Share Fishing Tips

Do You Share Fishing Tips with Other Anglers?

Everyone knows that anglers like to keep their most productive fishing tips and favorite fishing holes close to the vest. It’s actually a pretty worn-out cliché.

But we wanted to know if this is true of all our readers. So, let us know: Do you share fishing tips freely or keep your beloved secrets under lock and key? We’ll explain our thoughts on the issue, but don’t let our approach cloud your thinking – there are no right or wrong answers here.

In fact, we think there are reasons to take both approaches. We’ll explain more below.

Approach One: Are You Crazy? Never Share Your Secrets!

Let’s face it, it is always more fun to catch fish than it is to simply stare at a bobber bouncing on the surface all day. And the more fish other anglers catch, the fewer there are for you. Accordingly, many anglers avoid sharing helpful information with other people on the water.

There are obvious benefits to this approach. If, for example, you’re fishing for largemouth bass, trout, or other wary quarry, you’ll often have better success by using a novel-looking lure, which the resident fish haven’t seen a dozen times a day for the last few months. This means you don’t want anyone else to know that a 7-inch pumpkinseed lizard has been keeping your line tight all morning.

The same thing can be said of special locations. If you tell other anglers about a particularly productive catfish hole you found, chances are, there will be fewer fish hanging out there next time you go fishing.

Approach Two: Fishing is for Fun, Why Wouldn’t You Tell Others What Has Been Working?

Unless you are a professional angler, or you fish as a way to keep your freezer stocked, you probably fish for one important reason – it’s a blast! Fishing isn’t brain surgery or hostage negotiation. The stakes aren’t very high, and – as the saying goes – a bad day on the water is still better than a good day at work.

So, because most of us fish for fun, it just seems unnecessarily unfriendly to withhold secrets that may help other anglers. Your favorite crappie-catching crankbait may not work quite as well if you show others what you are using, but you’ll still catch fish, and you’ll be helping others have more fun by sharing a few tips with them.

Also, there’s one important scenario in which it makes excellent sense to share helpful information with others: Anytime you may benefit from others catching more fish.

The best example we can think of involves bass anglers working small lakes or ponds. Often times, these ponds become overrun with bluegill, which can prevent the local bass from growing very large. But, if anglers catch enough bluegill, this trend can reverse, and allow the resident bass to grow quite large.

This means you may want to go out of your way to help that family fishing for bluegill on the dock. Tell them what baits may work best and point out a few of the local haunts the resident bluegill frequent. With a little luck, they’ll pull out a cooler full of bluegill, which will improve your chances of pulling out a giant bass in the near future.

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There you have it – our thoughts on the issue. We think there are certainly times when you should keep your secrets secret, but there are also times when it makes better sense to share every tidbit you can.

But what do you think? Let us know in the comments below.