Spot Ethic question.

[1javelin]

Why do I always end up in the ethical arguments, because truth be told , loud and profane or quiet and discussed, it is still an argument.  I watch what other fisherman do all the time, and anyone that says differently is a liar.  You read about KVD's spinnerbait techniques and you go out and try them.  That my friend is stealing anothers idea.  But it's all fair.  Are you not going to throw a spinnerbait now because you are fishing against KVD?  Moot point there, right.
  What do you do when you are taking off and find yourself side by side with one of the better teams in your tournament?  It's totally coincidental, but it happens.  Then. the very next toournament, it happens again?  Now you get looks, but it was not as if you followed them around, you just found a spot, happened to be the same one they were on.  Happened to me last year, so I stayed far enough away to be considerate, fished an opposite side of the bank, and just happened to do better. 
$h!^ happens, and if you spend your whole day trying not to take people's spots, you will not catch many fish.  If you spend all day trying to fish people's spots, you will not catch any friends.  But if you spend all day trying to catch fish, you may get a mixture of both.  Be honest with yourself and others and I think you should be fine.

[Skip Johnson]

well said 1jav

[Revtro]

1Jav, I totally agree with you.  Even though this topic is kind of old, your comments are very refreshing.  Don't get me wrong, I love bass fishermen, but truth be told, we're a pretty paranoid bunch.  We're so worried about our spots.  I guess some of it is justified, after all we worked hard to develop our spots, but I'd be a complete hypocrite if I said "I saw the tournament leaders fishing a spot last week and cleaning up... and I'll never go there because it's their spot."  Cha - as if.  Of course I'll go fish there eventually.  In a tourney with them, I'd give them the spot out of courtesy, but you bet I'll fish it another day and try to figure out what they know about fishing location.  It's just part of the deal.  So I agree with you that we should just chill out a little about the whole thing.

Another thing that can't be helped is coincidentally fishing someone else's area.  There's a reason it's being fished by someone else... they looked at a map, did some reasoning, and figured that's where the fish should be.  I don't think it's unreasonable to think that others may come to the same conclusions and fish nearby.  But the other guy always seems to assume his spots are being stolen.  Again...kind of paranoid.  Sure, it does happen, but I don't think it happens as much as some guys think it does.  For example, in a Tuesday night NBAA on St. Clair last year my partner and I ran way to the St. Clair river and fished in the Fawn Island area.  We did this because we located fish in practice and from history we knew that time of year the fish should be there.  Guess what we found when we got there?  A half dozen other competitors all fishing the same area.  They knew the history too and made the same discoveries during practice.  We didn't get upset, that's just the way it goes.  In fact, we ended up just sharing the area and all did pretty well that night.  But I don't think anyone "stole my spots".  And I know I didn't steal theirs.  Although I can bet you some people think we did.

In a similar vein, I always tell my friends "don't show me a spot and then think you can forbid me to ever fish it".  I'd rather they never show me a spot at all then.  I can only imagine the entire lake being off limits to me eventually when friends show me areas, then act like I don't have the right to ever fish them.  Come on... get real.  It's open water and belongs to everyone, we can't stake a claim on a spot forever.  Maybe for a tournament we can expect others to be considerate, but I think it ends there. 

I really liked your last remark and I completely agree: "...if you spend your whole day trying not to take people's spots, you will not catch many fish.  If you spend all day trying to fish people's spots, you will not catch any friends.  But if you spend all day trying to catch fish, you may get a mixture of both." Very well said.  Sorry to get on a soapbox...I'll get off of it now.

[csfishslayer]

I agree well said. It should not matter what spot you fish If your good your goning to catch fish no matter what. If you know the fish your fishing your going to find the spots to fish them one way or another. Not saying spot Jacking is cool but when it's all said and done I guess I would have to say I tend to think im good enough to let you fish my spot beat me if you can. Im not going to cry over stuff I cant change just roll with the puches and move right along.No one really has there own spots on any lake we just think we do because just as soon as I find the gold mind so mite the guy up the block with all the new hi tech stuff out there it make that little hump or rock your fishing that much easier to find I could be trolling right along and see it on the graph and now it's my spot even if you have been fishing it forever But you would still say I stold it. So like I said no one really has there own spot we just think we do. For the record I would never run off at the mouth about a spot another angler showed me nor would I claim it as my spot but if you wanna blame spot jacking on one source then the graph is your own worst enemy. Just my thought

[Mojo]

Ya know - I'm a new fella non boater, but I  would apply some common sense. If I drew in front of the fella, AND he was the one who showed me that money winning spot, Id walk right to that fella make a mention if it was OK if I went to it.

He may have other plans and may get to it in the afternoon. Maybe he says he'd like to get there first but because I was courtious, he lets me join him at 100 yds. Maybe he tells me he's only going there for an hour and I can have it afterwards. You just dont know until your a gentleman. For these Michigan tournies, I'm banking on my straight forwardness, my courtious character and easy going nature be my calling card and MO.

I hope that years from now it all returns.

[Revtro]

Leave it to Mike (mojo) to bring a little common sense to the discussion.