I was remembering my childhood days of fishing in the mountain streams and lakes of my region…my “home waters”, and wondering if the fishing was better on those times than today.
It was.
Today is great but in the past was unbelievable. Bigger trout in average, without doubts. At least in the most known rivers.
How was and how is now for you, in your childhood streams?
Regards
R
when i was a kid, not only were the fish bigger but the other fishermen were bigger too. so were the rivers, trees, etc. then again, i was smaller. 
It all depends.
I can think of some tailwaters where there wasn’t any trout fishing before the dams went in. The fishing was fantastic for awhile, and then several became so overrun with fishermen that I’d rather leave the combat fishing there now to the warriors that enjoy that type of thing.
Then, there are those streams that were once idyllic places where one could enjoy the fresh afternoon summer air wafting across fresh cut alfalfa fields that have long since become urban developments and Walmart parking lots.
Until a couple years ago, I could catch handfuls of wild Yellowstone Cutthroat in a stream that’s only several minutes from my summer home and yet today it is practically barren as the result of forest fires, poaching, or some other as of yet unexplained reason.
However, there are still enough places, if you search them out, where I can get my fill of wonderful fishing, alone in my own thoughts with not a fisherman in sight. Last year in one such place I caught 100 stream bred rainbows and brook trout in just several short hours fishing in the middle of the day - all on dry flies. Two years ago, just before dark, I caught 35 wild trout in a little more than an hour - all on the same fly.
Can it get any better than that? How could it have ever been better than that when I was much younger?
For me the times and places evolve over the years. Some of the fishing places may have declined; others have improved. At my age I can go fishing whenever or whereever I want, and stay as long as I wish. The fishing is pretty good. So is my life. I don’t think it can get any better than it is right now. But, I’d have probably told you the same thing 30, or maybe even 50 years ago.
John
When I was a kid ( In the 1950’s ) 5 kinds of Pacific Salmon and huge Sturgeon made their home in the Okanagan river system. Now there are none!!! Dams built for flood control have eliminated the sea run fish runs. We have many Pictures of my Dad and Grand dad with huge catches of large fish but by the time I grew up there were none to catch. Bummer!
So Around Here its mostly lake fishing. Some of the lakes are better than they used to be some are the same and a few are incredibly better. They have implimented a trophy fish only policy on some of our lakes. As a result there are a few places nearby that have huge trout in them far bigger than you could catch when I was a kid.
A few lakes in the region have been ruined by the introduction of yellow perch. At first the trout feed on the perch and the lake begins to produce bigger trout which is why these idiots introduce the perch. But as the perch become established and begin to compete for food the trout size starts to drop until there are only small fish left. Small perch, and small trout. In a perch only lake you find much bigger fish but a lake with both is not productive for either species.
For the most part, the fishing has not changed. The streams hold the fish…and the ponds still have plenty of warm water fish to chase. But you can’t get to any of them. Farm ponds are posted now, by folks who don’t even fish them…and vacation cabins block the accesss to the streams. Access has changed. But the fish and the desire to chase them has not:^)
When I was growing up in the late 50s-60s, the Chesapeake Bay was one of the best fishing holes in the country for an incredible variety of fish - striped bass (rockfish), seatrout, bluefish, shad, perch, oysters, and more, despite high levels of industrial pollution from factories in/around Baltimore. In the late 60s-early 70s a lot of work was done to reduce those pollutants and to some extent, that was accomplished, although yellow perch which used to spawn in the early spring in massive numbers throughout the Bay were decimated by acid rain and though recovering, are not found in near their previous numbers. Striped bass numbers were also severly depleted by effects of acid rain as well as commercial (and sportfishing) overharvesting, leading to a 5 year ban on any fishing for them from 1985-1990. Shad fishing has been strictly catch-and-release since 1980.
Unfortunately today, pollutants from a different source, megafarms that concentrate livestock (chickens, pigs, turkeys, cattle) are producing manure at levels that are too high to be effectively controlled. Runoff from these farms, along with fertilizers, pesticides, and other chemicals, as well as residential and comercial development all along the coast are depleting water quality, killing off needed aquatic grasses, and leaving portions of the Bay dead zones where little if anything can survive. Effects from declines in prey species such as menhaden (commercial overharvesting) and bay anchovies (habitat degridation) effect current and future generations of predator species in the bay.
So to answer your question, things were definitely better “back in the day”.
Regards,
Scott
I don’t remember catching more nor larger fish when I was younger. In fact I think it’s the other way around for sure.
I’m with BBW, I don’t remember bigger fish or more fish, just fish and good times with my family. Also some tough spots to get into to fish. I do remember one small stream with some beaver ponds, tough to get to, and some nice brookies, bigger ones than Dad was catching.
It’s better now than in the past. I hear tell that the Lehigh river in PA is now a good trout stream. When I was a kid it wasn’t the place to try and fish-too many years of pollution etc.
Also, I didnt’ have wheels, so I was limited to where I could go on my bike which wasn’t all that great after about the third week of the season opening.
The Little Lehigh was pretty good but I didn’t get to go too much and I was like 12, so I didn’t know too much about fly fishing and there weren’t as many resources for learning so it wasn’t fun until I went back as a grown up.
So far my most memorable trips have been in the AZ and UT in the past few years. I think it’s only going to get better in the future.
As a kid 100% of my fishing was warm water. Lakes of any size were a long way off so that left farm ponds and Dry Fork creek and the Bourbeuse river along with a couple little feeder creeks for those two that held enough water long enough during the summer to hold fish.
The Dry Fork has largely filled with gravel. We used to actually float it but now you’d be hard pressed to get a canoe through it. The Bourbeuse is still fairly good but not near the quantity or size of fish from my childhood and youth during the 50’s and 60’s.
I speak to several old timers here in the Ozarks, where I now live, and they speak wistfully of the 50’s and 60’s about such creeks and rivers as the Big Piney, Little Piney, upper Meremac and upper Gasconade and how good the fishing was back then. Since then, as others have said about their waters, poachers, killers, fish hogs and most recently otter have made a huge dent in the population. Goggleye have length and possession limits, a good thing. Smallmouth bass have the same and even a trophy area on the Gasconade, more good things. But the poachers and fish hogs still take way more than the fishery can sustain. Simply put, not enough enforcement of good regs.
Since my youth several lakes ranging from 40 or so acres up to 400 or more have been built within a 50 mile or so radius. Habitat destruction as far as I’m concerned but many opportunities for recreation and lake homes for people tired of the city. Some of those lakes, being fairly young in the life of a lake, are producing some nice fish I hear. Not being a lake fisherman I really don’t care and have neither knowledge nor opinion of them.
For warm water species I don’t believe it’s as good as it was “back then” where I live. Trout fishing is no doubt better due to a lot of factors. More waters capable of supporting trout year round have been stocked and left for natural production and do fairly well unless drought hits the area. Some areas are stocked a couple times of year and the trout actually act like trout after a week or so. Nearly all those areas are within 50miles of me. From what I understand the tailwater fishing on the Missouri/Arkansas line is quite good these days.
In short, it is what it is.
Vic
Better now. Back then I fished with worms and spoons. Now I fish with flies. Back then I didn’t have any worries in life. Now the concentration on my drift makes me forget every worry. Back then, I was limited to places where I could walk or bike in a day and still get home for dinner. Now I can drive and stay out later. Back then I could not enjoy a cold beer when I got back to my vehicle at he end of the day.