[RichTrox]

Ok, the new season is just about upon us. The first schoolies are starting to pop up at all the traditional spots (don?t ask) and before long the madness will begin in earnest. In an effort to head off what seems to be a seasonal dilemma, I am going to go out on a limb and make a respectful request here. Regardless of the fact that Noreast is the 400 lb gorilla of Internet fishing sites, there is one issue that remains a basis for the denegation of this site when compared to others, and that is the posted fishing reports that burn spots. In the past, there have been way too many arguments on this site over spot burning, some of which have resulted in the withdrawal of valuable posted information from some very knowledgeable fisherpersons (PC). I for one can understand the argument, so here is the very short version from my perspective. When and if you post a fishing report, please feel free to keep it specific to conditions and general to location.

My personal opinion, and management may disagree, is that this site exists to provide a network for the interchange of fishing knowledge on all levels. Newbs learn from the more experienced, experienced learn from each other, and so on. It is not here for, or obligated to provide up to date, minute-by-minute, exact locations of spots and/or bites to the uninformed masses. In defense of my position to management, and aside from the absolute madness it causes, this information can only serve to undermine the informational experience factor that some members bring to this site, and that causes lost members, ergo lost knowledge. However, in spite of the inherent risks, I do encourage you to post fishing reports, and for many good reasons.

Conditional information provided in fishing reports is important because it allows us, as fishermen, to track the general migration of fish and bait, or bait and fish as some would have it. If you have studied the massive amount of information provided in the many threads on this site, then you have done your homework, and you should be able to parley this provisional information into the next bite on the tour. If not, please do not expect any handouts, as the road to consistancy in fishing is a process with no short cuts, period. I also encourage you to put up pictures with your posts. I especially love the pictures! What better way to make your friends drool, than to post a pic of a fatty you stole right under their noses? Just make sure there are no identifying features in the background.

Consider the posts and pictures as some good-natured boasting among friends. Have fun with it, but beware of the possible pitfalls to others. A very respected local writer and author once replied to my spot burning guideline inquiry with the following advice. ?If your report will not affect any others in the immediate area, then fine, if you can?t word it so it doesn?t, then don?t post it?. I consider this to be sound advice from a sound source. So please consider this when you post.

1) Name the general area only. By general area, the nearest local inlet is fine. This area is required as part of the post process anyway, so don?t offer more than is requested.

2) Feel free to be specific on conditions, such as tidal and moon phase, wind direction and speed, water temps, bait present, whatever. Just don?t kill your (and others) spot by being specific on location.

3) Post a picture. Nothing gets me off my a$$ faster than a picture of a fatty that somebody swiped while I was sleeping!

4) If you are new or old to this site, do not get pissed if you do not get a reply when you post a comment, or send a PM requesting location.

Here?s the skinny. The reports section of this site generates a lot of click thru?s. This equals money to the proprietors of this site. This is the nature of the business. So please, feel free to post reports and pictures, but try to adhere to the above guidelines. Don?t shoot yourself, or your fishing neighbor, in the foot. This way, hopefully, we can, and will avoid the rancor and bickering that results when an uniformed member unintentionally burns a spot to the ground. This season, let?s see if we can break traditional, and all play nice together. Let?s remember that it?s all about the fishing, and it?s all good.

-Rich


This post edited by RichTrox 02:59 AM 04/04/2008

 

[MatthewPaul]

A Good Word!

As a second year newbie-googan who is out of his mind for the sport, I had to learn the hard way (on another site) by getting my head handed to me. Moreover, after reading a few books (John Skinner's included), I see that specific spot burning can kill the sport, especially after all of your hard work scouting and hunting. What I mean by the last statement is this: folks like me who get out a few times a week and sleep in on the weekends, don't need to burn spots to make the lives of weekend "fisherpersons" and lazy "fisherpersons" easier. In other words, we should all be scouting and hunting and enjoying our legwork!

This post edited by MatthewPaul 11:22 AM 04/04/2008

 

[likeitreallyis]

Rich well said.

 

[MatthewPaul]

Rich,

How come you dropped the PC "fisherperson" language halfway thru the article?

This post edited by MatthewPaul 11:22 AM 04/04/2008

 

[Maybe_Tonight]

Well,,, I'm going to (risking life and limb) present an alternate position on the spot burning topic. Not that there hasn't been enough discussion on this matter in the past, but,,,,,,

IMHO, if you are not going to post a "report" then why bother at all??? In every discussion I've read on this subject each of the anti-burners say that the reports should be used as a means for folks to gather information about emerging bait/gamefish activity in conjuction with observed weather/water conditions and not for handing information out to those un-willing to invest their time. The anti-spot-burners ask for reports to focus on general locations and leave out specific locations. I beg to differ!!

