We have all heard the expression. After getting skunked in Montauk, not many catches in Maine (Moosehead Lake Region), and a lackluster trip (fishwise) in Oregon; I am beginning to wonder. I noticed on these trips nobody I encountered had bent a rod much either. This question is for everybody but especially the old guys (Old man, at 84 I'd love to hear your take). Is fishing what it used to be?
I am trying to figure out if so, why? I am not as good as I thought? Bad timing? Jinxed? Climate change?
I think the catching goes way up when you have a lot of time to fish, mostly because you get much more "in tune" with what's going on in a river when you spend a lot of time there. The folks I know who catch a lot of fish are the ones who put in the most time and effort. I do "okay" these days, but not as well as my friends who fish the same water... Just harder.
In the 80s there was a fishing shop on the Sky that held a pool for the biggest winter run steelhead. The winner was usually in the 20s. Bout the real kicker was to get in the pool your fish had to be 16 or better. Have you seen a 16 pound fish on the Sky lately.
Honestly, this makes me damn sad. What we fished for back then is nothing like what we have today. Fishing pressure, hatcheries, development, logging and so many things have done in the fish. How long will they last? Will we help them? Do we even care?
The Washougal up until about 1993 had very consistent steelhead dry fly fishing in September and October. It wasn't a matter of if you would encounter a fish it was a question of how many. Or how many times you could get a particular fish to rise.
But then that's what you get when you plant too many fish, well until the run crashes and you're left with nothing.
The Washougal up until about 1993 had very consistent steelhead dry fly fishing in September and October. It wasn't a matter of if you would encounter a fish it was a question of how many. Or how many times you could get a particular fish to rise.
But then that's what you get when you plant too many fish, well until the run crashes and you're left with nothing.
Rob, are you talking straight-up dead-drifted dries? or skaters. I got a few skater fish back then, but never really tried floating a bomber or october caddis. Apparently I missed the boat if that was a thing.
But yeah, the "good-ol' days" are done. I remember seeing a school of at least 200 at the steel bridge hole in the late 70's. Basically a giant whirl-pool of steelhead swimming in a daisy-chain circle like tarpon do. Probably far more steelhead than were ever in the river prior to massive hatchery plants, so maybe they were the not-so-good-days after all.
On the question of fishing not being what it "used to be" that can be taken a number of ways. Thirty years ago when I was fishing for salmon out of places like Ilwaco and Garibaldi, I never would have believed fish like striped marlin, yellow tail, dorado, Hawaiian moonfish (opah), and bluefin tuna over 100#'s would be landed in those same ports like they were this year.
I think it is clear that salmon and steelhead fishing isn't what it used to be, but I think trout fishing has improved. With catch and release, the size of the trout I catch now are way bigger than they were when I fished as a kid in the 60s and 70s. As others have said, back then we killed everything we caught. It has gotten much harder to find solitude while fishing. Salmon fishing is cyclical. Puget sound salmon fishing in the 90s was so so. The early 2000s saw some excellent salmon fishing in the sound, but the last 5-6 years have been poor.
Wait until you get older. You tweak your bones and you will be looking for spots close to the road like I do. I still busted through the bushes at 74. Now it's how close to the road can I still catch fish without hiking away from your rig. I have 2 places that I can park get out and fish about 5 feet from my front seat of my Pickup. There is another spot that I could sit in my front seat and fish. But I'd be blocking the road.
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