How could this forum create a legacy? I mean how do we go about geting people to post? I keep seeing people going to the refridgerator but seldom going to the supermarket. By this I mean the posts. Should we post obvious stuff every week and use the "uniniated types" respones to forward our ideas and/or positions on the topics? I personally would like to raise the average or less so up to a new level if I can, and I'm not threatened by inexperiance or really dumb questions as if they are really dumb questions than they just really don't know. Interspecieces or target orientaited. how do we go about giving it up without feeling like the 92 people who looked in on a subject and didn't leave any thoughts were not taking some sort of advantage of the sage/or not advice of the guys who are willing to give everything up so that you can catch a fish???....I always feel bad watching a father/son ;mother/daugther etc, etc. team getting beat up on the water when just a few pre-fishing questions would have made the whole experiance extra cozy. I would really like to see this forum take off as the premire site for information of all types. and I hope you can add to the multi-deciplined group that seems to be out here in never-never land.. as there seems to be an extra swell bunch of folks on this post who'd like to see you all do better than themselves at any time..I am off to St. Lucia " West Indies" for the next couple of weeks and I am hopeful that while I'm gone a sort of decision as to how this goal can be achieved will be mulled over in ernest and we can help everyone on every level achive their goals/dreams/answers!

Sheese-what's up with that?
I post when I want & not when I don't.
A legacy?

RD

Gee!, When your right your right. Lets forget the whole thing...I think the topic for conjecture should be "why bother at all?" I know I'll be rethinking my whole share info thing. I guess I can post when I want to or not. Why share? No real reason to share without a reason. I'm wondering what that reason would be. Nope your right ...No reason....Now that I've rethought my position I guess it would be a mistake to share. Bye folks!, I think I'm done with this form of fishing. I'll be out on the water and I can only be reached by Mercury.

May God bless & keep you safe.
Enjoy St.Lucia.

RD

Umm, is it just me or does Randy fall into the cross section of users of this sight who don't get it? No worries, I'm here to trade info both ways, I'm fishing LMV tomorrow for the big girls, let the bluebird skies pass today, I think they might want to chew better tommorow. I'll be waking the AC and stitching the 12" plastic monster killer a little deeper to try to make my weekend. Tight lines!

I post all I know-maybe you know more, but I can't post just to post.
It just seemed a little overkill on holding out info.
When I have something worthy to post-such as facts-I'll post it.
I won't post just to say I'm going fishin tomorrow.
If someone asks a question that I'm sure I know the answer to-
I'll post.
If you think I don't get it, what exactly am I supposed to get?

RD

http://www.calfishing.com/dcforum/freshreports/786.html

Randy, I think I got the wrong idea from that first post. Sorry to rub you the wrong way, just sounded like you didn't want to contribute, which doesn't matter anyhow. Everyone brought up good points, as you did with your reply. Tight lines. Oh yeah, I dumped a big fish tonight on an AC plug at LMV, that hurts.

Kelly,
I've seen you talk about people not posting reports, or not giving information on this site and other sites. If you feel you would like to give information for other people to benefit from, that's your call. If other people feel that they aren't knowledgeable enough to post relevant information as often as some of us do, that's their call. If others just don't want to share information, that's also their call. You need to realize that not everyone is going to share as much info as you, me, rob, pete, etc. I can live with that. I've even been criticized for giving TOO MUCH information. I don't expect anything in return, and I don't expect others to post as much as I do. There are of course going to be people who read this website and choose not to post at all. In fact, that's probably the vast majority of people who visit this, or any website. Now, encouraging people to post is one thing, but saying that you are going to stop giving information unless they start giving you some is another thing. That's not what this forum is about. If you choose to give information, that's great. It really helps the site grow and it benefits everybody. I personally hold those people with higher regard, who choose to post reports, answer questions and share knowledge. However, the other half of forums being able to function is people reading the posts. If you don't want to post, that's fine too. I'm sorry if this came off blunt, but it had to be said.
-Brian

You said it perfectly.

Nico

The message board forum is open for anyone. It is up to you if you want to post or not. I enjoy reading fishing reports from others, and like to answer questions from "newbys" to help them catch fish.

Thanks Brian, I didn't have the energy to write that one.

