pressure Were there any "Good ol' Days" of fishing?

[SummertimeCarl]

Growing up, my Dad would always say things like "Back before Kentucky froze over in 1986, you could go out rabbit hunting and come home with at least 4 rabbits guaranteed" or "When I was a kid we used to catch 50 keeper bluegill like it was nothing."

 

The population, pressure, and pollution has almost certainly increased from say the 1960's-70's.  I live in Louisville, KY and all the lakes nearby see a TON of pressure. But sometimes I forget that in most lakes there is some type of government wildlife management at work.  

 

Do you all think the fishing was better or worse in the past as it is now?

 

I'm 28 and always tell myself "If there wasn't so much dang pressure on these lakes I'd be catching 4 pounders all day."  Should I stop giving myself that excuse?

[sully420]

Yes there definitely was good old days. That's why when you go to Canada you still have 150 fish days of Pike and walleye. And if you go to the some of the less pressured lakes in northern Minnesota and fish for bass it's like they've never seen a lure before and you can catch four Pounders pretty consistently.

I look at pictures my grandparents have and you can see eight 10 inch bluegill giant crappies like it was no big deal.

[Scott F]

For me, the "good old days", are now. I fish a lot in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Bass populations have never been higher and fishing pressure for bass is low. With the technology in electronics, boats, trolling motors, and gear available, fishing has never been easier.

Besides, even if fishing was better back then, there is nothing you can do about it now. All you can do is arm yourself with the best knowledge you can find and go out and fish.

[the reel ess]

My dad and his buddy caught 180 crappie once jigging docks and only stopped because the sun went down. That lake has probably 3X as many people living on it now and 5X as many fishing it. It's downstream from a few cities and dirtier than ever. I stopped bass fishing it because I couldn't ever seem to be left alone on it, even on weekdays...even in winter. I'd find myself on secondary or worse spots just trying to get away.

 

That said, I've had 50+ bass days in a friend's pond and caught more bass over 5 lbs in the last few years in a local reservoir than I did my whole life before. The good ol' days can be looked at different ways. I can't go fishing with my dad ever again and that's sad. And my daughter's not interested in fishing so I can't pass it down. Maybe she'll have a son or sons and I can pass it along to them. But I can keep doing it until I'm too old to enjoy it. 

 

In many ways, these days are the good old days. To quote Iron Maiden:

"So understand, don't waste your time
Always searching for those wasted years
Face up, make your stand
And realize you're living in the golden years"

[fishballer06]

20 minutes ago, SummertimeCarl said:

 come home with at least 4 rabbits guaranteed" or "When I was a kid we used to catch 50 keeper bluegill like it was nothing."

 

That right there is half the problem. Old timers killed way more fish and game than was necessary. 

 

But now-a-days, the population has grown immensely and things are more crowded. So places for wild game to live has shrunk, pollution, chemicals, overharvesting have hurt things as well.

[the reel ess]

1 minute ago, fishballer06 said:

 

That right there is half the problem. Old timers killed way more fish and game than was necessary. 

 

But now-a-days, the population has grown immensely and things are more crowded. So places for wild game to live has shrunk, pollution, chemicals, overharvesting have hurt things as well.

Let's define "necessary". They ate what they killed. And wild game was a nuisance to crops. But where I live, wild game is at it's best numbers in probably 100 years. Fewer and fewer people are hunting and the ones that are have the best lands leased, which doesn't help attract new hunters to take up the tradition.

 

Fishing seems to be the exact opposite to me. More rude and inconsiderate people everywhere I go.

[SummertimeCarl]

25 minutes ago, fishballer06 said:

 

That right there is half the problem. Old timers killed way more fish and game than was necessary. 

 

Over-harvesting is a good point.  I honestly hadn't considered it too much for bass (even though some few keep them), but I guess catching & keeping their food sources has an effect on their size & population also.  

 

30 minutes ago, Scott F said:

For me, the "good old days", are now. I fish a lot in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Bass populations have never been higher and fishing pressure for bass is low. With the technology in electronics, boats, trolling motors, and gear available, fishing has never been easier.

