When I got back to fishing a few years ago I started going to a state park lake and I discovered the TFF. Naturally not knowing the lake or knowing much abut some of the methods other than a hook and a like, I begged people to tell me where to go and how to fish this particular lake.
I found out rather quickly that there are places every one know about and everyone fishes. I was told exact spots, depth, bait, chum, everything I should need to catch fish.
Some times those spots worked and sometimes they didn't. Then It dawned on me that most of these spots were so obvious that any one could find them or were so over fished that you were lucky to catch anything. I was getting good information, but not the really secret hidey holes, baited holes. places that were not that obvious. Just enough info to go and try to do what was given to me and maybe catch a few maybe not.
Anyway, there is lots of info you can give out that is not going to spoil your fishing and just might make the guy asking into a better fisherman.

There are times when I don't mind sharing info with people, but there are other times where I will leave out some if not all details. Like a honey hole I found for crappie this past spring. It wasn't a very large place to begin with, and even more specifically, the crappie were pretty much concentrated to one very specific area. I wasn't about to divulge any info at all about it because all it would take is for one person to get there before me in that spot, and my day of crappie fishing would've been shot. It was also a small enough place that a person could easily spend 2 hours and find the spot they were holding.

If I were into the catfish on LAH I doubt that I would tell people what creek I was fishing in. I might say "shad and punchbait on shallow flats"...but it's up to them to find those shallow flats and how I was fishing them.

As far as the greed argument goes, yes, but in some cases, there really is the chance of someone else catching them all. I found that out in my crappie hole. If I hit it heavily one day and pulled out say 20 or so...the next day I'd fish it hard and maybe get 10, the next day maybe only one or two. If I spaced the days out and only fished it every few days, I'd have excellent trips everytime. Sometimes divulging full info about a honey hole is like giving one of your legs to a one-legged man.

i will tell somebody who ask politely any details they wanna know about where and how i caught my fish. I learned from some very good fishermen on the Lavon forum and my grandpa and now i can go and catch catfish on any lake that has them. A beginning fisherman wants to catch fish, and needs to catch fish to really get into the sport. I'm glad to help anybody who ask.

I just read this. If you ask me Mr. Michial Thompson must not go fishing very much. I don’t know how many times I’ve told are have been told. Go fishing here are hunting there do this us this or whatever the next day I go to that place and got nothing.

It’s lake last week me and my dad went out to grapevine for sandys for some reason he was not getting very many fish. The boat got almost 100 fish that day I probably got 89% of them. We where fishing with the same everything. This Monday we went out for catfish and got em good I’ll post photos later but I only got 4 he got 16 same bait same everything.

If you ask for my Email I will tell you everything where I went what I used ext. This site just helps it will not tech you to be like Bill Dance and get a monster fish on every cast.

( you know what I’m talking about it looks like that guy is fishing a lake in his back yard. Everything on his show is big)

Michial - Sometimes, some folks need to be told where to go drop their line. This will help them:

a) build up confidence
b) practice catching fish.
c) should they take their kids, guess what?? everybody enjoys it

If it irritates you, dont share your spots.

I know what you are talkin about. and i agree with your post. but like what was said above my post. if you dont want to give your spots dont give them. i will admit i have asked a few people where they have cought the fish or what ramp did you use. i did that just a day or so ago. but i dont go around askin everyone that post that are catchin fish where they are catchin them. if someone wants to know where i am catchin fish shoot me a PM and i will give ya some help.

USA;

If he was fishing with his kids I'd have driven to the lake and taken him to the hole with all the bait they needed. He was just after fish, and wasn't happy with the 10 or so small cats he had caught.

It wasn't the fact that he had asked what I had done differently but that he had not listened to the number of times I had tried helping him catch fish. I've made leaders and rigs for him, talked him through locating candidate spots on the map, told him what to look for on the graph, and even told him how I usually carry 3 or 4 different baits and how I go about finding what's working. He still EXPECTED more, and what really set me off on it was that he got angry with me when I responded to his bait question with "whatever bait they are biting on today." I wasn't being a smarta&&, I was serious, I hadn't been fishing so I really had no idea that particular time.

*MOST* of the time I will gladly help teach people how to find fish, but there is a point when you've just exhausted the teaching aspect and you have to be motivated to practice what you learn.

Someone mentions that I was "afraid of him fishing out my hole." Far from it, a weekend warrior that makes it on the water once a month will never be a threat to me catching fish. No matter how may fish he takes in that weekend. All I have to do is give it a week or so and the fish will be back. I've "fished out holes" numbers of times and it never fails they come back in a few days.

