Dave shared that the major issue he faces with this group is spot burn caused by the all too popular photobomb. A fishing photobomb is an internet posted image which shows the lucky angler, the fish, and most important where the fish was caught.
In the last 5 or so years there has been a large growth in Facebook steelhead group pages. Users can post about their steelhead adventures, photos, stories, and questions on these pages.
Social media is everywhere these days, you can’t avoid it. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook dominate todays culture. In the last 5 or so years there has been a large growth in Facebook steelhead group pages. Users can post about their steelhead adventures, photos, stories, and questions on these pages. But is all this ex-posure to the masses via the internet good for steelhead fishing? This article will ex-plore this question in detail with feedback garnered over the last 6 months from the DNR fisheries biologists, Facebook Steelhead Group Admins, Facebook Steelhead Group Users, and steelhead guides.
Let’s start with the group admin feedback. These guys put in the grunt work in the background to make the Facebook fishing group page happen. They set the rules and monitor the posts to keep things civil. It is a thankless task and these people are heroes in my book. I talked to several admins and asked them a stock set of questions. The Facebook steelhead fishing groups that participated in the survey included Steelhead 419, Michigan City Salmon & Trout, and Clinton River Fishing. These groups were selected based on the following criteria, personal experience with the group and fishery, all groups selected support fisheries near large metropolitan areas, size of plant/quality of run variation across selected groups, group size variation across selected groups, and average age variation across the groups.
My first call was to Scott Bowerman. Scott has been one of a team of 5 admin that were selected by the late beloved Kevin Billings that have been running the Steelhead 419 since its inception. This groups primary focus is education and the feedback from its over 6000 member users was positive and robust. Known for his fly tying skills, Scott is a cancer survivor who desires to help as many anglers as possible enjoy his life-long passion for steelhead. Scott shared that Steelhead 419 allows fish-ing related businesses to advertise on the page in exchange for product. This product is sorted into grab bags and the admins play stream-side Santa by giving the bags to anglers in need. It is a unique and awesome approach. Scott also stated that there were very little cons with being an admin and the positive feedback and love from anglers who have benefited from this group has been a joy. This groups enjoys the largest plants and best overall fishing in terms of fish per rod hour of any other group studied.
My next call was to Dave Sluis. Dave has been the admin of the Clinton River Fishing Group for around two years. He took over for a friend who relocated for work. Dave shared his reason for being the admin of Clinton River Fishing included his love for this river and growing the sport of steelheading in the Metro Detroit area. Dave is a frequent poster to his group and is quick to provide useful pointers when asked. The Clinton River Fishing group is the smallest group considered for this article, had the youngest membership, has the smallest plant, and lowest catch per rod hour. There was the largest amount of negative responses on this page to my post regarding this subject. Dave shared that the major issue he faces with this group is spot burn caused by the all too popular photobomb. A fishing photobomb is an internet posted image which shows the lucky angler, the fish, and most important where the fish was caught. Both the Clinton Fish-ing and Steelhead 419 have rules regarding photo bombing and the admins do what they can to educate the users on the proper way to photograph fish without giving away the location of the catch via posts and private coaching on Facebook messenger.
These groups can also serve as an informal town hall for the DNR’s social media team and are a great way to get the message out regarding fishery related meetings and upcoming crew surveys.
Leroy Jones has been the admin for the Michigan City Salmon & Trout Face-book group since its inception. Leroy does an excellent job as admin of this group and his love for Trail Creek and growing the sport of trout and salmon fishing are obvious in all of his post. Leroy’s main focus is giving back to the community by donating tackle to those in need and getting local youth and women involved in sport fishing. The fishery this group supports has the second largest member count, has the second largest plants, and supports what is largely regarded as the best summer-run steelhead fishery in the Great Lakes. It is also a small creek with well know public access and is pretty much a planted fishery with very little natural reproduction. For these reasons photo bombing is less of an issue on this page. The feedback from Leroy’s group was largely positive and certainly constructive and the group is active and vibrant. Stream-side trash and overcrowding are the largest issues facing this group.
