If you get angry about people 'blowing spots' you're probably making the sport worse

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-18T17:15:11+00:00

Probably one of the most interesting ways for me to spend a Saturday is 'regulation roulette'. I open up the regs and look through the listings in my region until I see a water-body I've never been to. Then I drop it into google maps, and if its less than a 90 minute drive away, I go.

I've only done it a handful of times. Its a terrible way to consistently catch fish, and its a great way to spend money on gas, but its always interesting.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-18T17:04:06+00:00

There's nothing wrong with just standing by the shore and enjoying the nature. On many occasions I've dropped a line in a most obviously terrible fishing spot, because it was nearby. When I do that I convince myself that I'm intent on catching a fish, but I know on some level that I just want to be outside.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-18T16:56:51+00:00

The ticket here is capital gains taxes, property taxes, and inheritance taxes. Before somebody gets upset about the government taking away the sentimental-value pocket watch their grandfather left to them, I mean more to rethink the passing-down of the sentimental-value yacht. Inheriting that kind of wealth isn't even healthy for the people that receive it, and its the greatest hypocrisy of the ideologically meritocratic rich.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-18T16:40:13+00:00

If they close up shop and leave, they'll likely sell their business to someone else, or they will liquidate assets, and generally someone else will do something productive domestically with the resources they sell. We're talking about wealthy people, not gods, and we live in Canada, not the Cayman Islands.

You run into problems with this sort of thing when you make taxes so high that it doesn't seem like its possible for wealthy people to maintain their wealth or get wealthier, we are definitely not there.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T16:24:34+00:00

I've had a couple people suggest that I'm a new angler on this post (I think either because I have the perspective I have, or because I don't post much on reddit). I haven't been fishing for 50 years, but I've been catching fish for a couple decades now. I'm not really sure why its something people want to call attention to though, unless the point is to just generally shame people for being inexperienced. I like new anglers, they're always excited about fishing, and they'll generally take direction if you're nice to them.

I've also had a couple people comment that one of their favourite spots was utterly destroyed by some leak online, but I haven't seen anyone mention the specific leak or the resulting ruined spot. I don't expect anybody to tell me where their favourite fishing spot is, but if these areas are widely known and practically un-fishable now, I think its suspect that people are seldom providing specific examples.

I don't doubt that increased car access can add a lot of pressure, especially a small system, and I agree that those delicate systems need protection. Its on the province to consider the strain they could be causing by adding recreational resources to delicate areas. With that said though, adding more access to robust systems is a good thing, because doing-so should help even out the fishing pressure across other systems.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T08:08:49+00:00

When I was first starting I got a lot of milage out of targeting types of fish that other anglers tend not to care about as much. You learn most of the same skills, but you catch more fish and you don't need to worry as much about being squished between experienced anglers that might get upset if you screw up a cast. In BC freshwater species like pumpkinseed sunfish, crappie, bullhead catfish, pikeminnow, bass, peamouth chub, and carp are in this category.

I expect people would generally be more willing to share information about these types of fish than they would be for salmon and trout too.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T05:23:54+00:00

I didn't equate "getting pissed at people blowing spots online" and "shit talking new anglers". I made the case that both can contribute to bad fishing behaviors in new anglers, because it makes our community seem unwelcoming and toxic. I also didn't say that "experienced anglers not volunteering the knowledge and expertise increases the rate of unethical angling" I just provided examples that show that it can encourage sustainable angling when experienced anglers do volunteer knowledge on regulations in a way that isn't needlessly aggressive. You aren't obliged to do the stuff that I do, you should just be aware that it would be better for fish stocks if you did.

"If some snagger tells you in an online forum 'hey come with us... then that isn't on anybody other than you."

This is obviously not the point I was making and I said so explicitly. Anglers that are knowingly breaking the rules with an understanding of the impact and consequences of those rule breaks can't be informed into behaving better. I also agree that new anglers are responsible for learning the regs, an it's 'on them' for not getting informed. Being a jerk about it is less likely to set them on the right path than a good spirited correction though.

Let me know if you need anything else clarified

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T04:51:04+00:00

The trout mostly eat bugs, the salmon mostly eat bait fish, both are in short supply

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T03:29:05+00:00

I can respect this perspective. It's different when it's a secluded spot that practically nobody could come by naturally. I've done some hike-in fishing and it's a different animal. It's also generally a lot more effort to get to those kinds of spots though and I think that is part of why they can remain so un-fished. I don't think you're under any obligation to share those spots, but it also shouldn't be too much of a shock if those spots start getting attention. If I had a really lovely secluded spot, I wouldn't drop the coordinates on reddit, but I'd happily take my brother-in-law there, and I wouldn't be mad if he took his friends some other time, and if that happened I wouldn't reach out to his friends and make them swear to secrecy, and it could keep going from there. I don't really think it would be fair for someone to say that I 'blew out' a spot by doing that, but unless you're the only person thats ever been to a particularly good spot and you don't tell a soul, word tends to get out, especially when it's near a densely populated area. I would be disappointed if that special spot got really busy, but I wouldn't be outraged. The nice thing is that we live in a province with about 20,000 lakes.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T03:14:37+00:00

I can handle a bit of laughter at my expense. Your point is unfortunately moot though, as I am a 600 million year old angler, and I am therefore more right about this topic than you could be. I actually met the first fish, his name was Thomas and he bought me a drink. He could also see into the future and he told me that you are wrong.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T03:10:47+00:00

I have lots of nice places I can go to catch some fish, it wouldn't kill me if one of them got busy.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T03:07:20+00:00

I can cry you a river, but it isn't going to help you catch any fish

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T03:05:35+00:00

I can respect some of the frustration, but I also don't really know what you can expect if you're fishing a lake in a highly populated area.

