No, It's Not the Internet

[Ken G]

After 11 years of leaving detailed posts on a few different websites and guiding and fishing classes and seminars, all on and about the Fox River . . . I still go to my spots and see no one there.

There's just not too many people bothering to read this stuff. I've noticed over the last few years that the numbers have dropped considerably. I've also noticed that people out fishing the Fox have dropped considerably, at least those wading it. I drive around it everyday. There's no one out there.

The shore fishermen don't even count. Whatever they're catching, if much of anything, is a tiny percentage of what's in the river. My daughter and I sat at North Aurora early in 2007, when the water was a little high, and watched a guy sitting in his lawn chair cast into a pool of water 5 feet below him. Bobber, big chunk of lead, gob of worms on a good sized hook. He'd let it sit a minute then reel it in and do it again. About the third cast I said to my daughter "you think I should tell him he's fishing in about 8 inches of water?" She laughed and offered to go walk through it to show him how shallow it was.

We decided not to bother.

This whole thing about hordes of people reading the internet and going and destroying "secret" fishing spots is nothing more than still another urban myth.

It's just not happening.

I can go to about a dozen local fishing forums and leave a post on each one. The next day I can go check on how many views each post got and I would be surprised if it added up to 500 views. Not 500 views for each fishing forum, but 500 views COMBINED across all the sites. Since many of you visit most of these sites, there is probably some cross over views, so the actual total is more than likely lower. Of the 500 that view the posts, I'll bet good money that only 3 or 4 will bother trying any of the spots mentioned. These types of numbers are true of virtually every fishing website. Not just here in the Chicago area, but across the nation. I've checked quite a few of them.

I believe just the opposite of what many others believe. Internet fishing forums are one of the few places where you can actually post location details. The assumption is that 90 percent of those reading these details are like minded outdoorsmen. I could be wrong, but after 11 years of posting, I doubt it. Also, after guiding, fishing classes, seminars and talks to fishing clubs, all on and about the Fox River, I know I'm right. That's well over 500 people right there that I have gladly given my spots to. Then there's my detailed posts.

In 2007 I got out once a week on a Sunday morning for 3 to 4 hours. Now and then on a Saturday. Just about 25 times for the year. I only fished the Fox or one of the tributaries I've talked about for years. Keep in mind what I just said in the previous paragraph.

Except for my misguided attempt at fishing in North Aurora, I did not run into a single other angler on any of my trips until I was getting off the water on what I knew was my last fishing trip of the year. So after fishing almost 10 miles of river and creeks I ran into a total of ONE other angler. There are plenty of guys reading this that have run into me on the water and can attest to how helpful I can be. Even as I was leaving the river for the last time, I couldn't help but tell him where else to go down stream.

And how much detail did I give away this and all the other years?

You'll notice I don't fish or talk about ponds. I don't care what size they are, it's like fishing in a barrel. They can be wiped out. In rivers, fish move and I move with them.

I traded email with Dale Bowman about this subject. In his Wednesday fishing reports every now and then he'll mention my name in the report for the Fox River. Dale says that between 100,000 and 150,000 read his column and reports on that day. On the day where the walleye in Lake Michigan was on the front page in 2007, he thinks that between 250,000 and 500,000 read his column that day.

Bob Maciulis of Outdoor Notebook used to print my stories. ODN, from what I remember, has a distribution of 50,000 a month.

How about all the other outdoors writers on a weekly or monthly basis. How many read Sarley, Norris, Jackson, Dzdziena and the long list of others that are out there. I'll bet more than 500. When you start to add it all up from all sources, in one week, between 150,000 to 250,000 people get their fishing and hunting information from places other than the internet.

I think getting people out enjoying our natural resources is critical. But if you are going to lay blame on what is ruining our natural resources, considering the readership, it ain't the internet.

I think we need to let this urban myth just die already.

[Adam C]

This has been a great read and I could not agree more. The amount of information that's out there and available to you anytime you want it is astonishing. Even something as simple as Google Maps can pretty much tell you everything you need to know about where a good fishing spot might be, how to get there, where to park, is there a trail, etc, etc. I also rarely come across other people while fishing. The majority of the people I do encounter (not to sound like an asshole) really pose no threat to "ruining" a spot given the tackle and techniques they're choosing/not choosing to use.

Truth is...there's a very small amount of people out there that will take every opportunity to learn something new, then apply that information to their fishing, will bushwhack through a mile of heavy brush just to look at a spot that might not even be any good, then be completely content with their "wasted" time and get back in the car, drive a few minutes down the road and do it all over again.

Call us the 1%'ers or whatever clever name you wanna come up with.

The other 99% want a nearby parking spot, a well groomed trail down to the water, sunny and 70 with a nice flat and dry piece of land to plop their lawn chairs.

I'm totally fine with this ratio.

[Ken G]

Don't worry Adam, my other nick name is the fishing asshole. So I have that pretty well locked up.

Bob Long once mentioned that 90 percent of the fish are caught by 10 percent of the fishermen. I think he was being overly generous.

I like that 1% ers and I completely agree.
I don't know how many times I've hiked for what seems like forever only to be sure I wasted my time.
But how you really going to know till you go do it.
What if you were right in your determination to get to a spot and it was the best thing ever.

Next year I have a few new to me stretches of creeks to go explore. I've done all the exploring I could do via maps and think I've got it all figured out. I expect them to be an absolute bitch to access and don't have a clue what to expect when I get there, but I gotta go do it.