Hot Spotting or Spot Burning…the process of spreading information (generally on social media) that drives undue people to crowd and over-fish a certain spot. It’s not cool. Why? Overfishing can move the fishery out of balance, causing it to crash. Excess foot traffic can damage an area to the point of failure. The IG crowd that shows up may not have anything in mind except catching the big Brown Trout.
The guy in the above photo is posting a grab-n-grin photo on Instagram every two or three days. The problem is, he is clearly stating that the fish are all coming from the same three mile stretch of river that is an hours drive from the Bay Area.
Why would he do this? He’s a guide and he makes his living by selling people on the hope of catching a 20 inch rainbow. Ironically, he presents himself as a steward of the river and is quick to condemn people for fishing over spawning fish- while he guides people over spawning fish on the Lower Yuba.
Is posting about The North Yuba Hot Spotting? No. The river access is 38 miles long and I never mention anything that would get someone closer than 8 miles of what I’m talking about. The North Yuba gets very little fishing pressure per mile. If it were anywhere near capacity, I’d go dark.