What was insulting about this one case was that he actually followed me on the lake to find where I was fishing, and then expected me to give him specific details about how I caught fish in that spot the next time he come to the lake. I spend a lot of time running back and fourth in areas mapping the bottom for fishing, and even more time weighing and logging my catch to build "statistical" data on various holes and baits. I'd have gladly helped him if he would have asked with no expectation, or asked sincerely after trying the things I had already told him to do in the past.

In a case like that I'd gladly help too. I come off as being an [censored] on here sometimes, but most everyone around me would tell you that I am nothing like that in person. MOST of the time I will gladly help people to a fault. I almost always keep spare tackel on the boat and never hesitate to give people what they need. I make all my own leaders and weights and stuff, and give almost everything away. MOST people will offer to pay me something or offer a beer or anything, and I politely refuse and say "a thank you is plenty for payment"

BUT there is that one or two that just expect you to do everything for them and that's where my problem comes in

I know what you are sayin. my dad has gone through the same thing. i am the same as you i will be glad to give anyone what they need to fish with but if they do not say "Thanks" it will be the last time i will give them something. i am not faulting you by any means. i agree with what you are saying 110%.

Here's my .02 cents. I will tell anyone about anywhere i fish, what i caught them on, what bait to use, and how deep to fish. Because i want that person to catch fish if they go out with their kiddos. I dont want them to go out and get skunked. And the kids get bummed out cause they didnt catch anything. Kids get discouraged easily. Make it fun and they are hooked. Id rather that person be able to go home that night and be able to brag about how many fish he or she caught. And DAD looks like a hero in the kids eyes. The kids from then on have a story to tell about. Just my thoughts.

P.S. Its just fishing. Unless its a tourny and money is involved. Then its fair game.

I think the answer is simple: You teach people how to fish. There's no secret. It's like playing a musical instrument, I could be told all day long about how to hold my fingers on a guitar and I still couldn't play it. I could get mad and cry about not being helped, but the truth is that I need to spend the time to train myself to play it. Fishing is a skill, not just knowledge. Any book can tell you how to fish, but none can make you a fisherman. Only time on the water will do that. Once you experience failure enough times, you don't don't question the things that produce.

There are no secret spots, no secret honey holes... there are just methods and understandings of the craft that people apply to have successful outings. We spend our lives tweaking and honing our skills in this craft we call fishing. There's no great secret illuminati organization related to fishing that keeps all the secrets away from the beginners. There's just fact and fiction, and we try to separate the two.

kat;

I will gladly share my limited knowledge with anyone that comes up and asks, but I am far from the type to hold hands through a process for an adult.

Kids on the other hand I will take to the holes that produce HUGE fish JUST to see their eyes light up when they see that 20 pounder breat the water's surface! An adult I will take to areas that they catch fish, rarely to the places that produce the big ones.

I mostly agree with you with the exception of "secret spots and honey holes" There are places that produce and places that don't on every lake.

Then there are candidate places that SHOULD produce bud don't for one reason or another. I have one of these places that I spend about an hour or so every time I hit the water on because by all my estimates this area should have some BIG cats in it, but I just cannot find what they want for bait. So I return every day or two hoping that will be the day I have the right bait in the boat.

The key isn't the "spot" part but the "secret" part. Each body of water has characteristics that attract fish. By learning those characteristics, how shad relate to each and how your target species relates to each characteristic, you can catch fish on any body of water that has fish. You don't need to know a certain location, and there are none on public bodies of water that are secret. The neophyte fisherman probably doesn't understand fish habits and nuances of the water they are fishing. This is why I say there are no secret spots or honey holes. There are only characteristics and the ability to find and exploit them.

This is why bass fishermen can catch fish on any lake, and why many tournament anglers for many different species can simply recon a lake and figure it out, no need for the secret spot or honey hole data. Granted, it would be nice if someone pointed out every breakline or creek channel that you don't already know about, but it's not necessary if you already have the electronics and skill to learn the lake on your own.

Imagine bringing someone like Jackie Kennedy or Jerry Hancock to your favorite lake, one they have never fished on, and you show them the spots you catch fish. I could imagine them saying "I saw some humps on the graph on the way over here that I want to check out, and that part in the trees over there is an old roadbed, so I want to check that out". I can imagine one of these guys finding fish on your/my lake that we never new were there, simply because these types of fishermen pay attention to their surroundings and know what to look for. They don't just get information on hot spots and hit them. (not trying to speak for either guy, just making an analogy).

I also don't like to hand hold, but I will spend extra time with people who honestly want to learn. I am not interested in satisfying momentary curiosity however. That's why kids are so much fun. You teach them and they grow up fishing. You show a 45 year old man how to fish and he maybe does it once and talks about it to his friends over beer for 30 years.

This is probally the BEST post I have read on any forum ! Thanks a lot.Im one of the ones always thinking there is one little thing that i dont know thats keeping me from finding the fish,Now i realize it is all things .Every detail needs to be remembered.