Report Rating System

[Dave]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for providing us with this great site. I appreciate all you do for the members. I am guessing this has been brought up, and maybe it will be coming with the new site upgrades but I thought I would mention the fishing report rating system.

I am hoping the rating system can be changed to reflect the fishing, specifically the bite, not the overall trip experience. Maybe some clear instructions on the actual report page, describing how the rating system should be utilized and what it represents. When I read a report I am hoping to note important information that will help me decide to take a trip to that body of water. Often a report is rated a 3 or 4 but fishing wasn't great.

Example:

1 = Poor Fishing - no bites
2 = Fair Fishing - a few bites but fishing was slow
3 = Good Fishing - Active bite, caught several fish
4 = Outstanding Fishing - Very active bite, everyone limited

The rating system: The report rating system is utilized to rate the actual fishing and bite, not the trip as a whole. You may include how the trip was as a whole in the body of your report.

Anyway, just a suggestion. Thanks Mike and Aaron. Happy Holidays.

[Mike Carey]

The way we have it set up isn't much different from your guidelines. We could add the instruction piece I suppose. To be honest, I think there will always be guys that post their rating as an experiece rather than actual angling success. Aaron is burning the midnight oil as we speak gtting the new site ready. Let's see what that looks liek and we can tweek this as needed. Thanks

[Lotech Joe]

I'm probably one of the guilty ones here. I'm not a limit fisherman, mostly catch and release. But if I'm blown away by the experience I may have a tendency to rate higher than someone else. Dave, you have a valid point and in the future I'll try to put my aesthetic comments in the body of the report. Quite frankly, it never occurred to me that some of us good folks may use the rating system as a destination qualifier. My bad!#-o

[Dave]

I decided to ask about this after I submitted a river report yesterday. I now realize the rating system is different in the river report section than it is in the fresh water section. That’s what threw me. I assumed the rating system was the same for all report sections. My Bad!

You are right Mike, I do like the rating system that is in place in the fresh water section. I had not written a fresh water report in about a month or so and I remember it as being different, more like what is in the river report section and written below. I was referring to the rating system I had just used in the river report section that has points with wording I thought influenced the writer to rate the entire trip vs the fishing and bite.

These were the ones I was referring to: They refer to the “experience” and the first two are followed by a statement that for me personally, I can't see myself making. I can’t remember the last time I had a Horrible or bad fishing experience. I also can’t see myself saying I would never fish a location again. This is what compelled me to post this piece on the rating system. In looking at the fresh water report section, I see the rating system is different than below, and I like it.

1 – Horrible fishing experience. You’ll never fish there again.

2 – Bad fishing experience. Has a bad time. You might fish there again.

3 – Great day on the water. You had an enjoyable time. You’ll be back. (To me this one invites the writer to rate his or her time on the water as opposed to the bite.)

Please know my intention here was definitely not to offend anyone. I just posted my river report yesterday and I felt the rating system might be a candidate for improvement. I love this site, spend a boatload of time on it, and think it's great.

Thanks Mike.

Dave

[Lotech Joe]

Dave,
I hope you don't think I was offended. I wasn't at all. Your post actually made me consider something I hadn't thought of before. You say "My Bad" and I say "My Bad." Maybe we should have a "We Bad" fishing rendezvous. I think I just reminded myself of a Gene Wilder & Richard Pryor movie.

[Mike Carey]

Dave - no offense - congrats on finding a "Bug". They should be the same for all the report forms. I've alerted Aaron and hopefully he can correct this soon. Those river report comments were from the old system which we (almost) got rid of.

[Dave]

Thanks Mike & Joe. I hope you are both having a nice holiday weekend. Sometimes you never know how a typed message will be received, especially one that can be construed as constructive criticism. I just wanted to make sure the readers would know my intentions were all good and not meant to offend. Thanks again guys,

Dave