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I wanted to post this here because this pertains to both fresh and salt water.
Do you share patterns with strangers? If you are out on the water, and you are having a killer day...will you share? Not necessarily give them the fly but tell them what is working, maybe even how.
I tend to share at least some info. If the other person also shares, I usually share more. The amount I share depends in part on the attitude of the other angler and how I am approached. I have occasionally given away some lures, but that comes from special conversations.
I freely share depths, colors and lure types when I am kokanee fishing. I find most kokanee fisherman are pretty willing to share info. Of course, I also carry a pair of binoculars so I can see what distant anglers are using when they land a fish.
I do not usually give away lures or flies unless it is a young person struggling.
I do generally help out those who are first time visitors to a particular lake or a newcomer learning kokanee fishing.
Lots of different attitudes about sharing and I won't criticize choices by others. If you have read my posts from previous years about blue mesa you know I share almost everything I know. I give away about 10 dodger/lure set ups each year. I take pleasure in helping others -- what can I say except that I am still a proud Boy Scout at 70+. My only boundary is that I don't share the secrets other people share with me.
A story about sharing...
Mary and I spent a lot of days fishing Flaming Gorge last summer and except for a few days fishing was slow. The strategies and tactics we used very successfully at the Mesa and at Navajo didn't work nearly as well at the Gorge. We went from being very good fishermen to being mediocre. That really doesn't bother me much. I've been working on shedding my ego for some time and what counts now-a-days is getting on the water and maybe catching supper. But of course, everyone loves catching a four pound salmon.
It was late August and we were getting to the end of our final trip. Fishing was slow and the fish were small. We were staying at the Vacation Inn in Manila and a stranger knocked on our door and said, "Hi, I'm Brad. Do you want to talk fishing?" He had plenty of questions about every aspect of our salmon fishing. After about 25 minutes he excused himself, saying he would be back in 15 minutes. When he returned, he had a double hand full of lures for us, along with very specific advice about where to fish, depths, boat speed, colors, down rigger drop, leader lengths, etc. We used his lures, the scent recipe he had provided, and all his other advice. The next day we caught 3 - 4 pounders and our trip ended with smiles all round.
A million years ago when in graduate school I had to read books by all the "Great Moral Philosophers". If you ever get this assignment you probably ought to question your career choices. My main take-away, I think provided by Rawls, is that if you can do someone a big good deed at little cost to yourself, you ought to do it. Since I am forever a Boy Scout and encouraged to do a good deed every day, this stuck with me. Perhaps it also argues that Boy Scouting is a good substitute for reading philosophy.
There is lots of debate about why attitudes about generosity vary so greatly across individuals. I think we do what makes us feel good. I once was interviewing tech startup CEOs and one guy's office had the normal photos of the wife and kids but there were dozens of photos showing him with the kids on a black baseball team. Everyone wore a sharp uniform and hat, everyone had a good glove and everyone had huge smiles. He and one of the dads were the coaches. After wrapping up the interview, I asked him why he sponsored this team financially and as a coach. He gave me all the expected reasons and then he paused, leaned toward me, and whispered like he was sharing an important secret and said, "when you find the right way to give back, it feels better than Christmas when you were a kid."