Modifying lures, revisited

[Roccus]

Got a bit of a lull between deadlines and, as I promised John M., thought I’d drop back in to clear up a few loose ends left dangling from my last visit to the forum.

Seems a few forum members are convinced that writers should write only from their personal knowledge. Sorry guys. It doesn’t work that way. Any writer worth a damn will always want to provide as much information as possible. To do otherwise is to cheat the reader. Writers ask questions. It’s part of the job. If you doubt what I say, call around to as many professional writers, editors and publishers as you wish. Again…writers ask questions; that’s why the Lord invented experts.

A few members felt that I wasn’t entitled to ask for help unless I contributed something to the forum. Fine…I do that every month. Eight columns worth monthly over at WWW.Noreast.com…drop by and help yourself to whatever you find informative or entertaining. No charge.

There was some discussion about whether I had the right to ask questions in the forum for articles I intended to write. It’s not church or hallowed ground over here, as far as I can see. It’s a message board; twenty years ago it would be three by five cards on a corkboard. Now we use computers.

But I’ll always let folks know when I’m asking for information that I intend to use in an article. And, for a tip that I get from someone and use in a piece that I write, YES, I CREDIT THE SOURCE IN THE ARTICLE.

Credit and payment seemed to be on the minds of a number of forum members. I’ve already addressed the issue of credit. For those who feel they ought to be paid for their idea, feel free to write the thing yourself and sell it to whatever magazine will write you a check, and more power to you. And, yes, of course I get paid for articles I write; I’m a professional. That’s the definition of a professional…someone who gets paid for his work, regularly.

To those who offered such splendid tips as “open the box before you fish the lure” and “use explosives and blow up the fish”, or words to that effect, I offer you in return, this from Mark Twain: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to start talking and remove all doubt.”

Finally, I want to thank all those who shared tips, anecdotes, ideas and photos, either by e-mail or on the message board. I appreciate the help and, judging by what came in, it will certainly make for a more informative article.

And, yeah, I guess I'll stick around here in Striper Talk - so far it's been an interesting place to drop in and visit.

Jerry Vovcsko

[D Powell]

Jerry,

Did you get a chance to check out the cartoon that was inspired by the cyber ruccus you started? (not an attack by the way)

Here's a link:

http://www.stripersonline.com/Pages/rockfish/rock_37.shtml

Dave

[Roccus]

D Powell (02-16-2001 01:05):
Jerry,

Did you get a chance to check out the cartoon that was inspired by the cyber ruccus you startedDave

Dave,
No, I hadn't seen it but went over just now to have a look...I enjoyed your take on the whole thing - I've always envied how a talented cartoonist can capture in one frame what a writer needs pages and pages to get across. Thanks for sending me over.

[jettyjockey18]

some feathers were definitely riled by that thread, and i'm not sure why...perhaps people get a little carried away with preserving what they feel is "patented" knowlege.
personally, i've been fishing for close to 25 years, and not one thing that i know now i didn't learn from asking someone else. sharing knowledge is part of the game, at least for me.

[JohnR]

Hey Jerry, er, welcome, ahh, back :P

Couple things...

Seems a few forum members are convinced that writers should write only from their personal knowledge. Sorry guys. It doesn’t work that way. Any writer worth a damn will always want to provide as much information as possible. To do otherwise is to cheat the reader. Writers ask questions. It’s part of the job. If you doubt what I say, call around to as many professional writers, editors and publishers as you wish. Again…writers ask questions; that’s why the Lord invented experts.

A little narrow on the "all writers" as I've read very well written and informative articles from many different people that were written WITHOUT others contributing (beyond spelling and gramar anyway but they don't get credited in a small article, do they). Most "people" asks questions (at least they should), whether writers, plumbers, farmers, or geeks like me. As a "writer", I would hope that you would be a little more flexible to other styles and mindsets of those writers. You don't need to agree but you should be open-minded enough to allow for other author's writing styles and their opinnions. There are many people that have authored work that both in style and content is correct and enjoyable to read all without outside contribution. It can happen. So just because an author does something on his/her own, doesn't mean that person is not "worth a damn".

Also, sometimes I've seen people "Contribute" to an article, sometimes against the wishes of the author and sometimes without that person's consent, and have the "contribution" flat wrong or misleading...

