THE NUMBERS GAME

(Note: A condensed edited version of this originally appeared on the Saltwater Sportsman Magazine’s website: The Numbers Game: Is It Ever OK to Share GPS Coordinates to Offshore Bites? | Salt Water Sportsman)

The politics of sharing locations and burning spots

By Capt. John McMurray

“I don’t know how to put this but I’m kind of a big deal… People know me.” Maybe not in the same way they know Ron Burgendy, but yeah man…I catch a few fish.

Then…incessantly brag about it on social media.

Yeah, it’s lame, and it’s probably pretty irritating to those folks who want to keep it all on the downlow, but as a guy who runs a multi-boat charter operation, I kinda have to do that sort of thing to stay booked. 

Sorry, not sorry…  (Don’t hate the play’a, hate the game).

But yes, over the last decade or so of that, I’ve developed a reputation as a guy who finds and catches tuna. 

Is it deserved?  I dunno, maybe…maybe not.  Regardless, I’ve embraced it.  Because it’s good for business, and, ahem, my extraordinarily fragile ego.  More importantly though, I don’t want to ever have to get a “real” job.

But let me make something real clear here before my arrogance gets in the way of readers desire to continue – I do NOT have some 6^th sense of where the fish are going to be.  I sure wish I did, but really, I do the same stuff that everyone else does.  (i.e. run around aimlessly, burn a ton of fuel on hunches, and make plenty of bad decisions). 

Sure, a decade of experience as an offshore skipper, sailing every darn day the weather allows, helps.  You develop a sense of what to look for as far as water temps, color and clarity, bait concentrations, bird and mammal life etc., and while that serves me well sometimes, well, sometimes it doesn’t.  Experience, knowledge and most importantly time-on-the-water are often critical to success, but finding tuna often comes down to nothing more than luck.  In other words, that greenhorn can and often does out-fish you (thus the perpetually damaged ego). 

For sure I seem to have days, weeks, months, even seasons where it seems like my extraordinary knowledge and intuition is beyond compare, and I’m kinda the best ever.  Yet, that sort of thing is almost always followed by lady-luck kicking me square in the family jewels, which frankly, is very much deserved.  In one respect it’s humbling…in another it’s infuriating and ultimately depressing.  Whatever though…

The truth here is that, like most folks who are successful offshore, I often rely on colleagues, friends, and other offshore-junkies. 

Is that sorta thing a cop out? I dunno, maybe a little bit.  But when you have to get on fish daily, well, it just makes sense to have a group of guys you trust that cover more ground than you can yourself. 

Can you/should you go out and try to find your own fish?  Of course!  Look for the good water, and most importantly, look for life.  It’s way more rewarding to find’em on your own.  And being the first one on a bite and crushing them is awesome.  But, can you score EVERY day doing that (like I clearly need to)?  I can tell ya first hand, you can’t. 

Still, it is kinda lame to 100% rely on other folks.  I mean, your strategy should include more than just going to “that dude’s numbers”, but having options, including that intel absolutely helps.

So yeah man.  I’ll not ashamed to admit that intel from other Captains, specifically “numbers” (AKA GPS coordinates) are almost always part of my gameplan. 

Here’s the deal though.  There’s a real fine line between sharing numbers and burning spots. 

Disco Inferno…

Abso-freak’n-loutely, spots can and do get burned.  Loose lips might not sink ships in this case, but they certainly can overcrowd a spot with them, and subsequently shut down a bite real quick.  You don’t think that a hundred boats or more fishing in a 2-mile radius doesn’t shut the fishing down, well, you haven’t been fishing offshore for long. 

Crowds do put fish down fish.  Yes, too many fish get killed, but also, fish just ain’t gonna bite, or even stick around when there’re dozens of boats trolling over every sign of life. 

Oh, stop, I’m not bashing the troll fleet (least not consciously).  A bunch of jig and pop boats running atop of every tuna, whale, dolphin feed ain’t great either. 

Yeah, I know, sometimes during a good chunk bite such fleets can actually keep fish around, but I’m gonna treat that as the exception to the rule here.    

What I’m getting at is that, yes, sharing numbers with a close group of friends/colleagues is good, burning spots though?  Not so much. 

