You should’ve seen it 20yrs ago…..

[lee church]

….the way most great fishing stories start these days.

[ethan smith]

I know what you mean, but the reality is that our memory paints the pictures of past in nostalgic colors. People focus on the great successes of the past and forget the failures. Our minds fill in the gaps and we only see the positive sides.

Lake Erie for example, the 1970s would not have been the time period that you would pick as the time to fish those tribs for steelhead (think burning rivers).

In terms of quality habitat right now we are just entering a time where our regulators, and property owners are seeing the value of maintaining proper habitat and environmental quality. We have a long way to go, but we have come a long way already, since the 70s.

[Anonymous]

I’ve thought this myself too Lee.

[micah lauer]

I too agree it’s not all doom and gloom.  FYI, some of the ‘you should have seen it back when…’ crowd will complain about anything and everything.

Locally, we have two tailwaters that produce larger fish than they did 30 years ago.  They are fishing better now than they ever did, according to many.

Pyramid Lake is another fishery that was truly a wonder of the angling world, then totally destroyed, and now is coming back strong.  It fishes better than it did 20 years ago (or so I’m told by many) for size and quantity.

There are a lot of rivers and streams out there getting protection now, that were not afforded protection back in the 1970’s or even 1980’s.

So, while some fisheries are in decline, plenty are on the rebound or getting better!

[marc p.]

Excellent topic.

There are two different tailwaters within 30 min. of my home.

[matt boutet]

Great topic.

For me, the good old days were just a few years ago.

[Mike L.]

I do not think there are more fishermen now than then.

A lot of these ‘destination’ type waters were, and in many cases still are, located in sparsely populated areas.  Twenty and thirty years ago most people were not taking vacations to fishing destinations.  Today, there are countless anglers from all corners of the country and/or world traveling to these places to fish.  Of course there are going to be more fishermen fishing these waters than there were in the past, but that doesnt necessarily mean there are more fishermen.

Is the fishing worse?  Maybe, maybe not.  Maybe the fish just aren’t as stupid as they were when there was less people fishing.    

[Zach Matthews]

I am with Mike.

[Bob Riggins]

It doesn’t have to be a downward spiral.

20 years ago the speckled trout and redfish populations were close to total collapse.

[lee church]

Great posts thus far.

[Author]

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