Hotspotting ...

[Threedayweekend]

The term hotspot around here has a totally different meaning. Hotspot is a place where all the "summer guides" take their clients and if you get in their way they get very hot (since they own the river or so they think). It is also a gas station around here where most baiters buy their worms and beer to leave along the side of the river or lake for us to pick up. lol

[tigfly]

I wouldn't consider posting a picture hotspotting unless it shows clearly the mile marker or something like that in the background. If you can recognize a place by the background of the picture then you already know the river rather well and aren't learning anything new. John Scott's posts aren't what I consider "hotspotting" or "burning" a spot, they show what types of water he fishes, not giving directions to which rock to stand on or talking about some small stream that can't handle a lot of fishing pressure.

[AllenOK]

I know I don't normally post in here, but here's a warm-water Okie's point of view.....

Last year, I started posting some videos of me fishing some of my better spots. Fly, hardware, and bait (I don't discriminate). I know that other locals are watching my stuff, because I've been recognized and greeted by a few folks away from the water.

Now, the spots I've posted about are well-known "hotspots" for fishing. But, if I'm in a new area, and catching fish, I generally just take still pictures, with the fish on the ground, next to my foot. This keeps the background out of the shot, so I know some folks won't go and pillage the hole(s) I've found holding fish.

I know a few well-respected guides here in Northeast Oklahoma that will post pictures of clients with nice fish, but they photoshop the background out. If they didn't do this, they would have 20 more boats pot-licking the fishing grounds within a day or two.

[bobbyg]

Nicely put, Larry.

I think there is a regional component to how folks view "hotspotting" as well as the personality traits thing.

The further West someone is from, the more likely he / she is to share information. The further East someone is from, the less likely he / she is to share information.

Some folks are generous to a fault and some are selfish to a fault.

John

Really? Please explain your logic as to why the far Western fisherman/fisherwoman is more likely to share a hotspot than we selfish-to-a-fault Easterners?

Thanks.

Bob

[Byron haugh]

Yikes!! I'm headin' down that long lonesome highway!

Bob, might that be along the Madison?

[sagefisher]

Bob, That was an interesting observation by John, regarding the possibility that people tend to be more open to releasing fishing data the farther west you go as compared to the farther east you go. I hadn't thought of it in that way and naturally there will be tons of exemptions to that statement, but.......... There are around 3.3 times the people who live 'east' of the west as compared to those living in the west. Depending upon where you draw the line and leaving out the dead center of the country, there are around 62.7 million people living out west. Compare that to 207.7 million back east. BIG difference. Then if you factored in, which I did not, the number of square miles of the 'east' as compared to the 'west' I am sure the population per square mile would have an even bigger X factor. So, if you live in a very high level population area with very limited fly fishing waters as compared to those of us who live out west, much lower levels of population and much greater number of square miles per person, that may tend to make the crowded side a little more reluctant to give out information. Just a guess on my part however. No real facts to back that up. Larry ---sagefisher---

[flybugpa]

old Chinese proverb, those who know don't say and those who say don't know....as we say here in the EAST

[Denny]

This has been an interesting posting. We are all entitled to our own opinions.
Let us all be careful as to what we post. It looks as if this just might get out of hand.
PLEASE Gang, lighten up. I do not want to shut it down and or hand out warnings.
If the shoe fits, so be it.
Lets just go fishin.

Denny

[flybugpa]

My point after jumping into all this mess, was you cannot tell anyone anything like you could in the old days, with a simple nod everything was accepted to be kept on the down low. There is a whole new generaton of fishers out there ,in my opinion would would fish in your grave if it held a pod of fish. One case in point that stands out , I have had a "friend' of mine , while I was with a client, and we wre casting to rising fish, doing very well. this "friend" recognizes me, enters on the opposite bank and nymphs the same pod we are c&ring from. I bit my tounge hard enough to make it bleed . stuff like this is why I walked away from the indie and only go where few are willing to put forth the effort to get to. There are simply too many people vying for the same fish here in the east as it was put earlier, and as I age I am more and more un willing to exchange info on where I have been. I show trusted old friends who I have formed concrete relationships with over the years and that's about it. Fly patterns I give away freely but that is another long winded story,i want people to catch fish , just not over my shoulder.

[flybugpa]

I got it. when I come out west, I get the freedom I seek, room to breathe and room to cast on these famous rivers of the west. It is wide open compared to what we have here in the east. The only grumbling I have ever heard would be when I have been in the company of a guide and he would mention that it is crowded today, namely on the Bighorn.