Should I split Bass Fishing Reports out into state sections?

[djkimmel]

I'm thinking about splitting Bass Fishing Reports into it's own section with separate boards for the various Midwest states and provinces to solve a number of minor issues.

One being that it will be easier maybe to find reports for the various states while making it easier for anglers to talk about fishing in the open states while Michigan and the few other not ready for the future yet states are closed.

I will probably have the original Bass Fishing Reports board stay for all the other locations in the future that are not separated out into their own boards and for archive.

What does everyone think?

[motocross269]

Sounds like a good idea to me.  They have been having some issues with posts on LSC.net and it may help to prevent any problems here.  I like their site, but there seems to be some over the top controversy there sometimes.
Lots of great fisherman there too, just a few bad apples.

[Cy]

I like the idea of separating reports by the great lakes states.  What about breaking Michigan down by region?  IE, West, East and Central or something like that.  It might be nice and the majority of us are located in MI.

Just a thought.

Cy

[Skulley]

I like the breakdown of Michigan into regions for the Bass Fishing Reports as well as having a separate report for states.  Even though some states are not Great Lake States, they should be included too.  We snowbirds do travel to the southern tier states in the winter to fish.  Maybe even include a section for saltwater in Florida or any other state that may have it.  I know what ever is decided will be good.

BD               

[bshaner]

I think it is an excellent idea. 

As far as species... well this is a Bass forum...  

That being said, we need something to 'legally' talk about in the off season!!    Throw up a multi species section!

Just dont stray too far from the core of this site.  For alot of us Bass talk is the main attraction.

B

[djkimmel]

There is the General Fishing section down bellooooww where you can talk about any kind of fishing here if you want to. I did ask Stoker to post his story about Coldwater because we are all ready and twitchy to get out, and his report contained both fishing success and bass information for the upcoming opener.

I will have an other fishing reports section noted down below in the general fishing section, but soon, there may be new places to talk about some of the other kinds of fishing on 'sister' sites for those who are interested in all kinds of fishing (well, not direct plans for saltwater - long boat ride from anywhere in the Great Lakes region, but it is fun to read about sometimes and could be posted under general)...

[djkimmel]

Thanks for the input fellow anglers. Expect some changes this weekend... including a new 'surprise' feature in the works for this season that I'm hoping will be interesting to many anglers...

[Duke]

I really didn't this was necessary until recently where there has been some "touchiness" about fishing reports and the fear that Indiana anglers are posting reports from Michigan Lakes. This will certainly clear that up.

However, I realize this is more work for you. 

[Langer]

I dont see the need for a bunch of different sections.

If you go fishing for Bass and want to post a report, then use the Bass Fishing Reports section that already exists, just cleary say which lake in which state you were fishing and there should be no confussion.

If you were targeting species other then Bass then use the General Fishing Topics section.

It seems much easier to only have to choose between two sections to post in Bass or Other, then to try and decide which species section to post it, ie, well I went pike fishing but i only caught one, instead i mostly caught gobies, hmm do I post that in the pike section or do I post that in the goby section.

Just my opinion.

[McCarter]

Wondering if Dan could add a template for posting fishing reports.

Like when you click on post or whatever, a template comes up and has fill in the blank questions to answer like lake:_________,  county or city:___________, date:___________, species:__________, water temp:________, wind:____________, weather conditions and temp:________________, lures used:______________, colors:_________________, depth:_____________, time of day:____________, etc......

I usually try to put as much info as possible in the reports i give, but sometimes i am a little pressed for time.  Just an idea.  I realize that things change throughout the day and patterns change, or you might switch lures, depths, colors, what have you.  But just a basic guideline would help people get more information out that they might otherwise forget to post.

McCarter himself

P.S.  some of us 'dont get out on erie too much' anglers could use a goby forum.  With the way those things are growing, we look for them if we cant find the smallies.  They put up quite a fight as they spiral out of control on the retrieve.

[Langer]

Wondering if Dan could add a template for posting fishing reports.

Like when you click on post or whatever, a template comes up and has fill in the blank questions to answer like lake:_________,  county or city:___________, date:___________, species:__________, water temp:________, wind:____________, weather conditions and temp:________________, lures used:______________, colors:_________________, depth:_____________, time of day:____________, etc......

I usually try to put as much info as possible in the reports i give, but sometimes i am a little pressed for time.  Just an idea.  I realize that things change throughout the day and patterns change, or you might switch lures, depths, colors, what have you.  But just a basic guideline would help people get more information out that they might otherwise forget to post.

McCarter himself

P.S.  some of us 'dont get out on erie too much' anglers could use a goby forum.  With the way those things are growing, we look for them if we cant find the smallies.  They put up quite a fight as they spiral out of control on the retrieve.

You left one important piece out! GPS Coordinates.

[DDBethke]

The template is a very good idea!

[Skulley]

All outstanding ideas!!!!!!!       

BD                     

[djkimmel]

The template idea is beyond my skill and time right now, but you gave someone else some ideas and he is thinking about them. I'll see what he comes up with.

I do not plan on having reports here separated by multiple species. Just Bass Fishing Reports broken out by a few states - it will make it easier in the future to find reports for the area you are looking for as it grows. This is for trips that were targeting bass. Doesn't matter if you caught other things too.

There will be an 'other' fishing reports section below if members of GreatLakesBass.com want to report on here about trips targeting other species. Many of us do fish sometimes for other species.

When I talked above about other species sites, I'm literally referring to new web sites that are in development for anglers who don't want to visit a 'bass' site but would visit a 'walleye' site. We do get different kinds of anglers here, but most here are people who consider themselves bass anglers - specialists, not generalists. Anyone can visit any site, but repeat visitors will normally be those who find a lot in common with the general theme. Most of us here spend most of our time bass fishing, just like there are a lot of anglers who spend most of their time walleye fishing, or musky fishing or salmon/trout fishing. Those other anglers aren't going to spend a lot of time on GreatLakesBass.com, but they might spend a lot of time on GreatLakesWalleye.com?

As far as where to post on GreatLakesBass.com, the key is the word 'targeting' - what were you targetting, not what did you necessarily catch. Of course, if you went fishing and just wanted to catch anything and you caught some bass and some other fish, I'm not going to mind if you report it under Bass Fishing Reports. We aren't that strict here.

As far as the closed season issue, we have to be aware of it and make an effort to be clear when posting about bass fishing that we were not doing it on closed waters. The multi-state boards will help that too. I do hear about it every time someone posts about catching bass during Michigan's closed season if it appears they may have been fishing on closed waters. We all have to remember this is a strong issue with many different and even opposing opinions. It is a simple decision to make to choose the side of the law when it comes to reporting about things on a public forum that can be read by pretty much anyone.

Do what you want in your own time, but please don't post about it on here if it isn't legal. We try to be loose around here about many things and not force everything to be exactly this way or that, but there are a few issues of importance such as posting about illegal acts that have to be visibly enforced.

[bshaner]

You heard it here first, folks... GreatLakesWalleye.com board!!!!   

Couldnt resist..   

B