 

I don't use graphs but I do love my baitcasters and fancy lures and can't imagine knowing half the stuff I know without the internet.  

 

Does anyone know anything about wildlife management?  I see stuff about it all the time on KY Afield, an outdoors TV program here in KY, and I always think to myself "should this stocking and shocking etc really be necessary?"    For those lakes with great fish populations and little pressure in Canada, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, do we know if they are managed by the government at all?  I used to swim in the lake by our family lake house and look up at the trees and think "this must look just like it did hundreds of years ago" only to realize later in life the lake was "created" in 1969.  Kind of took some of the mysterious wonder out of it for me.

[the reel ess]

8 minutes ago, SummertimeCarl said:

Does anyone know anything about wildlife management?  I see stuff about it all the time on KY Afield, an outdoors TV program here in KY, and I always think to myself "should this stocking and shocking etc really be necessary?"    For those lakes with great populations and little pressure in Canada, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, do we know if they are managed by the government at all?  I used to swim in the lake by our family lake house and look up at the trees and think "this must look just like it did hundreds of years ago" only to realize later in life the lake was "created" in 1969.  Kind of took some of the mysterious wonder out of it for me.

Under harvesting might be the problem as well. You have all these people catching fish and releasing them. Fish aren't bright, but they do know what's not a pleasant experience to them and they will try to not repeat it. Too many fish in an ecosystem equals smaller fish. And smaller ones are uneducated. People want more choices among gamefish, so you introduce stripers, hybrids and blue catfish. Actually, blue catfish have popped up a lot of places they weren't officially stocked. So this has to have an effect on bass and crappie. 

[roadwarrior]

Hmm...

 

The Tennessee River reservoirs are better today than they have EVER been.

I think that is certainly the case for smallmouth in the Great Lakes, too. Of

special note is the recovery of Lake Erie. Cleaner, clearer and greater numbers

than ever before.

 

[fishballer06]

10 minutes ago, SummertimeCarl said:

For those lakes with great fish populations and little pressure in Canada, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, do we know if they are managed by the government at all? 

 

I've been going to Canada for almost 20 years for 7-10 days at a time every year (some years multiple trips) and I can say that the lakes we go to receive little to no government involvement. There are lakes literally everywhere in our area and there's hardly anyone that lives up there, so the lakes see very little human activity. Most boat ramps are a path some local farmer cut into the water and there's no docks at all. 

 

Here's an overview of the area I go to. As you can tell, there's so much water that there's no way you could manage it all, even if it needed it. 

 

[scaleface]

The good old days . There was a smallmouth population explosion at a local stream . This was not your typical clear water Ozark stream but a muddy lowland river . These bass had never seen a lure  before . I  had big smallmouths following me around like dogs . I had it to myself for most of two years never once seeing another angler  then word slowly got out . People who  say fishing pressure doesnt effect bass have not had the same experience I've been lucky enough to encounter . 

[Catt]

My great-grandpa told my grandpa that, my grandpa told my dad that, my dad told me that, & I'm telling my kids & grandkids that!

 

As far hunting the was more land open to the public back then that was until someone couldn't tell a mule from a mule deer!

 

I lived through the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, the good ole days are what you make of em!

[david in va]

2 hours ago, fishballer06 said:

That right there is half the problem. Old timers killed way more fish and game than was necessary. 

I have seen a lot of youngsters blame a lot of todays problems on the older generation, I am not sure this is altogether true

 I do think you have to fish a pond to have a good pond

[barrycam]

The good ole fishing days for me were the 60's and 70's.   the difference between my good ole fishing days and now, is we ate everything we caught.  today,  we release everything we catch.   I suspect there is more catch and release today than years ago. How much effect that has on todays population and size is always debatable.

 

bc

[sully420]

3 hours ago, SummertimeCarl said:

 

Over-harvesting is a good point.  I honestly hadn't considered it too much for bass (even though some few keep them), but I guess catching & keeping their food sources has an effect on their size & population also.  

