The Attitudes of Anglers...

[zippyFX]

Cool thread... Started before I joined.... I tend to be a more open individual... Here is my take:

- For generic information I tend to publish it; For example, if I make a catch at a well known spot I will report it as such.
- For sensitive information I tend to not publish the exact location it but will generally share via a personal message or e-mail to people I have seen active on the board.
- The only time I may not share is if the spot is either sensitive or pressured. Again I will generally share this information with people I have a raport with

As a general rule I will always share technique details.... Baits, colours, lures.... Honestly, with the fish being as finicky as they are, I am not certain they would work again so why not share?

I am a member of a couple of boards and I hate it when people sign up and ask for spots, which are usually readily provided; They always promise to send a followup but rarely do.....

On this and other boards I have had many PM discussions on specific locations that I can leverage and I have personally shared what I could even without prompting. There are many helpful people and it really has added a lot to my local area fishing knowledge. I tend to be rather bold and will PM people and directly and ask them about things they have posted, and in general everyone has been very helpful.

As an aside this is not just internet behavior.... When I bump into others at fishing spots many of them won't discuss previous catches or the techniques they use for the area. I tend to be very upfront to open things up and share what I know, and sometimes that helps. Sometime I ask questions I know the answer too, just to see how honest they are being with their responses. I have had people to tell me to cast in the wrong direction to try to avoid the hot spots. At the same time I spent 4 hours fishing with a guy who taught me how to catch walleye at a local spot (I did not catch anything and neither did he on that day).

MA I think the 15 post rule did help me be more active, I stumbled across the site via google results on some of the trip reports. I think I still would have become more active but it at least made me get involved....

My rambling $0.02