Be careful who you share info with re small waters

[jay the baptist]

First- I thank all of you on this site and the creator of it. Because of you, I have the right r&r, line, and on and on. And the confidence to go out in any season and have some success.
Second-Each one of you have a point. On small waters you can look down at the path made along the shoreline and find where people fish. On large lakes it's different.
Third- We are all free to share or not share. And there is a right way to say it.
I know a bass fisherman who will come close to you at 60 mph and when he gets even with you he makes a waypoint. Then if you are gone when he comes back he checks it out. Those guys make me nervous.

[DockShootinJack]

I know a bass fisherman who will come close to you at 60 mph and when he gets even with you he makes a waypoint. Then if you are gone when he comes back he checks it out. Those guys make me nervous.


That is really dangerous. Afew years ago that discussion took place. One of the guys said if he had the bicycle seat on the front of the boat as soon as he caught a fish the bass fishermen nearby were headed that way. He said he could change to a regular front seat and put on a straw hat and catch fish all day long without any company.

[jay the baptist]

Now that's a great idea right there. But I will admit, in my bassing days, I would see a boat closing in and I would drop my reel and pick up my shiny cane pole till they had passed me.

[Spoonminnow]

Now that's a great idea right there. But I will admit, in my bassing days, I would see a boat closing in and I would drop my reel and pick up my shiny cane pole till they had passed me.

Good thought, but nobody sells cane poles where I live? LOL
One good thing about local bass anglers with boats is that they rarely fish for panfish and aren't interested in catching them. I'm out for both though in a small lure/ light tacke kinda way. But one good thing in my favor is that fish locations usually change week after week - shallow, deep or somewhere in between - and finding them in concentrations is 90 % of the challenge. The less anglers that fish a water the better I like it, though shoreline-bound angler rarely bother me unless they aim their weighted floats at my head - and as we all know, many can be cast really far !! (Could never understand that seeing as how I'm way out from shore and casting parallel to it or to open water 180 degrees.)

[jay the baptist]

It a big cheap catfish rig and put a chicken heart on the hook. That outta throw off your scent. lol

[M R Dux]

A buddy and I were killing BIG bull bluegills in a very small area some time before I started guiding. The back of the bay was barely 2 boat lengths wide and a couple of casts deep to the back. The bluegill bed was about 1/2 the size of my boat. We had a couple of boats actually try to get around us after they watched us catch big gills, one after another. I treat people the way I want to be treated and I blocked both of those boats from coming around us. They would have undoubtedly ruined our, and their, days fishing and I would have never tried to get around somebody in such a small area.

A white bass boat with 2 older guys in it tried to come around us also and I blocked them. They stayed back a short distance and asked if we minded if they watched us. We said no problem. After we caught a few more, one of the men asked me what we were using. I told him the brand of the jig we were tipping with wax worms and fishing under a tiny bobber. He said they had never heard of the jig but they had fished the same bed the day before and had not caught any gills as big as the ones we were throwing back. I told him to come closer and I would give him a pack of the jigs. I tossed them on the front deck then they started easing away. My buddy overheard one of them say "We'll come back later and if the so and so is gone, we'll camp out on it."

Makes one feel all warm and fuzzy doesn't it?

[SuperDave336]

Well that’s just a shame. Being nice and generous and then treated like that. Hope everyone of the bluegill left the area before they returned. Like you said treat others as you would want to be treated.

[skeetbum]

I’m mixed in my feelings and responses. I enjoy teaching folks how to do better, and have shared the whole deal, place, bait, technique, even taken them there. This doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is people blatantly lying to gain info and stripping a place by fishing nowhere else until what they were shown no longer produces for anyone. This sometimes enters my thoughts when I plan to go and wind up fishing alone. All that said, I have taken others who respected what I shared and not worn it out. These I share with regularly and look forward to the next trip. Basically, I strongly dislike being deceived and or lied to. Unforgivable.