Lake Secrecy

I subscribe to a publication that includes reader photos every week of hunting and fishing successes.

What I can’t really understand is the preference of some to keep the body of water a secret. I’ll see captions such as “Billy caught this 38-inch northern using a jig and minnow on an Alexandria-area lake,” or “Joe caught this 28-inch walleye using a Lindy-rigged minnow on a lake near his home.”

I’m just curious about the background and preferences behind this. I’m not judging these people because it’s their choice to reveal or not reveal, but what goes into that thought process? Is it simply they don’t want tons of readers to know what lake their trophy came from so they can keep it a secret?

Yep.

Unfortunately, we’ve all seen it happen over and over again. A lake gets named in the newspaper or on the internet and WAHMO. Trawled out within months.

The worst situations have been when a lake in or near the metro gets named as a hot panfish or crappie lake during the winter. Suddenly, there are guys sitting on buckets everywhere and the lake is trawled out within a few weeks.

Grouse

Grouse nailed it. With social media the word spreads like wildfire.

A guide in Wisconsin uploaded a youtube video endorsing his ice guide service after first ice. In the short video he was slaying crappies, perch, pike, and bass on a 220 acre lake. He made absolutely zero effort to conceal his location. This lake has… “had” a great crappie population. Since this wonderfully informative video was broadcasted to the world, this lake has seen unprecedented pressure.

Pre internet word traveled fast. Introduce the internet and cell phones with instant notification and you have what is explained above. If you don’t believe it, go out on a slew and take a picture of a nice sunny or crappie and post directions, I guarantee within an hour, there will be people drilling holes. That is just the nature of the beast.

You wonder why people don’t want to share their good fishing spots with the general public? You can’t be serious.

Like Grouse said once word gets out a small lake can be ruined for years. I have seen many small lakes fished out in no time at all. One winter there were 2 weekends of ice local ice fishing contests on a lake near my mom’s place that I fished for years. I used to catch a nice dinner for my mom a couple times a year and now I struggle to catch more than one keeper crappie. The contests were greedy by having largest limit and many of those fish were dumped in the ditches around there. I only fish one lake Nunyo!

“You wonder why people don’t want to share their good fishing spots with the general public? You can’t be serious.”

I don’t think I made it sound that blatant or that I asked people to list “their good fishing spots.”

I understand that locations and good fishing spots are the result of individual hard work and recon. I had just noticed a trend of pictures without lakes listed, and I was just wondering if the trend is growing toward not even listing the lake.

I haven’t noticed a trend? Maybe the trend is that the naive have now been burned enough that even they realize it is a bad idea.

Do you tell your friends which woman is easiest to take home at bar close?

as others have said the logic behind it is you want to preserve the body of water so that it doesnt succumb to too much fishing pressure. The only time i feel it is ok to reveal where you are is when its a large well known body of water. If i show someone a picture and tell them i caught that 28″ walleye on LOTW or the mississippi well who cares about that. The fishery is in no danger of being fished out due to its size and its no secret you can catch monster fish on those bodies of water, its when the guy shows a picture of that walleye on the 200 acre honey hole that you run the risk of that being the last picture you get to take with that kind of fish

That trend you speak of has been going on for years. The only time lakes are mentioned by name are either someone is very stupid to let out the name of a smaller lake that is vulnerable to over fishing or it is a larger lake like mille lacs, leech, red and alike where there is alot of pressure anyway and the lake can withstand the added pressure due to the size of the body of water

crappie55369 wrote:

its when the guy shows a picture of that walleye on the 200 acre honey hole that you run the risk of that being the last picture you get to take with that kind of fish

Amen.

I want to kick said guide in the nuts.

A couple of my favorites:
-Lake Wishuknew
-Lake X
-LAL (local area lake)
-Stanberry Lake (the old misdirection ploy)

I drive by a flooded gravel pit here in the metro. I’m pretty sure there are no fish in it, it’s not connected to any other body of water and I’ve never seen anyone fish it.

I’ve wondered, in this day and age, if I posted on some forums, “Red hot slab crappie bite on the small lake by Highway X in Maplewood” and posted some pictures, how many guys would be standing out there on the ice within 24 hours fishing a body of water that has no fish just because somebody on the internet said it was easy?

It doesn’t take much. With panfish limits IMO still being way too high, how many hundreds of fish get pulled out each day once the word gets out? I’d bet some of the small lakes that have been named as hot panfish lakes have lost 500-1000 fish per day on weekends. Doesn’t take long for that kind of trawl-out to obliterate the fishing.