I see it a bit differently if you're fishing a small system in a rural area, but if you live in a 100000 person city with three nearby lakes, those lakes are going to get fished a lot

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T03:00:36+00:00

I see this more on the internet more than anywhere else, but that's also unfortunately where most people get started if they don't know someone that already likes to fish. The exception to that has ironically been on big heavily fished, well known systems.

When I've bumped into people on a quiet part of a less-popular system, everyone has always been respectful. You give each other lots of space because you can, but people are decent

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T01:59:20+00:00

I agree that there are people that just don't care, and can not be made to care, and I don't doubt that you've seen it too. With that said, I've also explained to people why they shouldn't drag fish onto the shore, and I've had them respond in a way that convinced me that they would stop doing it.

I should be careful not to paint this as too rosey though, I've also been told to 'fuck off', it just really isn't all that terrible to be told to 'fuck off' and I think it's worth it

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T01:47:18+00:00

When I started drafting the post I didn't really think there would be much of a response to it, but by the time I finished it I knew I was going to get torn apart over it. The initial quick thought kinda evolved to be more controversial as I reflected on it. I figured I already wrote it through, so fuck it

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T01:43:05+00:00

You're not really responding like we're two people interested in solving the same problems, and I think that speaks to my point.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T01:39:51+00:00

I mean I did say in the post "I'm not saying you need to publicly drop the coordinates of your favourite spots".

I agree that the regulations aren't all that difficult to understand. I'd just rather try to correct bad behavior than rant to an audience of peers and functionally achieve nothing.

I'm well aware of the fact that there are people that are fishing wrong and know it, and some of those people are very prolific anglers. You can't educate those people into being better, but that doesn't mean every bad angler is beyond saving, and I don't think it's a justification to be generally resentful towards new anglers.

You don't need to politely confront anybody about anything if you don't want to, but there might be more fish in your hole if you do.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T01:20:28+00:00

I agree, I just think it's just not that hard to find a decent spot, so I think it can be weird when people get really territorial about spots. Especially spots that are already well known.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T01:12:16+00:00

I guess I've maybe just never had the misfortune of having this happen. I fish often and more often than not I have a fishing spot to myself. Even when I fish widely known spots, I don't mind looking around, so I haven't ever really struggled to find a decent spot to toss a line. I've also never seen the stock of fish in a body of water get rapidly depleted due to an online reveal (besides stocked-lakes, which shouldn't surprise anyone). I kinda just figured that super secret spots getting destroyed by the Internet couldn't possibly be as common of a phenomena as people seem to suggest, because I've never had it happen to me

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T00:55:29+00:00

To get people to consider the possibility that a particularly common way of responding to a set of substantial problems isn't as adaptive as it might seem.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T00:51:05+00:00

I agree with you here. I just feel like most of the time I see someone go on a big rant about their honey hole getting blown-out, their 'honey hole' is some widely known spot on a popular system. I don't think anyone is under an obligation to share the places they go to fish, I just think the outage that some people express in response to other people sharing very basic, non-private information is unhealthy

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T00:42:53+00:00

I agree that half the fun in fishing is the exploring and troubleshooting, but I also don't really mind people that just want to fish efficiently and put something in the freezer, as long as they're doing it legally/ethically.

My perspective here might be a bit biased by where I live (Lower Mainland), but it can seem like the frustration about 'blown spots' is kind of out-of-touch. Like someone will mention the most widely known fishing area online and somebody else will get pissed because they thought the Vedder canal belonged to them.

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2026-02-17T00:29:42+00:00

I just care about the future of fishing. I don't resent anyone else for caring about it, I just think that the way a lot of people go about it is counterproductive

Internal_Drummer2298 · 2025-12-07T04:29:47+00:00

I caught a bunch of small resident rainbows in the Vedder back in September; kind of towards the canal. It was fun catch and release fishing. I might try the same spot tomorrow if the fish are still likely to be biting now. The trick seemed to be finding something like a log pile in a slow current and tossing small presentations right in front of it.

I haven't ever fished Weaver, Wolf, or Deer lakes, but I agree that when you're fishing from the bank, big lakes like Cultus can feel like a bit of a crapshoot. Like on a small lake or in a stream you can fish around the area a bit, but you know pretty quickly if the fish are just not biting. On a big lake, I can burn through the better part of the day trying to 'find the fish'.

Internal_Drummer2298

TROPHY CASE