Great question. And one I sadly ask myself more and more often during winter. I'm self-taught and have done it 20+ years....seen the good and the bad. I'm about as addicted as the next guy but I find it harder and harder to get the hell away from everyone and have multi-hookup days in winter. It IS noticable and seems to be worse every year. Coupled with more people learning my "favorite spots" and fishing buddies getting discouraged by the people and lack of fish, I've only gone a fraction of what I normally do this time of year.

Increasingly, summer and fall is where it's at for me.....more options that scatter people out and a chance for good fishing in solitude.