To this sentiment I ask, "how in the world is this generalized, lack of details in a report going to help someone? If I am fishing a stretch along Gilgo and post Fire Island Inlet which is prolly 3 miles to the east, is this a report that is going to assist anyone?? If I hump it all the way back inside to Kismet and report I saw HUGE schools of bunker at Fire Island Inlet who does this help?? Now I am in the State Channel hammering fish and report that the wind was gale force from the southwest at Fire Island Inlet. Assistance????

I prefer to post a bit more detail and will, at the very least, explain front, back, inlet, backbay, etc. To MY mind, this is general enough and when used with reported conditions may actually provide someone with a usable tidbit. I'm not posting LORAN numbers or anything like that.

I would add that even with the detail I post, I have yet to be swarmed out of a location. NEVER!! Are there tiny points and peices out there that could not handle the additional traffic?? Sure there are and if they are in the backbay then I do not believe a report stating BACKBAY is giving them up. If I'm on a cut or bar along Tobay I don't think saying TOBAY is blowin' it up. Sorry!!!

Consider this, on the rare occasion I have one or even TWO (god forbid!!!)

guys roll up on me at 2am I am always more than happy to strike up some conversation and make some room for them. If they are seasoned casters they will find out fast enough themselves if the bite is on. I've found newcomers a little hesitant to jump in and will often stay off to the side out of the action. If I feel this is the case I will call them in and offer whatever advice I can to help them out. I feel if they are out at 2am with me then they have already begun to make the sacrifice the surf calls for.

So, there's my take on the matter. I've never really commented on a spot-burning thread in the past but thought it time to get myself in trouble.

FIRE AWAY !!!!

 

[Maybe_Tonight]

MatthewPaul wrote:
Rich,

How come you dropped the PC "fishingperson" language halfway thru the article?

I was wondering what that (PC) stood for too. LOL

 

[MaxKatt1]

Clearly, SurfStix needs to be banned from the site.

Actually, I tend to take a more liberal interpretation as well, but will dial it back out of repect for what appears to be the will of the community here.

I do wonder though, if this is a sisyphean task. If I may wax philosophical...I believe the internet will be the downfall of the Chinese gov as we know it. The genie is out of the bottle. Try as they might to supress/manage information, it's going wireless, transported on disks/flash drives, etc. Same thing with the music industry. CD's are dead. Nobody I know under 30 has ever paid for music. Once there is a forum, a network of players is established, and once the channels for info swapping exist, it's very difficult to manage what get's traded. Especitally on a site that's free to join.

 

[Maybe_Tonight]

MaxKatt1 wrote:
Clearly, SurfStix needs to be banned from the site.

Actually, I tend to take a more liberal interpretation as well, but will dial it back out of repect for what appears to be the will of the community here.

I do wonder though, if this is a sisyphean task. If I may wax philosophical...I believe the internet will be the downfall of the Chinese gov as we know it. The genie is out of the bottle. Try as they might to supress/manage information, it's going wireless, transported on disks/flash drives, etc. Same thing with the music industry. CD's are dead. Nobody I know under 30 has ever paid for music. Once there is a forum, a network of players is established, and once the channels for info swapping exist, it's very difficult to manage what get's traded. Especitally on a site that's free to join.

YEAH!!!! What HE said!!!!!! DUDE!! I had to Google that sisyph... word!!! LOL Pretty deep stuff there Max.

 

[MaxKatt1]

SurfStix-They say you learn something new everyday, so you're done for the day now!......It's good that Rich puts that out at the start of the season. Probably new people joined that need to see it. Maybe it can be managed. Hopefully Mgmt doesn't disagree and can him like tuna.

I occaissionally share more specific tips off-line, but only people I have a sense are good folk, and always with the caveat (google it) that it's between us or at least not to be put on a bill board.

