Spot Burning?

Skyhook

Active Member
#1
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I was sent this photo by a fellow angler recently. Congrats to the young guy that landed the fish. It's taken a lot of persistence to land a halibut from the San Francisco shoreline this season. But take a closer look at the photo. There's something that's a little "odd" about it. It's humorous once you figure it out. And to be honest, I didn't even get it until a fellow angler pointed it out.

If you can figure out what's going on with this photo, please feel free to post a reply. At the same time though, please use good judgement about describing what you see.
 
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Rusty

Active Member
#2
I give up! Is this a Where’s Waldo kind of thing? Spill the beans! We dont have time for games when the halibuts running! 🤣
 

evanluck

Well-Known Member
#5
Cool picture! Yes the angler and the fish have been cut out fairly skillfully in photoshop and placed on top of another image. Pretty decent graphics work but immediately obvious to a trained eye. Strange way to do it as it could have the effect of causing fishermen to rush a spot erroneously.
 

Makairaa

Well-Known Member
#6
Cool picture! Yes the angler and the fish have been cut out fairly skillfully in photoshop and placed on top of another image. Pretty decent graphics work but immediately obvious to a trained eye. Strange way to do it as it could have the effect of causing fishermen to rush a spot erroneously.
That would be the point. It would send the internet fisherman somewhere other than your spot. Allowing you to fish with less people. Too much effort for me, but I get the sentiment.
 

Skyhook

Active Member
#7
Too much effort for me, but I get the sentiment.
Yep. I think everyone was able to spot this one except me. Must be a pretty hot bite to go through all that trouble! Got to hand it to him though. That's a well done "mashup" of two different locations. Torpedo Wharf is clearly in the background. But anyone familiar with Crissy Field and and the area around Fort Point knows that there's no other pier at that location. The pier where the photo of him holding the fish was taken is in San Francisco, but it's located almost 5 miles away from the Golden Gate Bridge.
 
#8
These modern day anglers love to fiddle with pics and then boast about their catches on social media. There really aren't any "secret" spots in the SF Bay Area considering the relatively small size of the Bay, every spot that I've fished has many anglers come through. If you drive through the city and into Marin and the East Bay you will find the same familiar faces. Some are very protective of the "spot" and some aren't. The "don't burn the cut" dudes amuse me.
 

Skyhook

Active Member
#11
Here's another "odd" photo recently posted on social media. And just like last year's photo, this one's a "Frankenstein". There are at least two different locations in the photo that have been stitched together so that they appear to be a single spot somewhere along the San Francisco waterfront. B279C271-4F66-4DCB-92F4-EC2CC5653151.jpeg
 
#14
There really aren't any "secret" spots in the SF Bay Area considering the relatively small size of the Bay, every spot that I've fished has many anglers come through. If you drive through the city and into Marin and the East Bay you will find the same familiar faces. Some are very protective of the "spot" and some aren't. The "don't burn the cut" dudes amuse me.
True, there are no "secret" spots, but timing is everything. How does it feel to catch a fish at a "quiet" spot and have 10 guys show up to the same spot the following day just because of some loose lips? I'm curious if that has ever happened to you? I've had that happen to me earlier in the year and it wasn't a pleasant experience. The worst part? Those guys trashed up the place. Not attacking you in any way, but, if you aren't protective of the spots you fish at, why don't you post fishing reports? Please provide an update for every time you go fishing. Location, fish, setup, and bait used. Thank you. Better yet, drop a pin to let everyone know where you're fishing at. Also, thankfully to some YouTubers, I have found new fishing spots by comparing the background in their videos to images on Google Maps. What's even better is that the videos have a timestamp of when the fish could be around. These are spots I have never been to before, but I was able to pinpoint the exact locations. If I can figure out the locations, I'm sure there are a thousand other guys who can figure out the locations too.

Just don't cry when your favorite fishing spots suddenly gets overcrowded, trashed up, and gets fished out. Imagine 10 guys at Agua Vista. Good luck with that.
 
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#15
I too have used Youtube as a tool to ID some spots. You're right, timing is actually everything. Most of the spots in the Bay are known, but it does suck when someone either posts on social media or has loose lips and then within hours people converge on the area. It's also a pretty small tight knit community too so that definetly plays a part in "blowing up spots."
 
#16
I really shouldn't post this because it is somewhat of a burn. I'm only going to post this to drive home the point on how a quick flash of the background can expose a fishing spot. The video creator even went as far as saying that he was hesistant to post the video because of "how valuable and fragile this resource is." He even blurred out parts of the video near the end to no avail. If he truly wanted to protect the resource, he should've never posted the video to the public and released the female with eggs. Keep in mind I have never been to that area, although, I have been to the other side.

Skip to 2:52 in the following video and focus on the turquoise house at the top left.


With a little persistence, I was able to figure out the exact location.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.502...4!1sCW-KwW29VLLPGnewgcCFHQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Would I ever go there to pump for ghost shrimp? Probably not. Alameda is a lot closer...
 
