locking ther river reports and status threads

[Will From Notts]

some good points made, it's just a case of be carefull what you say & don't give away any secrets.

[jerry]

by locking the threads all this gives is people who are friends the chance to be a bit more open about things, not that we should all do so, but if someone said where were you fishing? i dont mean name the peg but in giving a little clue to your friend about certain stretches means every tom dick and harry can see, when it comes to litter and poachers its obviously more dicks than tom or harry anyway. i know its not everyones cup of tea to disclose things but me personally i dont mind helping others out but i dont like helping out people who are just lurking and are after fish hunting, any way it was just an idea lol :-)
take care all
jerry

[Richard Parsons]

With regard to the Goyt, specifically, it's true that any press or forum coverage does have a short term effect on the number of anglers on the bank. I should point out though that, as I said, it's only short term in my opinion. These guys seem to be under the illusion that the barbel are easy, and soon become disabused of that notion after a couple of blanks....then, I assume, they go back to their commercials, etc.

[JayZS]

I think there is both a short term and a longer term effect. Short termers are mainly the idiots: most of whom catch nothing and do not return. I still hate having to pick up their mess after them, and would rather they not be attracted there at all. A plastic bag full of anglers' rubbish every time I have fished this year.
Longer term a number of anglers remain, some have been lucky and caught first time, others are more serious and determined, some are just local, easy for them to get down to the water. Some of them still are the litter louts, the fire starters, and the drinkers.
I certainly see far more anglers on the river now, than I did when I first started to fish it, just two years ago. Some of these have been attracted by the publicity. Others will be. I recently was unable to get on to any of my first 6 swim choices. Never happened before to me. Angling pressure on the river is rising rapidly.
To my mind any publicity for a small stream or lake has to be detrimental. I don't like to see it, but equally I grant that anyone should be allowed to report his fish captures if he so wishes. I hope he thinks through the possible consequences first though.

I agree with JayZS here, and also the comments from drynetter.

I like to read the river reports on various forums, especially when someone takes the time to actually write a decent report! However - I don't want to know which stretch or which swim ( or even which river! ) - just how the session went.

I like to see the fish other anglers have caught - catch pictures are great, but not when they blatently reveal a particular swim. It's not hard on any river to find a suitable non descript backdrop for a photo. I don't want to discourage anyone from posting catch reports and pictures but as JayZS said, consider the consequences - not just for you personally, but everyone else who enjoys the same fishing.

I remember a post last year on another forum - where the lad said he didn't want to name the stretch yet posted a catch picture with a very recognisable bridge in the background! Doh!

Himalayan Balsam makes the perfect backdrop to most catch shots as the bloody stuff is everywhere these days! Keep 'em guessing - but don't stop posting!!

[stekjz]

If you wanted to lock the reports then as I can remember this could be set up through the admin cp. You just change the forums that the guests can see. I would personally set up a new members group in the CP then automatically when say a new member posts say 10 times then they would then automatically change to the Member usergroup and be able to view the gallery. That way you can then get people active on the site who truelly want to know more info about the rivers and ban IP addresses in the CP for users who spam the site. I keep seeing around 15-20 guests showing up all the time so I know I would prefer to gain a few members and lose some guests to boost up site membership and activity

[admin]

there was an automated plugin that could do this in VB but the only way to do it is to charge but you'll always get them, just look at how many none posters are in BFW.

Just try not to name the pegs and if a member asks for detailed info in an opem forum PM them if you feel like helping

[stekjz]

just had a look how I did it, and I sorted it from USER TITLES which should be the one above PAID SUBSCRIPTIONS. I could PM you the link to the site I was setting up so you could check it out for yourself. When I tried to fish wednesday two anglers were telling me how they were just googling river reports to find where to fish and that I should of not posted mine if I wanted to fish certain places. Those comments put me in two minds as to wheather to report my catches straight away or wait a few weeks until I've fished the areas I've wanted

[admin]

I think we've all been guilty of using images from other anglers to ID pegs.

The problem we have is a local one as the site has a lot of local members that know the area.

If a member uploaded a photo from, lets say PM on the ribble we wouldn't have a clue let alone dive up there looking for peg on the photo.

The local river is seems to be fishing well for some but we know that you can except a run of 3 or more trips that can result in a blank is common.

Maybe for the moment we can remove images that clearly show the locations of pegs.

[Billyrivers]

If the river reports thread is locked then why not post your pics with your report and and delay putting them in the gallery for say 6 weeks or just PM to trusted friends
The lads that have had good sucess are going to ruin there own sport as Steve found out on his recent trip when he couldent get a decent peg in the area he has been fishing

Barrie