Grouse

Dan wrote:

I’m just curious about the background and preferences behind this. I’m not judging these people because it’s their choice to reveal or not reveal, but what goes into that thought process? Is it simply they don’t want tons of readers to know what lake their trophy came from so they can keep it a secret?

Interesting thread…
I did a kayak trip to Norway about 10 years ago. We did a little Cod/Pollack fishing with hand lines. I was talking with a Norwegian in one of the spots we stayed. He was telling a story of a large Halibut he landed. Of course, I naturally asked him where he caught it but he wouldn’t even reveal the location to an American that had no realistic chance of ever returning. Keep in mind, we’re talking about fishing on the ocean.

Its the attitude Walleye fisherman such as myself were grew up on but let me tell you guys we MUST open our eyes and see that it hasn’t gotten us anywhere. Professionals in our sport need more walleye anglers as do the companies that sponsor us. The Bass guys are killing it on sponsors and numbers of fisherman because it is not a secret society its real hard to have many secrets when there is 100 tv shows about how to catch a bass, In fact I am sure I could drive down to Guntersville throw me a Alabama rig made by Yumbrella and catch me some Bass just like Paul Elias.
In my opinion we need to educate all fisherman that want to be educated. The token stories of this lake was ruined that lake was ruined……etc. I call BOLOGNA on and if true (which I believe it to be false) It would in fact make more fisherman because its not just the hardcore fisherman that chase after easy bites and once fisherman get hooked there hooked.
So here it goes once open water drive to your nearest SKEETER Dealer buy the boat that fits your fishing/pocketbook best hook it up to your tow vehicle drive as fast as you can to Mandan, ND buy minnows at Southside MVP, they will usually give you tips, put your boat in the Missouri River go north or south it doesn’t matter much put a jig and a minnow on once u see a change in the water direction hold your boat in position and throw your jig beyond that change and retrieve your jig back to you lifting your tip of your rod 8″-11″ and repeat until limit is reached.Once your limit is reached take boat out of water drive to Baymont Inn and Suites in Mandan and rent a room, have some beers order some delivery chinese from Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant. Wake up the next morning buy your minnows from Southside MVP, put your boat in the water go north or south it doesn’t matter and troll Berkley flickershad crankbaits with leadcore right down the middle of the channel and drift back with minnows, switching your crankbaits out can be pain free with the use of a Crank Caddy, sold at http://www.CrankCaddy.com or your local Scheels, Cabealas, or since your in Bismarck/Mandan swing by and talk to Wade and the friendly folks at Dakota Tackle. Once you have caught your limit swing on past the Stage Stop Bar and Grill and have a magnificent Wimpy Burger or a fleischkuechle and fries. Head on Back to the Baymont Inn & Suites have a couple beers.

In my experience 30% of people are going to actual read this statement I write. 50% are not going to follow it. 15% is going to believe it to be true. 5% are going to listen do it and have success.

Why can’t our fishing stories be like that instead of……..

Went out at a river by my house and really got some nice bites.

^^^LOL “This message brought to you by Rapala…so BUY Rapala!”

I agree though, and even if you say a lake w/out exact waypoints and techniques it is unlikely for others to duplicate your success anyway! Remember sharing is caring!

Fish are a limited resource. Given half a chance people will destroy them when they can. That’s human nature. That’s why we all have to travel so far to obtain very good-great fishing. And that’s with a closed season during the year. There is no secret here. Loose lips sink ships.

nm…post counts are locked now, eh?

I’ve seen every area I’ve liked to fish explode with anglers over the last 10 years. For me, it may be selfish, but I’d like to keep something for myself. I’ve been burned so many times, it’s sickening.

I showed a guy how to troll on a big lake in WI, and he and his buddy started trolling it 5-6 days a week keeping as many fish as they possibly could. Now they wonder why I won’t show them any other bites.

I’ve seen summer wing dam fishing go from one or two boats on a pool to 50% or more of the productive wing dams on a pool having at least one boat on them. I don’t own any of those areas, but at the same point, I’d be a fool to continue to watch those areas get even more full and have it be my own fault.

Then you see years like this year, it’s fairly well known that I spend a good amount of time on one of WIs biggest lakes that’s not heavily fished, and now that there are tournaments on that body of water this summer, I’m getting hounded constantly from people wanting waypoints, bait advice etc…..