 

[toyotaoffroad91]

rich!
one thing that i can add being still a rookie with 4 years surf expierence is DONT CHASE REPORTS...they will get you nowhere and you will be very discouraged...i remember when i myself chased them...they get you all hyped up on the drive there and when you go home skunked you curse yourself for now following your instincts.... i remember last fall when i would always say to myself do i drive close or drive far...i always stayed local and was rewarded nicely... learn your home turf fish every tide, time of day and learn the bait migrations...you will be rewarded... some guys on here have so much experience they know when to go and can almost dial in the exact time to take a first cast and pull up a 20# hopefully one day its me lol...IT ALL TAKES TIME>>>

 

[657600]

spot burning

I for one hope everyone continues to post as detailed information as possible. I don't have the time or energy to recon. my own spots, study bait movements, weather paterns and moon & tide conditions. It is much easier to let everyone else do the work. Besides surf fishing is a social thing isn't it? I mean nobody actually enjoys being alone in the early AM hours on a beautiful night with a solid striper bight all to themselves, do they? I personally like to park my truck turn on my high-beams and watch what everyone is doing for a little while before deciding where i am gonna fish. You'd be amazed a what you can learn from just watching the sharpies fish.

 

[frankiesurf]

There is another site that does police the posted reports. They seem to be a bit more area specific but it does make sense.

I live a ten minute walk from THE most obvious fishing destination on the North Shore. Whenever a report is posted about that spot it gets WAAAAAYYYYY crowded then dies down.
This site was not the worst. It actually was pretty tightlipped about it actually. The worst was a fishing magazine that, without fail, every week had numerous reports on this spot. The most I counted was five mentions in one issue. They even went so far as to tell you what lure to use. The next time I walk down there after that lovely report there were a bunch of guys all using exactly what the mag said to use. I was using that since November with success but I switched up that day and was the only one who nabbed a fish.

How is that for burned?

This post edited by frankiesurf 07:39 PM 04/04/2008

 

[mikeyreef]

i agree with rich
general location
all my pics are taken in my kitchen
so it never gives away location
i spend alot of time effort and money to find my spots
so i dont need to be squeezed out by report chasers
and yes it has happened
not to mention some of the nasty pms i get from people who feel i owe them that info
do your homework guys
by the way my reports have also gotten me alot of good new friends
mikeyreef

 

[IRISHSURF]

Create a separate board away from the surf board and allow spot burning and watch the views go through the roof. Nobody likes their spot burned, but just before you get pi##ed off at the poster, you all read it. I agree with non specific info, but you just can't stop blabber mouthing or blabber posting. It goes on all the time on all sites. I am lucky my spots don't ever get crowded but I sympathise with guys whose spots cant sustain the traffic. Keep your mouth closed and fingers quiet. See you out there.................or maybe not ssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh................

 

[tiderunner70]

supergoog wrote:
spot burning

I for one hope everyone continues to post as detailed information as possible. I don't have the time or energy to recon. my own spots, study bait movements, weather paterns and moon & tide conditions. It is much easier to let everyone else do the work. Besides surf fishing is a social thing isn't it? I mean nobody actually enjoys being alone in the early AM hours on a beautiful night with a solid striper bight all to themselves, do they? I personally like to park my truck turn on my high-beams and watch what everyone is doing for a little while before deciding where i am gonna fish. You'd be amazed a what you can learn from just watching the sharpies fish.


LMAO the high beams comment is best of all. LMAO





very well stated rich.

 

[RichTrox]

Hey guys,

Just getting around to looking at the replies now, as my work computers seem to be having problems with one of the ads on this site. Thanks to all who offered up their point of views and I especially enjoyed supergoogans' insight

Surfstix - Good stuff. I didn't want to get too micro with defining what "general" means so yeah, back bay, near the inlet, north side of the bay, stuff like that is fine in my book. I just want to avoid all the arguments that ensue when specific places like 3rd wantagh, northwest side RM bridge, inlet spots, and places like that get burned. The simple truth is that it does absolutely no one any good. Nobody benefits.

A tip of the hat to those that stated that report chasing is a waste of time. Truer words have never been spoken.

MaxKatt1 - No doubt technology affects culture, but where fishing spots are concerned, I'm not sure that the internet will cause the paradigm shift you predict. Cell phones maybe

My point is this. Let's ALL try to contribute and use this site to the best advantage of ALL members, not advantage to some and disadvantage to others. And at ALL times, let's try to keep it civil.

As for me being PC (politically correct), I was trying. But I had a pretty good toot on last night when I wrote this, so it got lost and forgotten after the first paragraph. Woke up with a nasty headache this morning also

.

Thanks again for your input guys

-Rich

 

[blasko]

Rich,
Excellent commentary, you are a true surfman.(NOT PC) It is refreshing to see a sensible perspective from an influential angler. Hopefully others will follow suit. I detest burning and thank you for your efforts and intentions.

Best of luck to you and to those who subscribe to this philosophy.

Frank Blasko