With all due respect to Merle, I love you and miss you ever so much.
I wish a buck was still silver It was back when the fish runs were strong Long before the R-5 clowns just got it all wrong Before the hatchery haters, and all the tribal greed Was when a man could still fish and still would Is the best of the good life behind us all now Are the good times really over for good?
Are we tumbling down stream like a slinky headed for hell With slim to no chance for our kids to go fish and do well Swing hookless bugs through the riffles, tailouts and wood Our streams and the mission are misunderstood The last of the fish runs are behind us all now Are the good times really over for good?
Thanks American Rivers, TU, and WFC The native salmonids are meant to be free So long early winters, a dear memory Back before Slamo crawled into bed with TP Goodbye Spring fishing and budding cottonwoods Is the best of the good life behind us all now Are the good times really over for good?
No other options but crowding much smaller streams Frustration and anger on each current seam Humptulips fond memories with six boats per float Big chrome fall Chinook could capsize your boat With the fate of the salmon returning right now Are the good times really over for good?
Are we headed downhill like a snowball headed for hell Stand up for the flag and let's all ring the liberty bell I know an old Willie will still float and still should No matter to me if rowed with carbon or wood I pray the best of the free life is still yet to come Are the good times really over for good?
Edited by Black Bart (02/10/1704:51 PM)
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Just lettin' it roll, lettin' the high times carry the low Love livin' my life, easy come easy go
Well, one has t define "good times". Unfortunately, the baseline keeps shifting.
Someone in their 80s and 90s will probably have a very different view of good fishing, based on what they have seen.
As an example, if you enjoy pink and chum fishing in rivers then the last decade or two have been the best in probably 40 years. If you prefer steelhead, it sucks. Those who like walleye see the dawn of a new age of greatness.
That said, fishing how I enjoy it and for what I would like to catch is on the downhill so that a decision to go fishing in WA is harder to make, takes more planning, and certainly takes ore time.
Cool song- One of my favorite uncles used to say "These ARE the good old days." Now my kid likes to fish sockeye, pinks, chums, trout, panfish he thinks fishing is great. Making sure he enjoys these good old days.
With all due respect to Merle, I love you and miss you ever so much.
I wish a buck was still silver It was back when the fish runs were strong Long before the R-5 clowns just got it all wrong Before the hatchery haters, and all the tribal greed Was when a man could still fish and still would Is the best of the good life behind us all now Are the good times really over for good?
Are we tumbling down stream like a slinky headed for hell With slim to no chance for our kids to go fish and do well Swing hookless bugs through the riffles, tailouts and wood Our streams and the mission are misunderstood The last of the fish runs are behind us all now Are the good times really over for good?
Thanks American Rivers, TU, and WFC The native salmonids are meant to be free So long early winters, a dear memory Back before Slamo crawled into bed with TP Goodbye Spring fishing and budding cottonwoods Is the best of the good life behind us all now Are the good times really over for good?
No other options but crowding much smaller streams Frustration and anger on each current seam Humptulips fond memories with six boats per float Big chrome fall Chinook could capsize your boat With the fate of the salmon returning right now Are the good times really over for good?
Are we headed downhill like a snowball headed for hell Stand up for the flag and let's all ring the liberty bell I know an old Willie will still float and still should No matter to me if rowed with carbon or wood I pray the best of the free life is still yet to come Are the good times really over for good?
You forgot the parallel to the Ford/Chevy verse, BB.
I wish ABU and Shimano would still last 10 years like they should. Is the best of the reel life behind us now? Are the good times reely over for good?
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"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)
"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)
Sometimes, though, one needs to ask is it catchin' or killin'? Talked to some Yellowstone Park bios and before C&R was imposed, the catch rates and sizes were going way down. Went back up until the lakers showed up to screw the pooch.
Former boss did his MSc in Idaho looking at no protection, large minimum size, and pure C&R. Where there was no protection the populations stayed low. In the high minimum, sizes went up, nothing grew much past the minimum size, even more effort and catch (included released) was above the old stock and kill). The other stream offered 100 fish days, bigger fish yet, but no kill.
So, what is "The Good Old Days"? Plus, let's say the annual kill on Zipperlip River was 500 steelhead. Spread among 100 anglers. Today, the catch is still 800 (WFC missed a hatchery) but it is now spread among 1,000 anglers. Which is TGOD?
This is not to suggest in the slightest that our current fisheries generally suck
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