The user feedback was very spirited and diverse. Users are the lifeblood of Facebook fishing groups and can have a huge impact on the “feel” of the group. Users have the most to gain or lose so there were plenty of responses to my questions regarding this subject on all three groups studied. There were some obvious trends in the feedback across groups, but there was also notable difference across the groups. The most common trend I heard was that Facebook fishing groups were both “good and bad.” Good category items included knowledge sharing, learning new techniques and tackle, making new fishing buddies, getting up to date run and water conditions, and growing the sport with the next generation of fishers. The downside items were pretty much unanimous on increased pressure, way shorter learning curve, increase in stream-side rubbish, and decline in overall fishing quality. A less than obvious trend was the better the fishing and larger the plant the better the attitude regarding Facebook fishing groups and the better the info on the group page. Who knew?
The most interesting feedback for me personally was the DNR feedback. I had wondered in the past if they lurked on these pages so being able to interview these professionals was like being in my own Zen outdoor writer nirvana. Ben Dickenson from the Indiana DNR was my first contact. Ben shared many of the thoughts mentioned by the other DNR professionals interviewed. First, the Facebook groups do not have much influence on DNR decisions regarding fisheries, but are a useful data collection tool. These groups are a magnify-ing glass on the fishery and have increased the overall talent level of anglers. They also provide data collection on the fishery between creel surveys which is a lot like stopping by the local bait store back in the day. This info is very useful in understanding the effectiveness of the current DNR strategies employed on the fishery.
These groups can also serve as an informal town hall for the DNR’s social media team and are a great way to get the message out regarding fishery related meetings and upcoming crew surveys.
Aaron Schiller from the Wisconsin DNR has noticed a dramatic increase in fishing pressure over the last 5 years, but the percentage of expert anglers has decreased. This is a bit deceiving in that the increase in fisherman is so larger there are actually more expert anglers on the streams. To quote Aaron “In short, the average talent level has decreased, cumulative talent has increased and I think the amount of people fishing right now has made the good anglers work harder so the most talented anglers now are more talented than the top anglers five years ago.”
Like it or not, social media is here to stay and so are fishing related Facebook groups. Where you reside on this topic depends on many factors and there are really no wrong answers.
The odd thing is this increase in steelhead fishing pressure did not result in more license sales in all but 1 of the last 5 year. The year they saw an increase was 2020, the first year of the COVID 19 work from home protocol and was a common trend in all states studied. Aaron also made the observation that Facebook fishing groups are different than the old school meet in person fishing groups in that they are way easier to “join” and lack some of the responsibility that come along with physical membership.” Aaron closed with this comment, “any group that educates and recruits anglers is beneficial to the fishery as a whole. The more people that are passionate about fishing, especially for steelhead, the more attention that fishery will get from management.”
My last calls were to a few of my guide buddies. Brady Stasa provided guide feedback that was echoed by his col-leagues. Brad stated that he and his guide buddies do frequent Facebook fishing group pages and they are often good for business. Brad states “I pick up a couple of trips by referrals on Facebook” and if a client posts pictures from a successful guided trip on the Facebook fishing group page this can lead to more work. Brad was the youngest guide I talked to regarding Facebook and his generation grew up with the internet which provided an interesting perspective. He has seen that the groups can really help the novice fisherman get up to speed with accurate and timely information. As Brad put it “these groups bridge the gap between the 10% of fisher-men that catch 90%” of the fish and the rest of the pack. The unfortunate down-side of Facebook fishing groups that Brad and other guides shared was increased pressure caused by a post with too much information or a few overzealous photo-bombing posters can negatively impact a spot or an entire fishery.
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Like it or not, social media is here to stay and so are fishing related Facebook groups. Where you reside on this topic depends on many factors and there are really no wrong answers. While the negatives of these groups to a fishery can be overwhelming at first glance, there is no question in the power these social media groups have to grow our sport. If the sport and interest in a fishery are growing the local DNR will most likely react with an increase in the funding for the fishery which is a good thing for everyone.
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