"Public"/"Private" fishing report option?

[Gringo Pescador]

I know as a premium member you can set your blog posts as "Public" or "Private" and even later on switch a post from one to the other ("Public" to "Private" & Vice/Versa).

I would like to be able to do this with fishing reports. I like being able to use my reports as a fishing log to see what I was doing last year, year before, etc. But I also don't post many reports because I would rather not post to the world that a place is hot or not... until it becomes common knowledge
What I would like to see is the option to post reports as "Private" or "Public" - the private ones only showing up on my report listing and not out for public view. Then be able to switch them to "Public" later on when the word is already out.

I know, I could do this with my blogs, but the sorting of the reports would be much easier to review later on.

What say you?

[Gringo Pescador]

Anybody? Anybody?

[G-Man]

I'm torn on this one. I like the idea but I do believe that the biggest draw of people to this site is the reports section. If people have the option to post private reports, it may effect the site's traffic in a negative way. If it is limited to being an option for premium members only, it may help boost the numbers of paying members.

[returnofthefish]

I can see where your coming from Gringo. You work hard to find a spot that produces fish and when you post a report, theres five guys in your spot that was never there before. You can always report in the secret lake section and set a bookmark in your browser. Members shouldnt be inclined to ask the spot at all.

I also agree with G-man. One of the reasons I joined this site was the vast resources of reports that other members left. Ive made a couple hundred fishing trip since I joined, and I have only posted over one hundred reports. Some of those trips were not worth reporting and some I wanted to keep a secret. Its really up to you if you want to post a report.

[Gringo Pescador]

Oh by all means it would be a premium member perk and I agree, it was the info that drew me to this site originally.
What if "private" reports automatically went "public" in like 30 days?

The idea of using the secret lakes is a good one, except I am thinking rivers more than lakes.
Hmm - maybe just a "NoTellum" river report in the river section... I would be happy with that...

No need for a bookmark - as it is today you can bring up only your reports and sort em however you like - for instance I can go and easily pull up all of my "coho" reports I have submitted. The idea is if I reported EVERY outing, I could pull em all up - look at a year and pretty quickly tell by the report ratings when things heated up where. Right now I can only look at say - ok it was sometime before that because I didn't start reporting until after the masses figured it out...

[returnofthefish]

The idea of using the secret lakes is a good one, except I am thinking rivers more than lakes.
Hmm - maybe just a "NoTellum" river report in the river section... I would be happy with that...

Maybe there needs to be a secret river reports section created. I kind of figured that it would be for rivers. I think other members have posted secret river reports in the secret lakes section in the past.

[Mike Carey]

It's an interesting option. It does have a variety of ramifications. Aaron and I will have to discuss it.

[kzoo]

I think it's a great idea. At least one that would post a blog or a secret area just to you and your friends. I recommend not to post the blog on the forums, maybe through the angler profile or something.

[Why2Fish]

Just a thought. If too many posts become "private", folks will soon look elsewhere for current fishing info. Just a thought.

[bestee1]

the only reason I became a member of this site was because of the fishing reports. Right now I do not feel like enough members are posting their fishing reports as it is. I mean why cant you just at least say the river you fish you do not have to give an exact location.

[rockjiggr]

I know what you mean about using the reports as a personal fishing log. I do that on Facebook and it drives my fishing friends crazy: "Why are you telling everyone where to fish and what to use?" I know that not that many people I am friends with on Facebook actually fish and even less of those friends get to fish the same waters that I do so I feel that the information is pretty safe.

I agree too that a major reason that this site is such a good one is the public reports. I want to see more reports, not less, but I don't want to see anyone's 'honey hole' getting fished out either. Can you imagine if someone were to catch a state record bass in a small lake in King County and post a photo and report describing the lake, the location, and the bait used? That small lake would likely get destroyed in a matter of weeks. No sensible fisherman would do that and most won't give enough information in their reports to really give away the secrets.

I say, keep it public but post the really good stuff in the forums not on the fishing reports section.

[Mike Carey]

I think the best cure for concerns of over-fishing a body of water is lot's of fishing reports. We're averging around 5,000 a year now. It would be great to see 10,000.

Reports go in cycles I've noticed. Several years back lake Joy got several hot bass reports and there was great anxiety that the lake would get cleaned out. After that slew of reports it died down and people moved on to other places. Why? Because the lake itself is a nice local spot, but really, there are so many other options closer to people's homes. I think (speculating) anglers may have went out to Joy and checked it out, and determined it was a nice place to visit once but not really go back to. I "think" that is really the nature of reports. They stir people's interest and may temporarily increase traffic, but it tends to die down after the initial buzz.

JMO.

(BTW, Aaron and I know the reports are the big draw to WL.com. We would never do anything to limit or diminish people posting reports. It's what makes this site so much fun.)

[rseas]

Maybe the answer is to create a “Fishing Diary” in the “Members” tab that could link to an I-pod or Droid application. That way we could use our phones real time to make a fishing diary entry, possibly even including pictures, time of day, tidal information, weather or GPS data then push a button to upload directly to the WWL fishing report function.

[Mike Carey]

Maybe the answer is to create a “Fishing Diary” in the “Members” tab that could link to an I-pod or Droid application. That way we could use our phones real time to make a fishing diary entry, possibly even including pictures, time of day, tidal information, weather or GPS data then push a button to upload directly to the WWL fishing report function.

yup, that would be a great extra feature. It's definately on Aaron's "wish list"