I have only been in the club a short time and I have had so much fun. My thumbs stay scuffed up and I always have plenty of stories to tell.

I always post after each trip hoping that I can help the next guy out by sharing what worked for me and what did not. Who knows, it might not be the same pattern the next day but then again it might be. If I have information that might help the next guy I feel almost obligated to share it. Which is odd in a way because it was never like that outside the club- even the exact opposite really. 

With that, it's a little disappointing when I go to schedule a reservation and see that no posts have been put up for weeks but reservations have been full. Maybe I am missing something because I am new to the club and that's just the way it is. 

When I think about being in a club I think about every member of that club as trying to achieve the same goal- moving in the same direction. I would think posting reports helps a fisherman learn lakes, techniques and have a more productive day with friends and family which may lead to members sticking around or having others join which makes the club more successful. It's just a small thing, and maybe it's only me, but I will always post- good, bad or ugly. 

Tight Lines!

I agree 100% with you. I make a report after each trip to share the info. If I can help to make everyone successful then this is good for all of us.  We have something special here.  I guess what I call the Fork mentality resides in some fishermen.  They won't even tell their wife what they were using and where they caught them.  I don't see a Lake Fork situation here, plenty of fish for everyone to enjoy.  If club members get discouraged and quits it puts pressure on private waters to solicit new members.  I would rather see the time spent finding  new ranches or improving the one we already have.

Chris. Welcome to the club. I also agree with you and Robert. This is not a competitive club just individuals who enjoy the outdoors and fishing. I report all my trips, even when I do not do well. In September I fished San Saba and did not see any recent reports. 

Bill Fetech

I am new to the club as well and would love to see near 100% reporting.  I really don't think that there would be any negatives to doing that.  It can only help others and I don't see how it could negatively impact one's own success.  Plus, being "new" to the game, or at least coming back to bass fishing after pretty much a 30+ year hiatus, I appreciate all the insight I can get.  So, with that said, I'll go fill out a report on how miserable I did at Cleburne Six O.  Ha.  Had a great time with my son though and enjoyed the beautiful property.

I agree with all four of you. I don't know why some of our members refuse to submit trip reports. It could be for a lot of different reasons. For some, it might be because they don't want the rest of us to catch the bass that they figured out how to catch (or not catch). You know - the old feeling that "I spent a lot of money, and worked hard, to figure out how to catch these fish. Why should I make it easier on the others?" It's not a rare attitude. Maybe they're just "private people" by nature. Maybe they don't want others to know that they're NOT catching fish....or maybe it's that they are ashamed of the way they write. Who knows, really?

My entire adult life, I've written "how to" articles in various bass fishing publications, and it's never bothered me when my readers caught what some might consider to be "my" bass. Who cares? "My" bass? How ridiculous! The bass are there for all of us. I'm happy when I can help someone catch more or bigger fish. In this club, there are enough bass for all of us. Of course there's the old feeling that "All fishermen are liars, and I'm a fisherman, so I might just as well tell the truth about my catches, where I caught them, and what I caught them on, for no one is going to believe me anyway.  I usually report - accurately - what, when, how, etc. I don't always report everything, especially on forums like the Texas Fishing Forum. There, I'll give more information in a PM than I will post out there for everyone to see. Within our club, though, I almost always tell it straight and accurately. I do admit guilt in not always telling ALL of the information about what has worked for me. For example, I might report something like "The better fish all hit on the outer bend of creek channels near flooded trees," but not explain that I had to bounce my worm off of the shady side of the biggest tree on that creek channel bend to get bit. I might honestly say that I caught my bass on a black, blue fleck, 5" Senko, rigged weightless and wacky-rigged, but not mention that all of the fish that hit that Senko were on follow-up casts after I had just missed a strike on a hollow-body frog. I don't always tell everything....but I do report, and I do report factually. If a member asks me a specific question, I'll almost always answer it as accurately as I can.

