Spots

[gordon p]

Amusing.    Thoughts ?   

 

[Terry Dodge]

i really don’t share spots  if I run into a guy  about 3 times and I know he’s C&R then I’ll maybe share a good access point to a stretch of river he may not be familiar with. What he does with it is up to him.

[Paul Trybul]

I think there is some truth to the hot spotting stuff and that is why we have rules about not posting specific locations. Small bodies of water can't handle the pressure. I think its OK to name larger bodies of water, river x, the nunya river etc. I have become more conscience of posting pictures with landmarks. I've befriended some local anglers and they are quite savvy at identifying my specific locations by the backgrounds. That means others I haven't befriended yet are probably recognizing specific locations of places I post pictures on social media. I feel there is a balancing act between promoting the sport, conservation, education, and being socially irresponsible by blowing up good spots. 

[Terry Dodge]

1 hour ago, Paul Trybul said:

I think there is some truth to the hot spotting stuff and that is why we have rules about not posting specific locations. Small bodies of water can't handle the pressure. I think its OK to name larger bodies of water, river x, the nunya river etc. I have become more conscience of posting pictures with landmarks. I've befriended some local anglers and they are quite savvy at identifying my specific locations by the backgrounds. That means others I haven't befriended yet are probably recognizing specific locations of places I post pictures on social media. I feel there is a balancing act between promoting the sport, conservation, education, and being socially irresponsible by blowing up good spots. 

I use to play a game with Paul by identifying locations from background Landmarks and such, but we always played that game using private messaging, never for all eyes. Most spots  I recognize are areas I no long fish but enjoying seeing them.

[John Gillio]

I echo Paul’s comments. I have seen a handful of fishermen destroy fish populations in more than one small body of water that produced well for years before being discovered by the abusers. I’ve also lost spots because of others disrespecting the property. I don’t mind sharing spots on occasion when I know they are catch and release guys for the most part because I like company these days while on the water. There was a time when I enjoyed fishing alone much more than I do now. I held spots much closer then than I do now because the quiet of fishing alone was therapy after a frenzied day. Over all I’m still pretty picky about sharing spots. I can say with confidence that non of my spots are secret, though not everyone who fishes them knows how productive they can be. I like to see people enjoying a good body of water , but sadly I’m too selfish to want them doing it when I want to  be in the spot.

[Joe R]

My grey hair indicates Ive been fishing a long time. Large rivers spot sharing is of far less impact as compared to streams. Huge impact to streams when fish harvesters frequent skinny waters. As an example of an impacted river: the Des Plaines river in Lake county is what I would consider a small river. Simiilar to a upper branch of the Dupage for example. With the explosion of social media and forums its pike population has been decimated steadily over the last 10 years. By harvesters and by less skilled fisherman causing mortality in summer months due to poor handling. On the flip side though all of the dams have been removed and its been shocking to see how fast the smallies have migrates from southern cook and Will counties to upper cook and lake county. Many small bass went north. So a small river can change greatly by mans impact, in a relatively speaking short time period.

[Dan Draz]

Gordo: That was HUGE!! Epic stuff.

I have to share this little anecdote. And for those of you who have difficulty with when it's appropriate to use the word "antidote" vs. "anecdote," Ron White nailed it when he said "I never had much of a vocabulary. In fact, my friend Bob Schneider would still be alive today if I'd known the difference between "antidote" and "anecdote". He got bitten by a copperhead, and I'm telling him funny stories out of Reader's Digest. His head started to swell, I said "This ain't working." 😂

Okay, that comedic moment aside, many years ago someone on a fishing board post in the Chicago area (which one shall remain nameless) was asking about fishing organizations. I casually mentioned ISA in a few places as a group that they might like to affiliate with. Only to later notice that the people running the board arrogantly substituted the word ISA with the phrase "Secret Squirrel Society!"

Come to find out that their reason for doing so is that we won't go on open forums and put a GIANT FREAKIN "X" Marks the Spot on a map so that 93,000,000 people (most all of whom have buckets) can go there and deplete that spot of every living thing with a fin on it! I then discovered that any time someone on the board mentioned ISA they auto programmed the phrase to substitute for the name of our organization. Of course, I felt compelled to tell the moderator of the board that they were suffering from a well-known medical condition known as "Rectal Cranial Inversion!" 

I guess all of this is really about the word "point." I'm more than happy to encourage and educate people so that they succeed in the sport of fishing. Giving it back, or paying it forward, however you want to look at it, actually gives me a tremendous amount of satisfaction considering what others have done for me in this sport.

That said, I will happily "point" people in the right direction as in fishing on the DuPage but I will not "pin-point" a location by putting GPS coordinates on a map much to the dismay of several administrators of a well- known Chicago fishing board.

Speaking of GPS, BTW, if the geographical landmarks in your pictures don't give the spot away, the location services features on your iphone just might if you have that function turned on! As in, here are the GPS coordinates where I was standing when I caught the fish. Technology isn't always your friend! Data, in the form of pictures, gives away many clues.

[Paul Trybul]

Are there any pictures posted on our ISA forums that give away the location metadata?

[Bart Durham]

I've been told I'm guilty of this.  I'm technologically challenged but what do you do on your phone to prevent this if you want to take fish photos but not give up location?  Place phone in airplane mode before fishing?

[Kev-mo]

On 1/19/2023 at 8:42 AM, Paul Trybul said:

Are there any pictures posted on our ISA forums that give away the location metadata?

I don't know this for sure but I don't think the GPS coordinates transfer when you upload a photo.

If you take a screenshot of a paused video there is no location info even if you had your location turned on. when taking the video.

With the new OS on iPhone there is a photo option that allows you to copy only the outlined of fish and/or fish and yourself. Pretty sure no GPS info on that.

Finally, spots..... unless we're talking remote  mountain streams I don't think there are many 'secret' spots. Agree with the comments of Paul, John, and Joe.

[Kev-mo]

4 hours ago, Bart Durham said:

I've been told I'm guilty of this.  I'm technologically challenged but what do you do on your phone to prevent this if you want to take fish photos but not give up location?  Place phone in airplane mode before fishing?

Bart with iPhone you can just pull the image of you and the fish or just the fish depending on how you took the picture. Open a photo and lightly tap/touch the photo. You'll know you tapped correctly as a copy/share option will appear on the screen and a outline will travel around only the image, no background.

Alternately you can send me your pics and I'll post for you 😉🤣

[Joe R]

Most of my photos are from GOPRO but I have GPS turned off.