 

 

I don't use graphs but I do love my baitcasters and fancy lures and can't imagine knowing half the stuff I know without the internet.  

 

Does anyone know anything about wildlife management?  I see stuff about it all the time on KY Afield, an outdoors TV program here in KY, and I always think to myself "should this stocking and shocking etc really be necessary?"    For those lakes with great fish populations and little pressure in Canada, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, do we know if they are managed by the government at all?  I used to swim in the lake by our family lake house and look up at the trees and think "this must look just like it did hundreds of years ago" only to realize later in life the lake was "created" in 1969.  Kind of took some of the mysterious wonder out of it for me.

Good point and question, in minnesota fishing was great in the 40s and 50s but fell off from then to about the late 70s due to poor management and outdated harvesting habits. The Minnesota dnr started aggressively managing many lakes and fish species and teaching about selective harvest and fishing has really been great. In Minnesota we cant even fish bass from ice out untill the seconed week of may. That rule helped bring bass populations back but it is probably not needed any more. As far as managing fishing and hunting game I think it's overall a good thing through stocking selective harvest and other means hopefully we can enjoy the resource for years to come

[padon]

yes you should stop giving yourself that excuse.because even though there is that pressure there are still people out there having plenty of success improvise and adapt my friend. now as far as hunting I do believe in .my area at least the glory days have passed. not that the game isn't there but unless you very lucky or have a pocket full of money your chances of having decent land to hunt are pretty slim.population growth moron growth etc have led to fewer lands open to hunting and huge pressure on private lands.as far as harvesting fish I currently live in PA I see a lot more people harvesting fish now than I did in MD. just seems to be a different mentality.the worst part is you see the same people all the time filling buckets. how the hell many fish can these people eat. cracks me up when I hear them complaining about the lack of fish but constantly putting small fish in their buckets.

[soflabasser]

6 hours ago, SummertimeCarl said:

Growing up, my Dad would always say things like "Back before Kentucky froze over in 1986, you could go out rabbit hunting and come home with at least 4 rabbits guaranteed" or "When I was a kid we used to catch 50 keeper bluegill like it was nothing."

 

The population, pressure, and pollution has almost certainly increased from say the 1960's-70's.  I live in Louisville, KY and all the lakes nearby see a TON of pressure. But sometimes I forget that in most lakes there is some type of government wildlife management at work.  

 

Do you all think the fishing was better or worse in the past as it is now?

 

I'm 28 and always tell myself "If there wasn't so much dang pressure on these lakes I'd be catching 4 pounders all day."  Should I stop giving myself that excuse?

 

Welcome to the forum @SummertimeCarl. I have fished for bass for well over 2 decades now and feel that the ''Good ole' days'' of bass fishing is right now at this time and it will only get better as time passes. There are more strict regulations on bass fishing now in most parts of the country and people tend to release most bass they catch since most bass fishermen see bass more as a sport fish than a food fish. Most states are actively stocking bass in local waters and studying the bass population in order to improve the fishery. And yes you should not use the excuse of fishing pressure to justify less than ideal catches since many of us fish extremely pressured waters but we often catch quality bass( including trophy bass) since we put in our time fishing and do our best improve our ability to be consistent at catching quality sized bass.

[soflabasser]

12 minutes ago, padon said:

yes you should stop giving yourself that excuse.because even though there is that pressure there are still people out there having plenty of success improvise and adapt my friend.

 

Well said @padon. Every bass fisherman needs to adapt to the fishing conditions,there is no way around it! I often fish extremely pressured public waters and I consistently catch big bass from the shore since I put in the time needed to learn the bodies of water I fish. One of my best land based catches was a 10.3 pound bass that I caught from land in a highly pressured park from a body of water that gets hit by hundreds if not thousands of fishermen every year and I caught that bass by studying the body of water, knowing bass biology in my local waters, fishing the right lure at the right time, and a whole lot of patience fishing in conditions that most would not like to fish in. I still fish that park every once in a while and release 100% of the bass I catch and treat each bass with respect. I don't throw the bass in the water like so many bass fishermen do, I squat down to the waters level and gently put the bass in the water to make sure the bass swims away strong and I often get in the water if needed to release the bass I catch.

