The Trout Zone: Hot spotting

Showing posts with label Hot spotting. Show all posts

Saturday, May 30, 2026

Famous Bridges

Whether trout actually like bridges or whether they just happen to provide the perfect vantage point to spot fish is debatable, but either way, there are many famous bridges in fly fishing. One of my all time favorites and probably one of the more famous is the well known $3 Bridge on the Madison River in Montana. Another highly recognizable bridge I've been fortunate enough to catch fish below is on the White River in Cotter, Arkansas. Many fly anglers can glance at these scenes and know exactly where they are.

$3 Bridge on the Madison River in Montana

Cotter Arkansas Bridge over the White River

When I started fly fishing, most of my fly fishing information came in the form of books, magazines, and VHS videos. Fly Fisherman magazine was one of my favorite moments each month. When it came in the mail, I would find a comfy chair and settle in for a long reading session. In my later years, I've made it a point to visit some of the more recognizable or famous places I still remember from reading those magazines. Back then, you had to go a little out of your way to learn about these places, at least to the extend that you had to spend some money to buy a magazine or book, then had to take the time to read the thing in its entirety. Now, things are just a little more accessible.

Just for kicks and giggles, I asked Google's Gemini AI what some famous or well known bridges in fly fishing were. Interestingly enough, it came up with some very solid answers and did so in mere seconds. I won't repeat them here, but do the experiment yourself if you have time. Now all of that information is at our fingertips. I was talking to my good friend and fellow guide Rob Fightmaster the other day, and we were commiserating about how the Internet has ruined fly fishing. There was a time when you had to drive to a stream or trailhead, and then fish (or hike and then fish) a stream to know if it was worth the time of day or not. Now, some of our favorite small streams are absolutely covered in anglers. There are lots of people who want to enjoy the fruits of fly fishing, but don't want to put in the effort and miles on their boots. With modern technology (like a certain well known app), all of that is easily accessed.

As a fly fishing guide, I'm not too worried about job security. Getting to a high quality trout stream is easier than ever with all of the information out there, but catching fish still takes some old fashioned know how. Just lately, we've had a ton of last minute calls from people vacationing in the Smokies and fly fishing for several days with minimal to no success. For the lucky few we were able to squeeze into our guide calendar, they quickly learned how to catch fish up here. For the rest, we had to respond with a "sorry but we're booked, holler back next time."

That said, it is a fair question to ask myself: how much information is appropriate to share online? For the last few years of guiding, I've found myself being more and more careful about how I frame pictures with clients, especially if I (or they) will be using the picture on social media. Once, when I had a client catch a giant brown trout, we told the creel clerk about it when he asked about our day. For the next week or so, the area of river we had caught that fish had numerous spin anglers trying and trying to catch that big fish. It doesn't take long for news to get out in the fishing world, and not everyone has my same set of ethics. And that takes us back to the bridges.

If I had a dollar for every picture I've taken of clients with very recognizable bridges in the background, I would be rich. Well, maybe not exactly, but you get the idea. Here in my neck of the woods, some bridges are more well known than others. For example, the highway 61 bridge in Clinton, TN over the Clinch River is super recognizable if you've ever been there. Same thing with the I-75 bridge over the Clinch and the five I-40 bridges over the Caney Fork. In the Smokies, there are several recognizable bridges over various streams including Little River. Some are road bridges and some are trail bridges. Some of the trail bridges in the Smokies are even more recognizable than the road bridges are.

For some reason, I am drawn to scenes with bridges in them. The contrast of the rugged wilderness with the engineered imprint of man is striking, and I often find myself snapping pictures of bridges regardless of whether I have an angler in the picture of not. Sharing them is more of a challenge, as I'm always torn between sharing the incredible scenery and the risk of hot spotting. Not that there are really any secrets anymore, but I don't want to be the guy that adds even a little extra pressure on my favorite streams. That holds true regardless of whether they are in my backyard or are on the other side of the country.

So, for the time being, I'll mostly avoid sharing recognizable views of the waters I fish. To know the spots I'm fishing, you would generally need to already be very familiar with the water to figure it out from my pictures. That's the way it should be. We need to get back to anglers putting in the time and earning their knowledge. If you've already earned it, my sharing a picture isn't going to change you fishing there or not.

Recently, the Bassmaster Classic was held in Knoxville, TN. Video clips made their way around social media throughout the event and shortly after, featuring anglers vying for the big money. One of the things I noticed about the winner was that he was staring at a screen. I've done just enough research to know that live scope is a major hot topic in the tournament bass world (and fishing world more broadly). That said, for me personally, if I want to play video games, I'll stay home. I get out to enjoy nature and am always interested in ways to make the game harder, not easier. Sure, if I was pursuing the big purse in a major tournament, I might look at things differently, but there is a reason I'm not a tournament bass fisherman.

Instead, I'll keep pouring over maps for hours in far flung destinations, searching for what may just be the best fishing hole I've ever fished. I won't know unless I go try it out for myself, regardless of how much research I do ahead of time. After all, for me, the searching is as much the draw as what I find there. While I'm off looking at maps, here are a few local bridges that just might be recognizable to an angler. How many of them do you recognize?

Monday, February 15, 2021

How Much Is Too Much?

