Exactly.

I'll tell them the lake if it's not an obvious answer. I'll give them depth and type of bait, and things like on the outside grass line. There are a million spots that are 15' deep off the grass line.

I tell them or even show them. They normally can't find fish therefore they can't normally catch fish. Lots of new areas to forage and find fish. Just my .02 worth.

Tell the lake!

I was at Aquila. In the eighties fishing a good spot I found . Saw a guy fishing with a kid and they were catching nothing. So when I left told them to go to spot and have fun. Next time I went over there it was packed .
Loose lips sink ships lesson learned.
J D

Most likely, everyone also "found" that spot just like you did. It's not reasonable to think that tons of people would show up on any spot due to small talk from one individual.

Take Hamm Creek for example. Lots of talk on this forum about it, and lots of boat traffic, on the weekends in the Spring. Get over it. Leave the Boat Shows alone, and go find other fish. That's what the successful guides do.

I think some people just ask because they like talking about fishing. Fishing to me is just like hunting in that regard. Guys just like talking about it and it's normal to ask another hunter where they shot that deer, or whatever. It isn't hard to be polite and give someone tips about the rut in the area you hunt or patterns your seeing, and obviously not give them the GPS to your best sit on public land.

I had to learn this lesson the hard way... In the small town I grew up in there was a pond that was "overtaken with carp" so they supposedly killed everything in the pond while I was off at college so I knew nothing about it. When back home a couple summers later, I went to fish the "dead pond" and noticed nobody fished it anymore. I was catching bass 3-6 lbs every 3 or 4 casts, with my dad catching the biggest of the summer at 9lb 3oz. Out of a pond that is probably only about 1.5acres. We also caught some giant catfish and sunfish out of the pond.

I showed somebody the picture of dad's 9lb 3oz bass, they recognized the background and in about a year the pond was fished completely out. The town had a few people known for using cast nets to catch multiple 5gal buckets full of fish, even more that were known for blatantly disregarding harvest limits and a game warden who admittedly didn't care about city ponds. After that, I have no issue telling somebody that I won't tell them where I caught something.

I was back at the dock after fishing the early morning once and I had a couple guys ask me if I caught anything and on this morning I could actually say yes. I did get into them and had caught maybe 20 fish averaging around 2 to 3 pounds. I caught everyone of them off of a stretch of grass maybe 10 yards long in 10 foot of water. It was so good that I even dropped a waypoint on the fish finder Then the question came out. Where did you catch em? Hell I was so excited that I caught them I told the guys exactly where, how what time, depth, bait, how I fished it, couldn't keep my mouth shut …… man I spilled it all out for them. They started getting excited too and said they were going to head over there. I handed my son the keys and told them to be careful and to be back in a couple of hours so we could go eat.

^^^^^

I like to generally believe that helping others is good on your karma...Lakes / ponds / streams are all subject to the right place, right time, right bait, and right presentation.

Example:
I used to fish a smaller club out West. The club was filled with some good anglers and we all knew each others strengths. Many of the old timers fished damn near alike and would usually cash checks. When I finally started to catch on they had whooped me and several others many times over. Here's what I found:

1) TIME ON THE WATER!!!!
These guys spent 2-3 days a week on the water. Where as many of us would be lucky just to break away for the tournament. They put in the time to learn the lake features along with the patterns.

2) Boat location
On some lakes you needed to position your boat smack dab against the shoreline. Other lakes it was 20' depth angled uphill. While another was 20' angled downhill. If you could figure out where to bring your lure to the fish it made a world of difference.

3) Presentation
Slow drag, small hop, drag n pause, Fast hop, dead stick, etc.

4) Pay attention to the little things
Rod placement when the bait is in motion is often missed. One time I had the exact same rod, reel, line, weight, bait, and still was outfished. Why??? Because I was doing the normal 10 / 2 rod placement of the tip. While the guy I fished with kept his rod tip close the water almost parallel to the bank.

These are things I wont' give out. I'll give you everything else. Water temp, clarity, where, bait, color, etc...but I won't give up the above.

Good luck my friends

I usually tell them.

I’ll tell them exactly what I’m using and where....minutes before the tourney starts! They don’t believe me anyways. Lol

I never catch anything

I was on Caddo a few years back and was not having any luck. Got to talking to a young man at the boat ramp and he told me to head to the river, use spinner baits, and throw up in the side channels. Had some great fishing the next two days and it did not hurt his fishing experience one bit to share with me.

So I will typically share if i know it is not going to put them right on top of me the next time i go out.