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MisterT

Well-Known Member
#17
If he truly wanted to protect the resource, he should've never posted the video to the public...
I do not mind others sharing their spots as long as he/she is comfortable doing so. However I agree that if you want to preserve the resource you are better off not posting anything.

I will say given the accessibility of maps there aren't really secret spots. Just spots that are less traveled. ;)
 

Red Fish

Senior Member
#18
-Bill and Skyhook I agree some of these spots are overrun (and more so every year now). I'm not going to point the finger at young You-Tubers like the one above... mainly, because they are young. It is disingenuous however to have a YT account for "likes," "follows," "subscribes," etc., and photoshop false information like the photo above. Just a matter of integrity with their "followers."

-Just my take as someone that came out of SFSU in media over 3 decades ago. It would be better to use selective photography and videography to 1. show that you caught some fish 2. show a spot without over-exposing it 3. NOT display fake, Photoshopped info.

-True, the young fella (or anyone) doesn't owe any allegiance (to the Loyal Order of Pier Anglers) lol, but you are NOT going to make many friends at the piers if you keep coming back to the same spots and keep exposing them to the general public like an online travel log magazine show.

-Again, as someone in media, I used to playback a local fishing show on KFCB -TV 42 called "Fishing Tales" with Leo Vrana" years ago (that would be around 1991). The show was SF Bay Area boat-based, somewhat like "Dan Hernandez Sport Fishing." The shows were charted trips like on the old "Jubilee" out of Emeryville/Hank Schramm's Sportfishing Marina where he would go the Farallons for rock cod/lings, etc. One of my favorite shows was where he was fishing anchored right in front of Pier 32 fishing for leopard shark with Captain Barry Canavero; information you could use off the shore. Basically, they used a sliding rig with midshipmen on the bottom of the shipping channel. I was going to do a fishing show on public access where I was working for AT&T in the 90's, shot some footage, but never put together the show because I was too busy fishing most times and the SuperVHS camcorder was by no means as portable as a Go-Pro.

-Spot burning - Huh, a show can be done without spot-burning if it is done with preservation of the popular shore/pier spots in mind. For instance, a show on halibut fishing at a spot where people don't frequent from shore as much and give a general idea or just shoot from a perspective of fighting the fish without showing so many landmarks (or edit them out). And more emphasis on what to do, terminal tackle, etc., than on "look at me, I caught a fish!"

-Finally, after fishing on this Bay over (50) years Bill, I'm not going to try and dictate what others do, I am just going to try being the example that I would like others to be (and hopefully some of the better practices we regulars do will rub off on people).
I would like to think that I possess a lot of the magic and not the spot (true the spot above has seen dozens upon dozens of fish this past June already). I choose NOT to fish the known crowded spots anymore (maybe once with a few locals). I don't need that many fish as I can catch the couple I want to take for food at a variety of over-looked spots (many that some don't know how/where/when to fish exactly). An example is that some of the spots that I video-taped in the 90's don't produce the abundance of fish anymore so it's a NOT a hotspot anymore because of factors such as environment change, fish plants, habitat changes (but the spot could resurface in years to come). Basically Bill, I've become "The Old Man & the Sea."
 
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Red Fish

Senior Member
#19
I really shouldn't post this because it is somewhat of a burn. I'm only going to post this to drive home the point on how a quick flash of the background can expose a fishing spot. The video creator even went as far as saying that he was hesistant to post the video because of "how valuable and fragile this resource is." He even blurred out parts of the video near the end to no avail. If he truly wanted to protect the resource, he should've never posted the video to the public and released the female with eggs. Keep in mind I have never been to that area, although, I have been to the other side.

Skip to 2:52 in the following video and focus on the turquoise house at the top left.


With a little persistence, I was able to figure out the exact location.

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.502...4!1sCW-KwW29VLLPGnewgcCFHQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Would I ever go there to pump for ghost shrimp? Probably not. Alameda is a lot closer...
Funny, I thought it was Alameda when I saw the houses in the back. I did see the "clam gun" and I never saw a homemade one before. I have been using a "slurp gun" but the clam gun almost looked easier!
 
#20
I get it. Content creators have the freedom to record as they please. They have the freedom to provide content to the public as they please. Some depend on it for their livelihood. They might not see the immediate aftermath of their actions, but they will eventually feel it when the places they film at get overrun by fishermen making it more difficult to fish for themselves. The biggest losers here are the regulars at these spots that are getting burned. They are the ones who are left to battle the crowds. I highly doubt that a lot of these content creators are consistent regulars at certain spots, because if they are, I'm sure they would've gotten an earful from the other regulars for overexposing a spot and inciting a crowd to show up. I wonder how that SF Angler would feel if 50 fishermen started fishing at one of his spots on the daily at the end of Pier 1?

I did see the "clam gun" and I never saw a homemade one before. I have been using a "slurp gun" but the clam gun almost looked easier!
Those clam guns definitely work pretty well. I have a metal version of it, but it shouldn't be too hard to make one out of PVC. The problem with the clam gun is that it leaves a pretty big hole that someone can easily fall into. It's always a good idea to refill the holes.
 
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