Can you Burn a Lake by making a fishing report about it?

[Natural Lefty]

I agree with you, Erik. I have fished some of the same places for many years with no drop off in success, or it drops off then improves again. I have not seen declines in short term success either. For example, I did fish a few days ago, at a place that I supposedly "burned" earlier this summer by describing to people on this site exactly where it is, what time of day and how I fished. Guess what? The fishing was even better a few days ago. The fish were small bluegills, and I released them, but I had fun catching about 15 of them in a fairly short time, almost all on flies (adams and mosquito). There was no burning done whatsoever. My fishing neighbors also mentioned how they had caught larger ones in the area a couple of weeks earlier, but they had moved farther offshore as fish will often do. Ups and downs in fishing success largely depend on conditions that have nothing to do with people fishing a particular spot, unless it is a very small spot that a lot of people fish. Speaking of surf fishing, there is no larger body of water than the ocean, so no, it does not make sense to me that surf spots quickly get fished out, unless there is very heavy pressure on a small area. Nonetheless, fish move around a lot.

Also, there are some hike in places in the sierra, and even some roadside ones, where I have caught wild trout consistently with no drop off over the years. In fact, a couple of roadside ones that are not stocked, has only gotten better every time that I have fished them.

I may not post much anymore about my fishing trips, but the reasons are not due to fear of others taking over "my spots." I think if a person posts something, it should be informative and tell where you went and what you did, rather than being vague. These are the types of reports and videos that I think most highly of, even though I am unlikely to attempt to imitate them. I think we should keep in mind that there are a plethora of fishing spots, as well as different fish species to fish for, and different fishing techniques, so I think it is best to look at a report as a slice of life example of what can happen, but not what you as the reader should particularly be doing. Rather, there are lessons from others' reports, if they are generous enough with the information, which can be generalized and be of help in your own fishing situations, wherever and whenever that may be.