[JohnR]

Originally Posted by *LB

I don't post much here, but since I live and fish in SoCo I thought I'd throw my two cents in on this topic. I used to wonder why I'd show up at a spot to fish and find it suddenly packed with guys who weren't there the day before, especially since the fishing had been slow. I started to figure out that there was some kind of communication network that I wasn't paying attention to (internet and print) and spots were being "burned". At first I'd get pissed there was some guy on "my rock" and I'd bitch to myself about the Massachusetts plates on all the trucks . . . but I'd eventually get over myself and go find another place to fish (I hate crowds). Eventually it led me to fish in places that were difficult to get to, not impossible, just inconvenient and sometimes uncomfortable. Throw in some darkness, bad weather and big waves and I rarely even see other people when I'm out now. I don't think my new spots are any better than the old ones, but the fact that I'm not crossing lines with the "bucket & lantern" crowd and I'm putting in some extra effort to fish beyond the "easy" spots makes the whole experience more enjoyable to me. When I go out tonight it will be not too far from some well-known spots, but just far enough that I'll work up a good sweat from trudging through soft sand in my cheapo neoprene waders to get there, and I'll probably be soaked from the rain as well. I'll have to wade thirty yards out to "my rock" and hopefully I won't take any waves over my waders on the way out (the wade out is always a pain in the ass, but I don't feel like such a jerk for calling it "my" rock when I finally get out on it). Chances are there won't be another soul in sight, despite the fact that conditions should be excellent. If I happen to spot the silent red blink of a fellow striperman's headlamp I can be certain that he's not worried about his spot being burned either.

I haven't read the OTW article (although I'm tempted to now), but it doesn't surprise me. If you fish a public spot with reasonable access and half-way decent fishing it's only a matter of time before the spot is burned. I think the same spots have been getting burned over and over for years . . . but then people forget and move on the next "hot spot" and around it goes. I don't think the public spot burners do anyone a favor in the long run, including themselves, but it's an inevitable part of the scene.

The googans who chase spots they read about on the internet or in a magazine usually don't know what to do once they get there anyway. Just think about how long it takes to really understand fishing from a single rock at a single spot. It can take a whole season of fishing a particular spot before you realize what it takes to catch anything other than a lucky migratory schoolie. Mr. Googan is going to get discouraged soon after he realizes that the black stuff on the rocks is slippery and that standing around in soaking wet jeans gets pretty cold after a while. He wonders why he hasn't seen or caught a fish in the whole two hours he's been there, even though the sharpie magazine writer said they pull'em outta that spot hand over fist. Eventually he leaves in disgust, but not before throwing his box of mackerel chunks and empty beer cans in the bushes (he doesn't want to smell up his truck, after all). The final insult is the old guy who yells at him for pissing in his backyard on the way out. No way he's putting up with this SoCo crap again, he hears they're bangin' 'em on the Cape anyhow, maybe he'll head up there next weekend . . .

Good post - the only thing that really scares me is the last couple sentences - and that's what it boils down to for me in most cases, usually some recent land owner that has little tolerence or respect for public access and its hard to blame the person when Joe Twelve Pack has crapped on the yard and left the empties and bait wrappers. Sure that is a generalization but not too far from the truth...