Are these forums hurting the fishery?

[Squidnation]

I will say first that I am stealing this idea from another board. But I found it interesting enough to bring over here and listen to what you guys have to say.

The argument is that message boards are hurting the fishery because of the real time or near real time reporting of the hot bite. Does this hold any water with you guys and how much do you or don't you divulge?

[mover II]

My feeling is that although "real time" reports do help, it still boils down to being proficient enough to use the information to land a fish. I dont think that these boards give out anymore information then you would get by walking down the dock. And in most case's you would more then likely get more information by walking down the dock.

[Deep C]

Every time new techniques are brought and taught I think it increases the pressure on fish... Hurting though? I can't really say. In the old days we shared info on the dock and on the radio on sneaky channels... Fleets sprang up quick on hot bites and fish got hammered. We run to birds tipping us off, we run to temp breaks from sattellite, we eyeball which direction the boats that scored came from... I don't think forum chatter really has much impact...
I think if anything its helping the stocks to some degree. With fuel so high, people are less likely to go poking around and steadily picking away at stocks... They reserve their assaults for when the bite is on.
I do however see that certain unsought species are suddenly becomming more popular and in turn getting hammered. I for example dont recall Tog smackdowns in January as a kid. Back then we put the boats away in hunting season and they didn't come back out until macks arrived. The party boats in the winter that did stay in the water just picked at the then plentiful ling and whiting stocks.

[sportfishingusa]

i think that is completely absurd.

real time reports are really not available on the internet..

even if you look at treys report over the bluefin on the over under at the knuckle.. if you run right there right now chances are you might or might not hook up..

if i tell someone i caught good last night on the 100line of the norfolk, chances are no one is going to be there for the hot bite i hate the night before.

to me i truly believe that internet reporting is second hand. i would never live or die by it at all. i like the old sat phone and ssb. it is all about networking and i think there is a lot more networking going on lately which i truly believe is a good thing.

inshore no one even uses vhf's to talk anymore because to many people follow the leader. inshore has turned me completely to cell phone calls and offshore has turned me over to ssb and also to sat phones.. i called people and network compared to using the vhf..

like i said bill, i just do not think that there is a true real time report available other than canyon runners!

[Big Jay]

My feeling is that although "real time" reports do help, it still boils down to being proficient enough to use the information to land a fish. I dont think that these boards give out anymore information then you would get by walking down the dock. And in most case's you would more then likely get more information by walking down the dock.

Exactly.

Few factors:

1) Like was said, not everyone has the knowledge and know-how to apply the techniques.

2) It still is A LOT of luck. It takes time to get out there and if they don't want to bite, they aren't going to.

3) Not everyone discloses all information about what they caught/where they caught.

Either way there are SOOOOO many factors even given the knowledge as to whether or not the receiver of the info would put them in the boat.

I believe as keepers of this sport, we have a moral obligation to NOT disclose information on certain fisheries. Bluefin being one of them.

[GALAZIO]

If that was the case, then PV Mexico would be over-run by drinking, fishing pirates looking for a "Tuna" to tie into...

and then maybe go fishing.

[Gettinwet]

i can say i don't think it really helps either....for example..this past season...you hear a few guys catching at the lobster claw and then next day there are 150-200 boats out there..i know that no matter what word travels but i doooo think that with the hepl of the internet it does spread MUCH faster....i have been guilty of this as well. but to say that it dosent effect it all is wrong....tell when back in the day before internet reports that you would see nearly asd many boats out tog fishing this time of the year...iu bet the amount is over half were out of the water and winterized....but now with the reading about all these guiys going out and loading up more guys do it..along with the offshore seabass...that has gotten really popular in the last few seasons and a large part is due to posting positive reports....it is what it is....

[tuna whacker]

The fish are fine. Anyone who is going to listen to people Deep C, Sportfishing USA or Big Jay deserve what they don't catch.

[Squidnation]

Consider the Tilefish. This fishery was comprised of a secret cult like society of fishermen. But now every person that can't catch a tuna in the first hour of trolling resorts to tilefishing to "get some meat" Why was this society so successful in keeping there secrets prior to the message board craze?

[Gringo]

I would think that for you guys up north, a good radar would give you more real-time fishing info than reading something on the internet that was posted later that night when people got home.