Splitshot
01-15-2007, 05:18 PM
Sorry Whit, but you closed the Rouge post before I had a chance to respond and I felt I had some constructive advice to offer.
Have you ever looked at the bottom of the forums page and looked at how many members are on line and how many guests appear. If you do, you will find that most of the people viewing are guests. Every week, we have thousands of people looking at these boards and I think it is reasonable to assume most of them are outdoors people.
Guys like Bob Qwizdz and Jim Bedford make their living writing about fishing so that is their job. Most of us who post here don’t so why do you want to post about where you have had good success? Frankly I don’t know. I say that even though that is what I used to do. The first time I posted on this site back in 2000 there were around a 1000 members or less. I posted a lot more information than I should have and actually I knew better but I did it anyway. After finding a place like this with such good group of people, I was motivated to be part of the group. It was a mistake. A couple of years ago I realized how much information I had posted on the site and got Steve to delete all my posts to date. Since then he has cancelled that option.
In the end I got burned and found out that some of those nice guys could not be trusted. Now it is years later and I’ve seen it happen over and over again. Posting on this site where you fish will have an impact. It might be only 1 person or maybe 10. When that happens it will have an effect on your fishing now and probably in the future and who is to blame?
Since I am offering my opinion, I will add that I don’t believe that any stream or river or section of river should be off limits to anyone who wants to post about them. Having said that, the best reason not to post about them is because it makes it too easy for people many of whom have no interest in sharing any information with you. They will use your information and pimp it out to just their friends.
None of these streams are as fragile as some people here think. The idea that we are somehow protecting wild fish doesn’t hold water either, but as long as they are the rules it makes no difference. Our streams and rivers have withstood logging and a few fishermen today never going to hurt them much. In fact there are groups of people on almost every river in the state who are working to restore our rivers and it is working. Fishermen can cause harm, but they are being restored at a much faster rate than the little bit of harm caused by fishermen. Besides, if we are going to fish our rivers, we have to expect that we will have some impact.
I also believe that overall fishing is better now than any time in the last 60 years even though fish runs may vary from year to year. It is not Jim Bedford’s fault or Bob Qwizdz or Slim Jim’s fault. The first time I remember seeing Slim Jim on the river, he invited a young kid and his grandfather to fish in his hole and gave them a lot of help without asking anything in return. I’d say $75.00 is a great deal if you want to learn his best holes on the Rouge. At that rate he is not doing it for the money, but because he likes helping people catch fish.
Then again I actually think guides should be eliminated on all rivers smaller than the Grand River or severely limited, but that is another story.
Since this fall I have decided to only post on the cold water forum because even telling people what part of the state I fish in is too much information. In the last 6 plus years I have determined who many trust worthy people are and I share information with those people because I can trust them and they can trust me. There is still a chance I will get burned again, but certainly not as likely as if I posted that I killed the steelhead yesterday on ******** on the SW river forum.
And Bob G., well he called me last summer and told me that he had been hearing about my fishing skills and that he wanted to do a story about me. Very nice guy and everyone I know who knows him says he is a great guy to fish with. A very tempting offer and one I almost took. I have been wrestling with it all the way up to “Rouge” thread and the thread HR posted about Slim Jim. Like some of you, I don’t think HR should be posting those threads but that is just my opinion. As far as fishing with Bob Gwidz, I have decided not to do the article even though. I think posting reports is still a good thing to do.
It is a tough decision to decide that on the one hand you want to share information with other M-S members and the feeling that you are not interested in telling the whole world. My advice is to think hard about posting where you did good. I also suggest that you go to a few outings especially if you are new, or send people a PM and see if they will respond. If you ever send me a PM and don’t have your profile filled out, don’t expect a reply with any credible information. If your new, I usually will give you some basic help just like many others here but the forming of your own network is the best approach in my opinion.
Have you ever looked at the bottom of the forums page and looked at how many members are on line and how many guests appear. If you do, you will find that most of the people viewing are guests. Every week, we have thousands of people looking at these boards and I think it is reasonable to assume most of them are outdoors people.
Guys like Bob Qwizdz and Jim Bedford make their living writing about fishing so that is their job. Most of us who post here don’t so why do you want to post about where you have had good success? Frankly I don’t know. I say that even though that is what I used to do. The first time I posted on this site back in 2000 there were around a 1000 members or less. I posted a lot more information than I should have and actually I knew better but I did it anyway. After finding a place like this with such good group of people, I was motivated to be part of the group. It was a mistake. A couple of years ago I realized how much information I had posted on the site and got Steve to delete all my posts to date. Since then he has cancelled that option.
In the end I got burned and found out that some of those nice guys could not be trusted. Now it is years later and I’ve seen it happen over and over again. Posting on this site where you fish will have an impact. It might be only 1 person or maybe 10. When that happens it will have an effect on your fishing now and probably in the future and who is to blame?
Since I am offering my opinion, I will add that I don’t believe that any stream or river or section of river should be off limits to anyone who wants to post about them. Having said that, the best reason not to post about them is because it makes it too easy for people many of whom have no interest in sharing any information with you. They will use your information and pimp it out to just their friends.
None of these streams are as fragile as some people here think. The idea that we are somehow protecting wild fish doesn’t hold water either, but as long as they are the rules it makes no difference. Our streams and rivers have withstood logging and a few fishermen today never going to hurt them much. In fact there are groups of people on almost every river in the state who are working to restore our rivers and it is working. Fishermen can cause harm, but they are being restored at a much faster rate than the little bit of harm caused by fishermen. Besides, if we are going to fish our rivers, we have to expect that we will have some impact.
I also believe that overall fishing is better now than any time in the last 60 years even though fish runs may vary from year to year. It is not Jim Bedford’s fault or Bob Qwizdz or Slim Jim’s fault. The first time I remember seeing Slim Jim on the river, he invited a young kid and his grandfather to fish in his hole and gave them a lot of help without asking anything in return. I’d say $75.00 is a great deal if you want to learn his best holes on the Rouge. At that rate he is not doing it for the money, but because he likes helping people catch fish.
Then again I actually think guides should be eliminated on all rivers smaller than the Grand River or severely limited, but that is another story.
Since this fall I have decided to only post on the cold water forum because even telling people what part of the state I fish in is too much information. In the last 6 plus years I have determined who many trust worthy people are and I share information with those people because I can trust them and they can trust me. There is still a chance I will get burned again, but certainly not as likely as if I posted that I killed the steelhead yesterday on ******** on the SW river forum.
And Bob G., well he called me last summer and told me that he had been hearing about my fishing skills and that he wanted to do a story about me. Very nice guy and everyone I know who knows him says he is a great guy to fish with. A very tempting offer and one I almost took. I have been wrestling with it all the way up to “Rouge” thread and the thread HR posted about Slim Jim. Like some of you, I don’t think HR should be posting those threads but that is just my opinion. As far as fishing with Bob Gwidz, I have decided not to do the article even though. I think posting reports is still a good thing to do.
It is a tough decision to decide that on the one hand you want to share information with other M-S members and the feeling that you are not interested in telling the whole world. My advice is to think hard about posting where you did good. I also suggest that you go to a few outings especially if you are new, or send people a PM and see if they will respond. If you ever send me a PM and don’t have your profile filled out, don’t expect a reply with any credible information. If your new, I usually will give you some basic help just like many others here but the forming of your own network is the best approach in my opinion.