Spilling the beans.

[barbus maximus]

Your views please.
As a life long fisherman, I have been in the position of at one time or another, of calling upon the knowledge and experience of my fellow sports men and women, who have freely given advice and guidance. I have also been in that fortunate position, when a less experienced person, or a youngster has asked for my advice, and again I am only too happy to help. However in recent times, I have not allways wanted to divulge my fishing haunts, or let it be known where there are some massive fish.
Why not?
It is certainly not greed or selfishness, it is mostly due to the fact that this information is sometimes abused, and I would find that perfect swim in a less than perfect condition the next time, or even see that person abusing it.
Now, I would be happy to tell anyone anything reference fishing but I am over cautious with that info.
I am I wrong?

Please rest assured that should I write a report for viewing on this forum, I will tell you where it is.........but you will have to PM me for it.

Am I being selfish do you think? Or just protecting the watery environment?


Your thoughts


John

[PikeHunter]

I would tend to agree with you mate. If I had found a brilliant spot for fishing, I certainly wouldn't be shouting it from the rooftops.

Unfortunately for me though, I can never find that spot!

[barbus maximus]

Everybody needs information and advice to learn the correct way of doing things, its just not always used correctly, and with a sense of respect or desency.


JK

[barbelblanker]

Totally bloody selfish. No I didn't mean that. Even if it's not members of this forum that would abuse swims , it is trawled by many that just might. Nearly every post gets read a lot more than it gets responses on. If you were to post a "sure fire 15LB + barbel swim" on here then you could virtually guarantee someone from the "I carried it all the way here full why should I not leave it here empty" pellet bag brigade. Nope you are spot on free with the advise and guarded with the swim/mark is exactly as many of us might choose to operate. I just think that the more "hammered" a venue is the less guarded we might be with it's location. Hence why I tend to be free and open when describing BAA waters as they are so heavily fished anyway.

If you are willing to share the howtos I'm sure we'll all be very glad you are here.

My latin might be rusty though I am sure I certainly look forward to some posts ;)

[barbus maximus]

Its reasuring to hear that I am not a minority on this, its not in my nature to keep secrets but as you have said, thought and caution must prevail sometimes.

JK

[BoldBear]

I made the mistake of doing it in the past but I’ve now learnt my lesson.

If I can take the time to find a good spot by using simple watercraft then other anglers can do it too!

I have no qualms about revealing the spot to someone on this forum but it would now be via a private message and only to someone I know and I could trust not to blurt it out to all and sunder.

Now I just say 'My Favourite Stream' and don't give the exact location away.

[barbus maximus]

Hi BoldBear,

It appears that this is the way most reputable anglers are going these days, not just to preserve their own sport, but for the good of the fish we seek. They need protecting from the no-gooders (is that a real word?) more than ever, especially with the influx of our foriegn cousins who like to eat them.

[Maddison_Twatter]

Not really much else to add that hasnt been mentioned so I will just agree .

[NICK R]

I used to always give info on the stretch of river i used to fish untill one day i turned up at one of the /my favorite swims and it had what was the equivalent of a small skip of rubbish on the bank

[BaggieRich]

There's a lot of secret marks in the world of sea fishing. With hundreds of miles of coast local(ish) to us, people put in a lot of time and effort hunting out spots that fish well on a particular state of tide. Added to the litter problems discussed above, there's the issue of commerical pressure and even hobbist netters thinning stocks out. There are even spots that only fish on a particular state of tide and can only fit a couple of anglers in at a time.

As a result, people become guarded about their info. I've even known people in my club who have with witheld and mis-informed me about sessions, purely because they think I'll put that info on this very forum and that'll be their spot ruined. (Despite that fact that the spot they're worried about is an open strech of beach and they'll quite happily take and use other info from this very forum. )

They way I view it is that I want to help people on the forum, just as I was helped as I started fishing. Therefore, I'll post details of marks we fish and I'll give detailed information to those that ask for it, however, if I'm given marks or information in confidence, then I'll respect that confidence no matter what.

It's a tricky issue, I think everyone has to decide for themselves really.