Coming from a guy who spends more time offshore than 90% of folks out there, I’m telling you there’s a real fine line between the two.    

Network

I’m lucky to have a close group of folks I regularly share information with.  These are the Captains, anglers etc. I’ve grown to trust over the years, and likewise, they’ve grown to trust me.  Honestly, it’s mostly charter-boats. Because it is these guys who are out there the most, and inevitably cover the most ground.  Plus, these are the guys with the years/decades of knowledge, analyzing conditions, water temps, chlorophyll etc, running long distance/covering a lot of water, and spending all those hours searching.

Thus, these are the folks most likely to find life on their own, and of course, uhm, share it with me.  Because I’m one of them, and you bet your arse I’m going to share with those guys too.  Afterall, we’re all in the same boat (all pun intended) trying to put food on our families, or more aptly avoid getting real jobs.   

And if/when we find them, those are the guys I feel really deserve to know before the weekend warrior types get in on it.  No offence to those peeps and I know they’re the majority of the fleet, but, that’s just the way I see it.    Again…  Sorry, not sorry.  Cause ya know what?  It’s hard for me to believe that it’s fair when the folks that don’t put in the time and work, can just go out and crush fish cause someone gave them numbers.  Right? 

Of course, that sort of annoyingly righteous sense of entitlement to a public resource is all well and good… uhm, until one of those random inexperienced weekend guys with a big fast boat and a lot of disposable income finds the motherload and I’d really like to know where.  (Yes, I do understand the arrogance and hypocrisy here. Doesn’t mean I’m gonna change my opinion.) 

This is where things get real tricky though.  Because if they give you information, you’re obliged to return the favor.  Given I’d like to consider myself a man of honor (ahem, when it’s appropriate) I certainly do reciprocate, with the caveat that you keep that information, or those numbers to yourselves. 

The Numbers Carousel

Of course, such sharing of numbers doesn’t always go well. 

Because even if you require that person to “promise”, to not share those numbers, well, that often means they’ll only tell a “few” of their closest fishing buddies who NEED to get on the bite in the one day a week they sail.  I mean, maybe that person owes them intel from information shared prior to, and they’re just returning the favor.  That’s cool right?  Uhm, not really.      

Because, even if it’s just one other guy they tell?  Well, then that guy tells just one other guy, because what’s the harm?  And so on.  Soon, the number of anglers “in-the-know” grows exponentially. 

Seriously, I’ve had numbers come around full circle, and someone else in my network ultimately sends me the “double-secret” numbers I so sparingly shared.  It’s pretty funny the way that works…kinda, not really.  I mean, it’s gone down like that more than once.

It’s a not a great feeling when you get within range of your top-secret spot before the sun even comes up and it looks like there’s a small city on your numbers.  And it’s a little bit uncomfortable when you come to realize that maybe it was you who blew it up by telling the wrong guy. 

When that does happen, am I ever gonna share intel with those guys again?  NO WAY!  Uhm…unless I really need info from them.   

Yeah, well, I guess I’m really not that righteous am I. 

One more thing I think I need to note here.  While I’d like to think it goes without saying, well, it’s probably not a great idea to share numbers with the guy(s) who sell intel.  Just say’n…  Of course, it’s their prerogative to sell whatever they want.  But crowds are crowds, and those guys are real good at burning spots without your help. 

If you’ve made it this far, you may be thinking, wow, this guy’s a jerk.  But hey man, I’m just keeping it real.  Please do keep in mind though, I truly want other boats to catch fish and have successful trips.  Just not at my expense.   

Give and Take

Anyway, I think I’ve made it clear that if you get information, you have to give it.  I’ve been in many a situation where I’ve given way more than I’ve gotten back.  In most cases I’ve severed those ties.  Ahem, most of them.  Because you never know when you might desperately need info from that guy. 

In the end though, the most important consideration is mutual trust.  

Because, at least for me, when you have to put folks on fish every day to stay in business, well there’s a lot at stake.  Yes, I tend to find that sort of tight lipped trust from my charter colleagues, more-so then the average Joe, but absolutely I have some really stand-up/solid average-Joe guys to whom I regularly share with.    