To put it in perspective ... for three years I posted fishing reports several times a week for Santa Margarita Lake. After three years of posting reports, the legacy is that there are now three guys who post reports from Margarita. Phil, Ken A, and Joel (fisherman123). How many thousands of people read those reports and said nothing? Thousands! How many guys who fish teams on the Central Coast read those reports to check out the conditions on the lake before the tournament, but never posted a single word, dozens! Did it make me mad sometimes, yeah it did, but to be honest, I really don't waste my time any more concerning myself with the people who only lurk and never post. That's their loss in my opinion! I share my info with confidene because I'm not worried about somene else poaching my spot or using my lure. I look down on the type of fisherman who are spot hoarders and secret lure guys.

Case in point:
If I post and say that I caught some nice smallies at this new quarry lakes park, am I worried that other guys are going to come and ruin it? No, and you want to know why ... because think about it like this. I said in my report that I caught fish in 10 to 30 feet on a 3" tube watermelon tube with a 1/8oz weight. I also mentioned that you had to drag the tube really slow to get bit. I figure that anyone who is a good enough fisherman to go and duplicate my sucess, is going to be a catch and release only guy. And since it was such a small pond, I didn't say exactly where I caught my fish, because I caught them all over. I think I'm a good enough fisherman that if I go back out tomorrow, I could do just as well as I did yesterday, even if some other guys came along and used my same techniques and caught and released a few fish. I couldn't explain in words anyway the thought process for me that goes into finding fish and catching them anyway. Every day is a new day and the fish react accordingly. Sharing my reports on the internet is a mental aid for me when I go back and search the archives and even more importantly, it's a reference point for guys who are maybe just learning how to bass fish, or picking up on a new technique, like using tube baits for example.

So Kelly, I'm sorry you decided you were sick of it, and that decision is up to you. I like my site for what it is and I appreciate a great deal all the people who contribute with posts and reports. People who lurk and don't say anything are part of the game. It's the internet after all, and anyone can click the links and read the posts. That's just part of the game.

I for one, can't wait to go fishing :-) Quarry ponds could be calling my name this week before work. Smallies 10 minutes from the house and work only 8 minutes past there. I can handle it!

The calfishing.com forum has helped me become a fisherman period. I started fishing for bass not having anyone to teach me what to do. Santa Margarita is close to me and I started from shore mainly from advice I got from Rob on this site. I graduated to float tubes and now almost to a kickboat because of input I got here. I looked forward to the time that I could actually post a report on Margarita because of what I had done there. I post now on every trip I make, I just wish I could go more often. Another thing is that I have no knowledge of other lakes except those that I fish, but a read all reports from all over trying to learn from others. I never fish Cachuma because they don't allow float tubes, but I read the reports. That will drive up the "views" without any posts, also.
Thanks for the great site, Rob!
Keep up the good work :)
Ken

What has always killed me about the Grateful Dead are the live shows. The Grateful Dead actually allowed people to record their shows--in fact, they encouraged it, and certain sections of the arenas were made into recording areas. They were into sharing information, ideas and music.

I enjoy sharing information with anyone about anything. Calfishing.com is a great medium to share fishing information. Fishing in general is a funny thing how people have secret baits and secret areas and insider information. My experiences with the West's top professional bass fisherman have shown me that sharing information is necessary and harmless. Case in point:

Aaron Martens in November of 1999 won the BassMaster tournament drop shotting on Lake Oroville. The next weekend, he won the Angler's Choice Championship on Oroville doing the same thing. Everyone at the second tournament knew what Aaron caught his fish on the week before. It was on the Internet and in the papers. Still, he goes out and beats everyone. Why? There's only so much information you can share on the Internet. You can't give exact GPS cooridnates (well, you can), you can't communicate exactly how you hold the boat, how you shake your worm, where you're fishing, your leader size, and any adjustments made on the water that day...When you share information, it will force you to outfish the people you've shared info with to some degree.

I enjoy sharing as much information as possible. I sometimes purposely am vague with a post to see if anyone will respond and just ask. Shoots, I ask people straight up all the time...where they at, what are you getting em on?

Us SoCal guys get blasted on NCBF all the time for lack of sharing information down here. I never see anybody ask...Jesus, I'd spill my guts if someone ever wanted to know anything that I could help them with.

What I learn about Rob, Nico, Ryan, Brian, BassNet, Fongster,and others in their experiences helps me with my own. I love to read stories about lakes and water that I will someday fish. I've found if you need information, just ask. If you've helped people out before, they are far more likely to help you out too.

southernswimbait.com
BigBait Fishing in the South

I'm fairly new to this site...