Understand that I'm not trying to question your journalistic integrity, qualities and capabilities (I'm looking forward to reading some of your articles and to see your perception of fishing) but I am questioning your flexibility on a medium such as this. And I'm hoping that you see more of what happens here before you draw your conclusions on message boards in general.
Dagnabbit!! I just knocked my damn cofee on the keyboard and some CDs...

Just my opinion, be a little more flexible, group hugs and birkenstocks, knowhatimean...

As far as you're needing to contribute before you ask? You didn't get that kind of response here and while I didn't follow the entire thread over there they didn't seem to hammer you too hard on that either.

As far as the various "tweaks" you recieved ,stepping back you have to admit that at least SOME of them were comical (I did think that opening the box was OK ). And I didn't see anything that was very rude or offensive. As stated last week, nature of the Internet. Good and bad...


You seem to be a reasonable fellow, maybe we will sit down and have a beer sometime... (Nice thing about the Internet, you can say I'm full of crapola too, as long as it makes it past the CENSOR)...

DPowell, Very Nice!!!

[Saltheart]

Best way to look at it is that in addition to getting some info about lure modifications , you also got some insite as to how some other fishing article writers feel about the subject. Some guys feel that if your name is on the article , it should be all your own stuff. Others feel that the article is best written by including everything you know and everything you can gather from others to improve the quality of the information presented. My own feeling is that the articles should be just the best you can do using all the resources available to you. I also think a simple statement in the article that says that the article is a compendium of your own knowledge and experience and ideas contributed by others both in person and on internet fishing boards.
As far as the money paid for writing the article goes , it such a small amount its a none issue for me.

Anyway , after all this , I'm looking forward to reading the article.

And lastly , as John Pointed out , while some of the responses may have been critical or smart arse type responses , as far as internet wras go , this one was just a bump in the road. Wait till you see or are involved in a real good one!! They can be like wolverines fighting over a mate.

[D Powell]

Quick question off topic.

John, I've posted here before and yet that post showed as my first one. Do you occasionally clear off the riff raff and make 'em re-register - I know where you went to high school - how 'bout them O's?

Wolverines wow, there's a mental picture: furry bluefish on crank. Yikes!

[JohnR]

Hey Dave,

My first game I ever went to was at Memorial to watch the O's with my T-ball team from Lake Shores, Anne Arrundel...but my father was a Sox fan, and my entire familiy is originally from Mass so the Orioles became my close second favorite team until I moved back north and went to Fenway for the first time. Then the O's became my distant second favorite team by the time I moved back to MD in 1982. By then, I spoke like "Pahk tha cah in the hahvad yahd" and all my fellow Pasadena rednecks called me Boston John... But as I stated in the past, I know what a "chickenecker" is :P ....

Before, fully logging in wasn't necessary and most people didn't so those posts were not "creditied" with a user name... Unless someone just started here in the last two months, their post numbers under their name are less than what the person has actually posted... Someone that shows 100 posts may have actually posted two or three times that but were not loggin in previously...

But it's good to hear from you. R Yu from Baltmore too, doon by the warter? }>

[JohnR]

Hey Dave,

My first game I ever went to was at Memorial to watch the O's with my T-ball team from Lake Shores, Anne Arrundel...but my father was a Sox fan, and my entire familiy is originally from Mass so the Orioles became my close second favorite team until I moved back north and went to Fenway for the first time. Then the O's became my distant second favorite team by the time I moved back to MD in 1982. By then, I spoke like "Pahk tha cah in the hahvad yahd" and all my fellow Pasadena rednecks called me Boston John... But as I stated in the past, I know what a "chickenecker" is :P ....

Before, fully logging in wasn't necessary and most people didn't so those posts were not "creditied" with a user name... Unless someone just started here in the last two months, their post numbers under their name are less than what the person has actually posted... Someone that shows 100 posts may have actually posted two or three times that but were not loggin in previously...

But it's good to hear from you. R Yu from Baltmore too, doon by the warter? }>

[Saltheart]

Common thing DPowell. I posted as unregistered so no post tally at all. Then I registered and had some but then when it was reset for me as an Administrator I got reset back to zero again! Don't worry , we know who Rockfish is!

[JohnR]

Sorry Saltheart. I didn't realize that it reset itself... It might happen again when I upgrade the board as there will be more group selection (not much now) because of better admin functions. Example, you could be a member of two differnt clubs where each has it's own private board and have access to both of those but if you were a member of one you could only access that one. This current iteration of the board does not allow me to drill down to that level. You (Saltheart), of course, would have full range ...

And Rockfish has ALWAYS been a blast...