In most cases, he/she probably isn't trying to be a wise-acre. It's more likely they, at some point, may have been burned by sharing too many details of a day on the water with a friend or two.
For example, a young fella's dad had taken him to an off-the-well-beaten-path fishing hole from the time he was a kid. This young fella, though, as he got older, made the mistake of telling a buddy about the place, and that buddy subsequently told a number of his friends. As a result, this young fella now finds 3 to 5 other people fishing the spot every time he goes there, whereas he seldom, if ever, saw anyone there when he was a kid. And, while he used to catch a number of bass every trip, he's now lucky if he gets one or two per trip.
Whatever the reason, fishermen, especially tournament fishermen, have become secretive and, oftentimes, less than truthful about the numbers and size of the fish they catch and/or how they catch them. They not only guard the spot where they caught their fish, but they also jealously guard the types of lures they used to catch 'em. Some anglers even put different lures on their rods before weighing in their fish to fool competitors.
It's even doubtful a tournament fisherman will tell a tournament director where he/she caught their fish, should the latter ask. Heard about a boater who was asked that question by a TD, and he intentionally lied. When the TD asked his draw partner the same question, he set the record straight.
There is ample proof that outdoor writers, to the disdain of tournament fishermen, often will reveal where the fish are biting. One tournament backseater I read about said he was chastised by more than one fellow fishermen for revealing their secret locations. The problem is that fishermen often forget that writers work for all the fishermen, not just two or three.
In reality, there are few secrets that last long when it comes to fishing multiple-day tournaments. On the first day, for example, some anglers will weigh bigger bags. On the next day, you can bet those anglers will find several other fishermen on the same patch of water.
It's equally hard to hide a secret lure very long, too. It's pretty much an accepted rule that someone fishing nearby eventually will see what lure you're using and spread the word.
Let's face it: The friendly, competitive nature of fishing makes every fisherman want to "one up" his buddies in the catching departments, so when a great fish-catching tactic is discovered, the angler naturally wants to keep it confidential.
Read about a fisherman whose uncle...also a fisherman...hung out at the local pool hall, where the men had a weekly pot for the biggest and most crappie. More times than not, this uncle won that money.
This nephew fished with his uncle many times on some lakes he loved and was surprised one morning when the uncle asked him to take an oath of secrecy.
"I'm going to show you how I catch all those big crappie," he said. "But you have to swear as long as I'm breathing you won't tell another soul."
The nephew swore, and as it turned out, the secret was a simple one, but its effectiveness was astounding. When the uncle caught the day's first crappie, he pulled out a dinner spoon and scaled the fish over a coffee can. He then added enough water to keep the scales moist. Every so often, he'd take a big pinch of scales and toss 'em near a bush or treetop. Then he'd drop his minnow-baited hook in the spot where he had pitched the scales.
Said the nephew, "I can't say for sure why it worked, but something about those sparkly scales fluttering through the water was irresistible to those crappie. They'd rush straight toward the cloud of scales and gobble up our minnows. True to my word, I never told a soul until after my uncle passed away."
Following is another bass-fishing secret the aforementioned uncle shared with his nephew.
Warm-weather night fishing often produces some nice bass. And, as the uncle pointed out, "Some of the best night-fishing lures are topwater crawlers like the Arbogast Jitterbug and Heddon Crazy Crawler, both of which have been around for decades.
"We all know you'll catch a lot of lunker bass by just casting and retrieving one of these baits, but you'll probably also miss a lot of fish that swirl at your lure but don't get hooked."
After swearing the nephew to secrecy, the uncle showed him a way to remedy that problem on a bassing-with-the-bats trip. The uncle would cast a big Jitterbug and start retrieving it. Then, on his signal, the nephew would cast his plug and start retrieving it back just behind the front runner. Every bass that swirled at the front lure and missed struck harder at the second lure and got hooked. Every so often, the two would rotate positions, so both could enjoy some of the action.
And finally, there's this secret the uncle shared with his nephew.
As the uncle explained, "Spiders make great fishing barometers. If you see spiders sitting close to the water on snags, cypress trees, and the like, there's no need to begin fishing there because the bass aren't biting.
"A spider tastes mighty good to a big bass," said the uncle. "And when Mr. Bass gets hungry, he makes them spiders get high and dry. You'll know it when the bass begin to strike, 'cause the spiders will run up the trees and stay there 'til it's all over. There ain't no use to fish when the spiders are low, so we don't start 'til they run up the trees."
In conclusion, I leave you with this suggestion from an avid trout fisherman, whose writings I came across in my research for this post:
"My secrets aren't your secrets. The places and dreams I find sacred and worthy of protection are likely much different than yours. Among good friends, though, the respect for another's treasure is given. It's hard to find a good fishing partner who yields to this tenet--to find a friend who will protect your secrets like his own--because secrets are a burden to carry, and most choose to shed that weight and give up a prize that isn't theirs (to give in the first place).
"So we have to accept that holding secrets is a lonely affair, and that's OK for introverts--of which many feel the majority of the fishermen's gene pool is comprised. It's the extroverts, though, that you have to be wary of... . As most of us quickly realize, good fishing friends are hard to come by," so we must choose carefully.
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