertical jigging was the sign of the times. Dropping an anchor was the no-no in judgement.
So for years 9:30am we could leisurely show and catch the load for some great shots. Here's were the story takes off.
As we all know there is another web site in town that promotes Ring worm and blade fishing to death. A few fishing guides promoted this web site to promote guide business and help sell their jig heads.
As you might have figure where this story is going well the local fishing guides figured out how to catch these fish!
These guides were very good to the public about how to catch hogs and where to get them. So these little spots were over run with fisherman ..not quite educated enough to catch many but mostly to just get in the way of those who do.
As the meat shots came over the Internet and the names of these few fellows became know to river anglers as the big shots in town the business side became fulfilled. For a couple of years shot after.. shot was there for our view . Then after the guides starting to have to hit the water at 3:00 to avoid the mob they had created. The nice fishing spots for 35 years slowly went away. We use to say we don't hate the fish that bad enough to get up that early to catchem .This was Michigan.
I found it amazing the last years there wasn't as much photo coverage as prior years. The guides bookings are full, the little plastic jigs are in every boat. I figure the pictures got tough taking when everyone looks from the same place. It would look like Bill Dance on the same pond. Thank God we don't have to make the walleyes jump.
I remember writing one of the hero's one day and telling him you can't keep telling the public everything cause one day your milk run will be gone and then who needs you you.
For the biologist and myself our nice little days at 9:30 are gone.
The hero's feel the mob. The pressure on these fish in the spring is huge. Every spawning fish has a hook hole in them.
So these are my bad grapes to share.
Bottom line is we found another spot without guides around and the hogs are there. Every time we see a G3/Ranger we duck our heads and run.
Please use discretion on sharing your spots!
Not everybody can be Al Linder. Even Al & Ron learned these spots from the biologist.
The public never was told about them and how to fish them in respect for the biologist. The guys used to call jig casting to wing dams the last thing to write about so it was never cover.
Jeff Ryan the G3 guy who pulled out another batch of pigs during a tourney found one of the old spots. Ask him what the Internet and the fishing hero's did to his spot.
I'm a soccer coach in the fall and one of the directors was telling me about one of the guides and how he found and learned how to fish these spots.
To my disbelief all I could do was laugh.
So thats it in a big nut shell. Another uplifting story from me.
Hope I see ya but don't see ya on the water.
Nightie

What a good fishing report says depends on what the reporter is trying to sell. :raisin:

[Trophy]

Bait's, and method's are plenty hard to get out of most folks. However, when I give a report I state coordinates, bait's, depth's, speeds, colors, how many we caught, and average size. I remember the days when I got started and wasted many hours trying to figure out the walleye game. I had an ole'feller go out with me once and he told me, "don't forget where you came from, and those who helped you". I've tried to follow that philosophy ever since. Many times the person I helped one day,has saved my day some other time. Be it wrong, or right, that's just how I do it.

Personally, when i read fishing reports, I'm looking for bad fishing reports. Are they biting or do they have lockjaw? If nothings biting, maybe I'll try a different lake. If they are biting at all, I'll take my chances and do what I usually do, in the spots I know. A new lake may be the only time I look for fishing reports. I like to think (sometimes wrongly) that I can look at a map and figure out a few places to start with. I really don't want to know the exact spot where they're killing them. What fun is that?

Nightie

Personaly I think your post is a bunch of bull shhiit. Since you name names, you should post yours.

[Sportdog]

I bother less and less with fishing reports as I get older. If you read any local fishing publication you find plenty of information on the lakes and rivers that you may fish on a trip or vacation and the local lakes and rivers I already have a pretty good handle on them. I no longer give "specific" information to any local guys and especially not to "so called friends". My reason for this is simple and comes from a specific incident. Since I retired I have had more opportunity to fish and discover good areas. I told my normal fishing pal (who happens to be a friend of over 40 years), of these good areas on a local river and much to my surprise and dismay I found him and his boss/tournament partner fishing them, AFTER he told me he had to work and couldn't go fishing on a certain Saturday. My daughter brought down my grandson for the weekend and I took him fishing on the river and that's where we saw my friend and his boss. That incident made for a little strain on our relationship but I put it behind me and things are back to normal except that I no longer give him my "spots"....and he no longer asks! I always try to help out people with kids or people from out of the local area.