I do more reading than posting because I have a lot to learn. I've been a trout fisherman my whole life and this site has peeked my interest in bass fishing. I never thought about it much before I started "lurking" about here and reading everything and anything. I just bought my first baitcaster, and some of the input I got here played a big role in my decisioin to purchase a Shimano Curado. The input I get from all of you has been invaluable - even if it's for something I didn't ask about. I know I have a lot to learn, but coming to this site, reading the articles and the posts has helped me a lot. I haven't landed my first bass yet - but when I do - I know the input I have received from this site will have played a role.

I don't get to fish as often as I'd like to (far less than most of you), but I enjoy reading about all the fish reports and everything else on this site. It's a great site. It's clean and BS free and I like that.

I hope you don't change a thing.

The true professionals in the sport know that there is no harm in telling what they're doing and what sort of water they're doing it on. They know this because they know that, just like Aaron did that week, they can kick your butt even if they handed you a road with the same rig as them and let you sit in the back of the boat. You can go to bassmaster.com and read every day during the three and four day tournaments what the leaders are doing and what kind of water they are fishing. The professionals on the Bassmaster circuit are a great example of how the sport should be and we should all take a lesson from it.

No kidding, Aaron could spell out everything he does and still wreck you, some guys just got it- You could sit down with Tony Gwynn forever, listen to everything he tells you, you're not going to win a batting title- but you can learn and beat the hell out of the other mortals in your club! It's all good, I'm sure I'm not the only one here who has fish on the brain all day long, looking for info, etc. This board is really good for sharing info, let's keep it up!

I have no doubt that I am a better angler because of what I've picked up here and at other sites. And I share what I do because it might help someone else. God knows plenty of others have helped me.

I have fished the same bait on the same type of rig as the guy next to me knocking the piss out of the bass (saltwater models) while I was blanking. I've also been on the other end too. Too many things we never notice, and therefore can't share. Too many things we just forget to post, thinking later how important it was. Sometimes, we're just lucky (or unlucky), like my day Sat. vs my friend's. On any given day, I'd place my money on him to out fish me at least in quantity. Yet, I had both size and #'s while he basically ate it. Why? I don't know, though I have some ideas.

Like everyone else has said, sharing helps, but only to a certain point. If you want to post, I might read it. If you don't, I'll never know that you didn't.

Amish Ed
You Can't Catch it again if
it's Dead!

Amish Ed
You can't catch it again if it's dead!

I too am for sharing of info. I have been an avid visitor of this forum for some 2 years now. I have posted many reports of a lot of my trips and have asked for info as well. I know that there are a lot of good fisherman out there that are willing to help others. I have asked my times for info such as on Lake Lopez and MS Slammers and have got reponses from guys such as Kelly, Brian#1, Brian#2, Swimbait, and Ken A. It's guys like them that helped me better myself in my techniques or prepparing for a trip. Even though I do fish team tournaments I am still learning and willing to help others. Unlike a lot of tournament fisherman that keep a tight lip on what they are doing. I have posted many reports and have answered numerous questions that people have asked on the lakes that I normally fish without a hesitation. I think that by sharing the info that we all become better fisherman in the long run. No, you don't have to tell everyone exactly what you did to catch your fish but a general idea is good enough. And sometimes especially after a tournament or fun fishing I tell everything. If that person is a good enough fisherman he or she will be able to take that knowledge and use it to there advantage. Fishing is a learning game and we all need to keep learning to keep up with all the new techniques and styles of fishing. As we all know fishing conditions change day to day so what you caught them on today might not work tomorrow. We all had to learn by asking someone at one time or another, so why not share our experiences and knowledge with some one else to make them become better fisherman. Just think where you would be today if all the info you learned over the years was never shared by others to you. Just my 2 cents.

keep posting quality and interesting information, spread the word and keep at it, in time the participation should increase.

On NCBF they listed the amount of "views" to each message for a while and it was the same way, 50-100 views on many posts but few return postings, usually from the regulars.

This is the third time I've checked this site out, usually after Rob reminds me about it in an e-mail :-)

Jeff Bradshaw
(delta rat)

I do appreciate all the good words and encouragement. I really have always tried to make the site about quality over quantity and I feel like in a lot of ways that has been a success. So keep the posts and reports coming and we'll just keep chunking along. My pledge to you is that the site will never be about advertising or making money for me. It will always be about fishing and sharing good info.

Seeya on the water (hopefully soon!)

-Rob