I started the local Walleye club in my city, and feel that I’ve shared more than my fair share. I’ve met good people in the process, and was happy to help, but I’m at a stage in life where I can’t get out nearly as often as I used to due to work and family commitments. When I do get out, I’d like to be able to enjoy it instead of spending the entire day driving my boat around to get away from people. Good thing I’m centrally located and have lots of options.

I don’t mind getting tips once in a while, but for me fishing is a challenge and too much information can spoil that. Lets say you are given waypoints and techniques to catch fish. You proceed to fish it and within 10 minutes you have your personal best. But is it really your personal best if it was basically put right in your lap?

My greatest reward fishing? Finding them MYSELF, figuring them out MYSELF, and eating them with family and friends

But a little IDO Intel nevers hurts….

PS – and not to be overlooked, eating humble pie MYSELF

I wasn’t born with my current fishing ability, and have a lot of people to thank for that. So I try and pay it forward to others. One of my buddies wouldn’t tell his mom if her life depended on it. To each their own, but imo you don’t own any bite, and life’s too short to worry about it!

JR, I’m confused
when at Baymont Inn and Suites, “what kind” of beer should a guy drink ?

It’s all about the size of the body of water and the reputation of that lake.

For instance,
1: I could post about a great weekend of walleye fishing on LOTW, it’s not going to matter. People know that LOTW has great fishing, but people also know it’s a huge body of water and that’s intimidating. Where to start on such a big lake? NO DANGER.

2: I could post about a great weekend of walleye fishing on Lake Miltona. Miltona is a much smaller lake, but it’s still a good size, something like 5-6000 acres. This still probably won’t affect the pressure much on that lake because it’s already known for being a good walleye lake. LOW DANGER.

3: I could post about a great walleye bite on a small, 1000 acre lake that isn’t known for walleye fishing. This might pique people’s interest a bit more, but depending on the lakes characteristics it might not be detrimental to the lake. Maybe the lake is very tough to fish, or there’s not a good map on lakefinder/navionics, if there aren’t obvious spots to fish it might stand up to dozens of new anglers as they try it once or twice and give up. MEDIUM DANGER.

4: I could post about a great crappie bite on a small, 100-500 acre lake. This is where you will have problems, ESPECIALLY if the lake has a few obvious crappie spots. Maybe the majority of the lake is 12 ft deep with a few distinct holes that reach 30 feet or something. Everyone and their mother will flock to this lake because it’s small enough that people can walk out if they want, there are obvious locations to start, and they can keep 10 fish a piece. EXTREMELY HIGH DANGER

Everyone is looking for instant satisfaction. A great walleye bite on a 1 million acre lake that’s 6 hours from the cities doesn’t help Harry Honeycanifishthisweekend who has 3 kids at home. A hot crappie bite close to the cities on a lake that Harry H. can get on an off in a matter of minutes will moisten Harry’s undercarriage quick like.

And you know what? Harry hasn’t caught a limit of crappies in three years! Damnit he’s due, and he deserves it. And after he catches that limit and puts it in non-airtight ziploc bags to burn in the freezer, he deserves to do it again the next day. And so help you god if you try to stop Harry from telling his work friend Richard Wifewontletmeusemyrod about it. And do you know how long it’s been since Dick has had paper mouths firmly wrap their lips around his jigs? TOO DADGAM LONG!

But the thing about Richard is he’s got a big mouth, and an even BIGGER…facebook friend list. After a few beers Rich will be taking selfie after selfie to post to facebook, “Just another night on lake GonnaSuckInAFewWeeks”

etc.

etc.

I think and hope that trend continues.
Attached is a pic that appeared on FB about 10 minutes after it was taken. Unfortunately after he tagged me and himself, it only took about 20 minutes to have people dam near drifting in my boat AND commenting on the picture to us. I try to avoid many land marks, but that is how a portion of the general lacking gene pool fishes these days.

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desperado wrote:

JR, I’m confused
when at Baymont Inn and Suites, “what kind” of beer should a guy drink ?

Doesn’t matter, the hotel won’t have any vacancies and the beer will be sold out.

Years ago my buddy and I were a couple of the first guys to night fish Muskies on a 3,000 acre lake in northern Wisconsin. My buddy made the mistake of telling a Green Bay outdoor writer of our night time success. This was in early 70’s mind you.
Within one month when going out on Saturday night to fish it was a big city at Christmas. Green and red and white lights every where. After that when he called us for tips it was always Pine Lake (there are like 200 Pine Lakes in Wisconsin)