I wish everybody would do that. I doubt that we'll ever find out exactly why some others don't share what they know, for there are probably a lot of different reasons. Heck - some members won't share information even when asked a direct question. But then there are people like Jackson Bean. Not only has he publicly shared contour maps of some of the club lakes, but a couple of the 8-pounders I caught last month I must attribute to him, because I was taking advantage of what he had told and shown me on a previous trip (Thanks, Jackson). We need more members like him.

For the four who posted above me on this thread, keep up the good reports. For those out there who don't care to share, I guess that's OK, too. I'll continue to submit trip reports.

I'd also like to read opinions on this subject from more of our members.....

Chris,

Great question! The reason we hear most often is that they don't have the time or they are afraid to post a good report because the lake will get hammered. The reality is that we limit the amount of trips to ALL lakes. We simply won't let the lake get "hammered". We have a long term perspective on fishing pressure and turn down 10's of thousands of dollars a year in fishing reservations to reduce pressure. Of course there are those who blame all slow days on fishing pressure. This is simply not the case. Barometric pressure, cold fronts, water temps, water quality events, time of year etc, all play vital roles.

Our goal is and continues to be, to create a club atmosphere where we share information for the good of the club. As a general rule about 10% to 15% of our members post reports. it tends to be the same 50 to 100 members.  We are grateful for those who do.  You are the eyes and ears to the office staff and to our landowners. Please don't let those who don't post discourage you, but continue to post! I would love to thank those by name who post all the time, but afraid I would leave some regular posters out. You know who you are and we are very grateful.

Great discussion guys and three things come to mind for me.......

#1)  PWF has RUINED ME!  I used to get so excited on a three pounder because they were a rarity for me on the public lakes I was used to fishing, much less catching multiples in one trip.  I would come home and share the trip details with all of you so that hopefully you could go experience the same.  But after another year or so it became a four pounder, then a four and a half, then a five.  The fishing on our lakes is so superior to public lakes that it accelerated my fishing experience and spoiled me.  Now it has become much harder for me to have one of those trips that's so good I can't quit talking about it and not because the fishing is any worse but just because of the changes within me.

#2)  I'm lazy!

#3)  Exactly what Steve and Tom said.  There was a lake that a few years ago that every trip was fantastic.  You could catch one five pounder, multiple four pounders and enough three pounders to make your hands hurt.  I fished the lake hard, and often, and told everyone how great it was.  After a couple of years the fishing began to decline and it forced me to think about why.  Was it due to cumulative pressure on those fish?  Did something happen to the fish like cormorants or a water quality event that caused a fish kill?  Are those fish finally growing older and wiser and just not going to fall for the same baits like they did when they were younger?  No idea but it begs the question.....  Did I "hurt" my future fishing experience with all of the continuous reporting or not holding back a bait or technique or two as Tom suggested?  Not sure.  To be a valid analysis it really needs to be done on more lakes with more factors being controlled but I don't have that currently.  All I have are these great memories of the lake of me and some friends having a ball and my last few trips out there the fishing has been tough.  Even with the controlled fishing pressure that Steve provides, I know I had to sore lip hundreds of fish out there on more than one occasion.  The truth of the matter is that isn't what keeps me from going like I used to.....  It's #1 above.  ;)

 Now I post a report if I stumble across something new to share with you guys.  I fished Broseco three days last month and something close to that the month before.  I caught my new PB for that lake on the last trip and almost posted it but it would really just be bragging.  It was an 8.3 that was an absolute beauty of a fish.  I've been catching the fish out there on the same things I caught them on when I first posted about that place.  That 7" green pumpkin Senko still seems to be the cats meow but a spinner bait and top water frog will catch a few.

I think posting about the lakes is a great thing and we need to continue to do it.  Knowing what color to take to a lake of what bait can sure be the difference in a good trip and a great trip.  Like Tom said, when someone reaches out to me personally I sure seem to try to remember every detail for them better than I do at the time of writing the report.  I'm not the worlds best typist which has a lot to do with that.  You guys help me just as much as I'm able to help you so let's keep paying it forward to ensure one another has a great day of fishing.

Tight lines,

Jackson