The creek itself fed Lake Ingram, a saltwater estuary on the southwest Florida coast. Only many years later did I learn that I was among several people who had found and fished this creek. We always fished it on windy days. Fishing elsewhere on those days was fruitless, and the wind kept the mosquitoes away.
Even today, I have a number of locations that are easily reached, but where a deep oyster bar or channel edge holds fish that other anglers pass by. I've even let my line go slack with a hooked fish in order to prevent a passing boat from seeing me fight it. I never cut a line for that purpose, but I always tried to keep my secret holes just that - secret.
Most people that fish with me only do so once or twice and don't own a boat of their own. So there is no need for me to protect these holes from them. Heck, they wouldn't know how to get back to one of them again anyway. But, occasionally I do take a local angler, and if we fish one of my spots, I will always ask that they keep the location a secret.
Last week we were back on the mud flats again looking for redfish. As I used the trolling motor to ease me along with the incoming tide, a small Jon boat came flying out of no-where and ran by me wide open. He ran back into the creek and stopped about a half mile ahead of us. I could see him and his party over the saw grass.
As I continued to move into the creek with the water rising, I came within about 20 yards of that Jon boat. He had met up with two other boats, and they were comparing catches. I just quietly fished an oyster bank across from them.
They held up three big reds, and as they idled over to their friend's boat, I heard one of them say, "Remember, now, you took a blood oath. You can't tell anyone about that spot." The only trouble was, just as other anglers knew my spot many years ago, I knew exactly where he had been and the exact flat he had been fishing. It was the only one at the end of the creek he came out of, one I have fished many times before.
His friends, obviously lost in the maze of creeks and cuts that cover the sawgrass flats north of the St Johns River, agreed to keep it secret and then asked how to get back to the ramp.
I've done the same thing with a set of LORAN or GPS numbers. Unmarked or uncharted GPS numbers that contain some type of structure or live bottom are valuable commodities. I've seen people come to blows over those kinds of secret spots. Charter boat captains routinely look for and collect hand held GPS units to prevent anglers from marking their "secret" fishing holes.
Blood oaths will continue to be made. But, wherever you fish and wherever that secret hole is, there is one thing of which you can be very sure. Someone has fished it before, and others will fish it later, and they will probably be asking their friends for a blood oath as well!
