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Season Three begins with a round-table discussion about fishermen’s secrets and what happens when we give up the most sensitive of them — spot burning.
My full panel of fishing buddies is back for this third season: Austin Dando, Trevor Smith, Josh Darling, Bill Dell and now Matt Grobe. We kick off season three with one of the most contentious topics in fly fishing. Holding secrets is human nature. And some of us keep confidential our favorite flies, tactics and more. But when it comes to spots — locations and where we fish — discretion is a kindness that we lend to other anglers.
Secrets are part of the legacy of fishing. Exploring and locating places that are special to each of us is part of what keeps us coming back. We like to think that we’ve discovered something that is uncommon or unknown. And we learn that sharing information with the wrong people or in the wrong way can easily destroy a secret by making the uncommon, common.
As for spot burning, it’s bad because of what it does to other anglers.. Every piece of water is someone else’s sweetheart spot. So we refrain from naming names and locations out of respect for everyone else. And if you hear yourself saying, “It’s okay because everybody knows about that spot,” think again.
That’s our take on it.
We Cover the Following
- Question from a listener regarding knot tying tips
- Question from a listener regarding the toughest skill in fly tying
- Types of secrets
- Secret flies
- Secret tactics
- What is spot burning
- The negative impact of spot burning
- Nuances of spot burning
- Sharing without sharing too much
- The hypocrisy of secrets
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Resources
READ: Troutbitten | The Secret
READ: Troutbitten | Respect the Spots! A Fisherman’s Thoughts on Secrets and Spot Burning
READ: Troutbitten | Coffee and Secrets
READ: Troutbitten | Super Fly — The Story of a Squirmie Wormie
You can find the dedicated Troutbitten Podcast page at . . .
Season Three of the Troutbitten podcast continues with Episode 2 — Inefficiencies That Waste Your Fishing Time.
So look for that one in your Troutbitten podcast feed.
Fish hard, friends.
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
Two tips that are rarely shown on YouTube knot tying tutorials:
Tying Tip: After slowly cinching any knot maintain steady near max tension for about 10 to 15 seconds. This allows for the knot to fully seat, minimizing the chances for micro-slippage which is the most common cause of knot failure. Lubrication (saliva) also helps to fully seat a knot as well. Heat generated due to friction is minimal and inconsequential.
Testing Tip: Always test a knot (and the tippet material too) immediately after tying or
after landing a fish by firmly grasping the fly and giving the tippet a few very sharps tugs. A poorly tied knot or damaged tippet material will always fail this test; better to break in your hands than in the fish’s jaw. This tip is especially important in lighter tippet sizes.
And never forget, the Fish Gods love to punish the lazy (or tired).
I love your last sentence there, Rick.
I’m with you on the need for knot testing, for sure.
But I see no need to hold the knot for 15 seconds to cinch it down. My knots rarely fail, and I probably hold it for about a second after it’s seated. I like the point though. After making the turns and pulling tight, then giving the knot just a bit more time to settle, under strong tension, is a great practice. For me, a single second should do it.
Cheers.
Dom
Is it spot burning when you are mentoring a new fly fisher and you show a honey hole and how to fish it?
On a second issue, if you hire a guide and they show you spots, is it wrong to go back to those spots and explore from there?
“Is it spot burning when you are mentoring a new fly fisher and you show a honey hole and how to fish it?”
If it’s someone you trust, then I suppose it is not. Again, the real bad spot burning happens in public.
“On a second issue, if you hire a guide and they show you spots, is it wrong to go back to those spots and explore from there?”
That’s very situational, too. If the guide makes it clear to you that this is a special spot and please don’t share it around, then yes. that’s just unethical.
Dom
I disagree with the sharp tug test for testing knots. Why? No fish pulls like that but yes a human does. If anything, one should be pulling with slow/extending pulls instead of quick sharp ones.
I feel the same.
There are a few, not uncommon instances, when impact forces are exerted on a fly rig. You must be underestimating the ability of a large, well-conditioned trout to accelerate and/or change direction – or forgetting about the sharp tugs of a fish wrapped around weeds or a log. And let’s not forget the over-enthusiastic hook set. All of these examples produce just the type of forces simulated in this test. Break offs rarely occur during slow steady pulls unless there is undetected damage to your leader or tippet which this test will also expose before it’s too late. I did not dream this up, instead it was sage advice from one of the foremost experts on fly fishing for large trout. But hey, whatever works for you. Cheers Tom.
I tend to believe that a steady, firm pull seats and strengthens the knot, while sharp, hard tugs tend to weaken it, even if it doesn’t break. That’s been my experience.
. . . It’s something else to consider.
Steady, firm pull to seat it; a few sharp tugs to test it.
I do it all the time and I’m convinced that the yank test has save me far more fish than it cost me. Don’t forget the benefit in preempting break offs due to tippet (or leader) abrasions.
Regarding spot burning: an old proverb states that when you keep a secret, you are its master. The minute you tell someone else, it becomes YOUR master.
Nice
in the discussion about spot burning, the comment about every river or creek being special to someone really hit the mark. Being an avid reader of John Geirach, it reminded me of his love for the St. Vrain and his story “ I’d fish anybody’s Saint Vrain”. I now understand even more why it is so important after fishing somebody’s Saint Vrain ( or Laurel Creek) to keep the experience as simply a memory for myself.
Love all of the podcasts – keep up the awesome work!
Right on. I almost brought up Gierach in that podcast. “I’d fish anyone’s Saint Vrain”
Nobody beats Gierach.
Secrets discussed here include flies, tactics, and spots. And as Dom stated at the end, these are really just flies, tactics, or spots that others have not discovered.
Recently I have tried to focus on undiscovered (secret?) trout behaviors.
Just don’t ask. Ha!
I like that, Rick.
Always interesting to hear peoples takes on “spot burning”. Between the PA fish commission resources and readily available books it’s not difficult to locate or identify a stream. But as soon as a YouTuber or facebooker posts about it, it’s spot burning. It’s a toss up for me, I can understand the argument on either side, it’s not cut and dry.
Hi Trevor,
Well, we think it actually IS pretty cut and dry. There are some nuances, as we addressed. But your comparison with the fish commission listing streams vs a youtuber naming stream names is apples to oranges. The commission lists hundreds upon hundreds of rivers as, let’s say, Class A Wild Trout. The youtuber list one stream, shows you where he parked, what bridge he fished under and more. Then he puts “BIGGETS TROUT EVER” in the title too? That’s spot burning, bud. And you don’t need it in quotes. It’s spot burning.
That’s our take.
Dom
Thanks for the good show on Spot Burning. I call it Hot Spotting. Hope I’m using the right term. I live in the SF Bay Area. The show makes me think of a guide that literally posts 4 IG grab-n-grins per week. All from the same river. The fishable section is only about 3 miles long and is an hours drive from the Bay Area. All in the name of making a buck. The rub is that this guy rails on other people that don’t know what they are doing. I finally made a comment on one of his posts…he blocked me. Search youtube for Hot Spotting or Spot Burning Putah Creek for a screenshot of the March posts.