Someone burns a spot, burns you?  Well, fool me once… 

Cause like I said, it really does suck when you bust your ass, burn though countless miles and a ton of fuel, for a long time and find a ton of life and an epic tuna bite.  Only to have 30 boats who didn’t do any of that show up the very next day and shut it all down.  And it sucks just as bad when your trusted buddy, who did all of that instead of you, and trusted you enough to share the fruit of all his/her hard work, and maybe you told the wrong guy and were inadvertently responsible for the spot burn. 

I guess my point is, well… be a good, honorable guy, at least to the extent that you can.  We all want to catch fish, but it shouldn’t come by screwing someone else.  Someone offers to share numbers with you, and asks you to keep them to yourself, well, honor that request, no matter how bad the temptation to help everyone at your marina might be.  And be prepared to reciprocate when they need help.  But please don’t do stupid stuff like tell the whole marina or, gulp, post numbers online. 

Karma

Yeah man. Like Taylor Swift, I believe in karma… And I wasn’t lying above when I said that I DO want other boats to catch fish.  

So, when people I haven’t established a mutually trusting relationship with ask for information, I’m probably not going to share hard numbers, but I absolutely will do my best to provide general area info.  In some cases this might bite me in the arse, as they might have a real good radar where they can pick up a handful of boats 15 miles away, but that’s unusual.  And hey, maybe they find fish 10 miles away and have the good grace to call me in.  Good Karma man.

What’s the cardinal sin here though?  It’s something only the REAL buttholes do.  That’s send someone to numbers that are 100% made up, and way off where the fish actually are.  Come on man.  That’s just a dick move.  I’ve NEVER done that and I never will.  And if you have?  Well, expect a good kick in the arse by karma. 

Greener Grass

Lastly, just because you got some numbers from a friend of a friend who caught “a ton” of tuna at this super-secret spot several days ago does NOT mean you should ditch all your research and hard work, and not go to that spot where you were initially planning on going, because you maybe noticed temp break or just “good water” on the satellite charts.  Because someone has to find the next good bite, right?  And odds are that intel you got is old, the spot will be real crowded and those fish might have very well moved on by then. 

The point is that the grass is always greener, and that guy’s numbers aren’t always better, in fact usually they aren’t.  You may end up kicking yourself later when you find out your intuition was right and your buddy crushed’em where you were going to go.  Yes, I speak from brutal experience here.  But to be clear, this doesn’t mean I’ve ever learned from such mistakes.    

Long as we’re still talking about green grass here, I’m constantly faced with the dreaded “Inreach” dilemma. 

A Garmin Inreach is, of course, a satellite communication device.  I got one probably a decade ago because I didn’t want my wife calling the Coast Guard every time I came home a few hours late, or my EPIRB mistakenly went off.  But where it really came in useful was sharing real-time on-the-water information with other Captains. 

But inevitably the FOMO thing happens.  You find a few fish and then your buddy sends you a message to say that it’s “EPIC!” at a spot that’s 30 miles away.  The temptation to run and get in on that bite is almost unbearable.  But listen man.  It’s likely that by the time you get there, it’ll be over.  So Jeeze man, just stay put and be happy with what you got!  (Note:  This is another valuable lesson that I can’t seem to learn.  Hopefully you’re smarter than me).

It’s true though man… Offshore, 9 times out of 10 the grass is greener cliché is true. 

Conclusion

In the end, if you find fish, great, but like I said.  It’s a big ocean, and it’s sometimes a crap shoot.  If you don’t understand that a good portion of the offshore game depends on nothing more than luck, well, I have to believe you just haven’t been fishing offshore long enough.  And really, you simply can’t be lucky all the time. 

Having a good network of trusted colleagues can sometimes be the difference between an epic day and a terrible one.  Still, it often pays to have some stones, take some chances and go find fish on your own.  But have those numbers in your back pocket if you need them.   

Gathering intel and sharing it is a difficult game though.  Because with every person you share with, the real possibility of burning a spot exists.  And that doesn’t just hurt you, it hurts all of us. 

So be careful, follow the rules and trust the folks you can trust. 

And don’t be that guy. 

Pick your network wisely, share sparingly, yet be fair and help a brother out if you can…  Just not at my expense.    

Captain John McMurray is the President of ONE MORE CAST CHARTERS/NYCtuna.com, a multi-boat inshore and offshore charter fishing operation out of Oceanside, NY.