Sitting around this evening, my wife told me that her mom had inquired about a hike we had recently done. When I asked my wife why her mom was suddenly interested, I found out something interesting. Apparently my mother-in-law had seen something about it on TV. Some news piece or something similar was done to highlight different out of the way hikes in the area. My first thought was oh great, another one ruined.

One of my favorite local hikes and one of the best hikes on the Cumberland Plateau, Virgin Falls used to be an out of the way spot visited by just a few. Same thing with a few others I can think of both in our immediate area and beyond. Now, if you visit Virgin Falls on a weekend, be prepared to share the trail with anywhere from 50-200 of your new best friends and maybe even more. I've seen cars parked down the side of the road in both directions, damaging the shoulder, creating ruts, oh, and of course completely ruining the feeling of solitude that originally brought me to this amazing place.

I've seen the same problem explode in the Smokies. Last year was particularly bad, of course, as COVID sent many people into the outdoors where recreation was not only safer but often free or very low cost. That trend will continue for at least another year it would appear. But COVID really isn't the only one to blame for this problem. The issue of overcrowding was already a thing with Virgin Falls. In fact, it motivated Tennessee State Parks who oversees the area to institute a backpacking fee and permit process. The backcountry campsites were seeing horrendous overcrowding and the surrounding areas were getting trammeled by unconscientious, unlearned, and occasionally unscrupulous adventurers.

The amount of trash both in the backcountry and also roadside has grown a lot as well. The sad thing with the increase in traffic is that not everyone has the same ideals of leave no trace. In fact, many people ignore it either purposefully or because they don't know any better. Piles of poo and tissue paper abound in the woods near backcountry campsites, while people let their dogs go right in the trail without bothering to clean up after their furry friends. Don't even get me started on the intentional garbage people leave because they don't want to carry out the wrappers their food came in or in extreme circumstances, that heavy tent.

Yes, the great outdoors is being rapidly loved to death. Yet, during the discussion that motivated all of this, there was something nagging in the back of my mind. Even I am at least partially responsible for this. You see, I tell anyone and everyone about my favorite hikes, just the same as many tell people about their favorite fishing spots. I am always shocked at how many people will ask complete strangers on the internet about the best places to fish and will usually get back incredibly detailed responses on small out of the way trout streams. Yes, technology ultimately is to blame here, but we need to use more than a little self control and common sense.

The free flow of information has allowed people who would never set foot into the Smoky Mountain backcountry to learn about the glorious brook trout fishing found there and head off in search of their own photo op. Blogs like mine don't help. Those of you who have followed this blog for a long time have probably noticed a trend. Older posts contain more information than newer ones. I, along with many others who love wild places, noticed a little too late what all that free information was doing to the previously pristine places we treasure. Yet, information continues to get out.

A few years ago, the internet message boards were all the rage, and woe unto anyone who foolishly decided to hot spot. Never mind, of course, that this was usually done innocently. Some kind person really wanted to help someone else out. People quickly figured out the effects of doing so, and would chase the unfortunate person right off the board who dared to speak of such secret things. Now, all a person needs to do is join the right Facebook group, ask where to go, and some person who has been to stream X once with their cousin's best friend's uncle will pipe up with all the details. Never mind that they probably couldn't catch a cold once they got there. Still, the damage is done as armies of adventurers roam throughout previously untrammeled and untamed wilderness.

Now, with the rise of click bait, large companies create websites with no more purpose than to answer the specific queries people enter into Google. They go and find some expert to write an article, pay them a little to kiss and tell, make sure the search engine optimization is done correctly, and sit back and enjoy the advertising revenue from all those people clicking their article. Yet, we all do it. And that is the trouble. How much is too much these days? Where do we draw the line in sharing information in a world awash in more information than anyone knows what to do with? Nowadays, we have facts and alternative facts, but in all the mess, wild places continue to suffer from overuse.

It is easy to go down the rabbit hole of asking how dare people fish my stream and hike my trail, but in reality I'm just another person out there adding to the congestion. At what point do we need to step back and add self imposed limits to lessen crowding issues?

Yet, in it all, there exists much hope as well. With the massive influx of new interest in the outdoors comes the opportunity to convince that many more people that wild places are worth preserving. For fly fishing, we have huge issues with crowding that still have to sort themselves out. At the same time, all of these new converts are more people to advocate for clean air and clean water. Ultimately, all of us suffer if those things are gone. As earth's population continues to soar, it is becoming more and more crucial that we figure out how to balance our desire for wilderness with the footprints we leave. With more people becoming interested, we have an even greater opportunity for positive change.

The one thing we can all do now is, admittedly, somewhat selfish. We can go back to the days when hot spotting was a huge taboo. One of the greatest joys of nature is to explore. When you find your own hidden paradise, you can imagine at least briefly that you have your own secret. When a spot comes to you through a social media tag and you're just there to get your own selfie, it really isn't yours. The hidden spots, the ones you've worked diligently for, those are your spots. The only way they'll stay that way is if you keep them to yourself.

In fly fishing, as with other parts of life, there is always the tendency to tell one close friend or family member. Of course, they share with just one close friend or family member as well, but eventually the secret leaks out. I have fishing buddies that I share lots of general info with, then I have a very small handful of friends who I share the true secrets with. Those are the ones who I know really will keep it under their hat. Nowadays, there really aren't that many secrets left. And this brings us back to the question: how much is too much? At what point do we draw the line, or should we even draw one, when it comes to sharing about the great outdoors?