[charliepff]

I think yes and know to this question. Yes for when I trout fish in PA. A lot of streams that were gems in the day made it into magazines and Tv shows. This has brought crowds from multiple states to fish them. A lot more property has been posted since I was young and fished with my father. The name of the game seems to be to buy property and post it when it comes to streams in PA. 

 

On the flip side, the state recognizes this and tries to boost the populations of fish and regulate the fishing as best they can. Streams that I never dreamed of having fish are being rehabbed by trout unlimited, liming basins installed, and now have populations of brown trout. They are even trying to buy access for fisherman. With limited budget they do with what they can. My hats off to them for the impossible job they have sometimes.

 

I can also remember a time when I could go to the boat ramp or river access and not have to worry about fighting with some needle pushing junkie ticked I am telling him to move his car and leave the boat ramp. It gets old. Very old. I pull into our ramps now expecting issues from people. 

 

As far as fishing in itself goes, we have great well equipped kayaks. New top of the line gear available, all kinds of fishing lures and techniques out their, so I guess it does even out. I also know more about fishing now then I ever did from experience and learning off of sources like this forum. We are also able to educate more people on proper catch and release, selective harvest, and able to just get more people involved in the sport which is a huge plus. 

[Chowderhead]

On 8/25/2017 at 7:49 AM, the reel ess said:

To quote Iron Maiden:

 

"So understand, don't waste your time
Always searching for those wasted years
Face up, make your stand And realize you're living in the golden years"

 

As always, there is a lot of great insight in these posts. With that said, you can never go wrong quoting iron maiden! #UpTheIrons 

[WRB]

I am the old timer and can tell you from my own experiences the good ol' days are now.

Bass anglers have more knowledge, tackle and opertunity to catch bass than they did a decade ago in most regions of this country.

Not 1 of those bass living over 20 years ago (1997) are alive today. Bass are a renewable resource and it's up to each generation to insure that resource is renewable.

Enjoy and protect what you have and pass on the legacy of bass fishing.

Tom

PS, the peak 10 year period for me was 1985-1995 in SoCal.

[A-Jay]

Learning from the past may be helpful. Comparing the past & the present has never caught me any more fish.  There may be some better and some perhaps worse.  But I’d say there are enough better to offset the worse and sort of even it all out.

BTW - the BASS Elite series is on Lake St Clair this week.  On the first day the pros weighed in 15 five fish limits over 20 lbs.  The second day there were 30 bags OVER 20 lbs ~ !  And we are taking about Smallmouth people – Smallmouth.   That’s some big weight.   And for a lake that’s so close to metro Detroit, MI – that’s just plain outrageous.

That said, this month has been pretty tough sledding for bass fishing in my world – has nothing to do with the past. 

I’m just a hack.

A-Jay

[Catt]

@A-Jay since we're talking the " Good Ole Days", during the early 70s it was 15 bass sacks!

 

Most tournament (not Pros) angler today struggle to put 5 in the livewell 

[A-Jay]

Just now, Catt said:

@A-Jay since we're talking the " Good Ole Days", during the early 70s it was 15 bass sacks!

 

Most tournament (not Pros) angler today struggle to put 5 in the livewell 

 

 Besides probably not being released back then, I can't imaging hauling a 15 bass sack of 5 lb slobs up on stage these days.

It'd be pushing 75lbs.  

A-Jay

[bigbill]

I been fishing the same places every year. My catch did decrease somewhat. I learned in the smaller places the fish learn our baits and even my scents. What bait was hot this years will reduce the catch next year. This is why I started varying my selection of baits. I switch baits and colors till I get action. One time I had no action at all I changed from a regular bass scent to a garlic scent and I got action. I know the bass are there it's a matter of figuring out what bait will they hit. It's a challenge and we need to think it out. There is more bass as the population is growing.

 

mother nature controls the population of the fish by a winter kill during the ice over.