Past My Prime

[Gottasmilealot]

As a teenager, I enjoyed fishing while camping. If there were fish in the water I could catch them. I caught a near-record bass in a closed canal. I caught a flounder rolled up in a crab trap. Now retired, I planned on spending time throwing a line in, but in a complete reversal, the only thing I catch now is a cold. Interesting. I am happy to say that the waterways are considerably cleaner now compared to the 1960's.

 

[Oldgator73]

I know what you mean. It takes me all day to do what I used to do all day.

 

[Domo]

The rain was pouring down outside O'Connor's Irish Pub.
There standing in front of a big puddle outside the pub was
an old Irishman, drenched, holding a stick, with a piece of
string dangling in the water.

A passer-by stopped and asked him, "What are you doing?

"Fishing" , replied the old man.

Feeling sorry for the old man, the gent says,
"Come in out of the rain and have a drink with me."
In the warm ambiance of the pub, as they sip their whiskies,
the gentleman, being a bit of a superior smart ass, cannot resist asking,

"So how many have you caught today?"



"You're the 8th", replied the old man.

 

[ziplock]

I am happy to say that the waterways are considerably cleaner now compared to the 1960's.

I think the water is dirtier than ever around here, and other places here on the east coast.

I love to fish and eat what I catch, but I'm afraid of most waterways these days.

 

[old_toys]

we have some nice lakes that are inundated with flocks of geese here. i don't have a clue how many it takes to contaminate the water with whatever bacteria and such they poop before the fish are unfit to eat.
one small lake we used to catch a lot of bluegill had a hundred geese in it last year and feathers floating all over it.

 

[Oldgator73]

I grew up in Daytona Beach. The Halifax River runs through the city creating the Mainland and Seabreeze sides (high schools were named Mainland and Seabreeze). Folks fishing the Halifax used to say you could pull up to an oyster bar and have lunch. Now I doubt you can even eat the fish from the river.
We have a lake in the center of Dover that is fed from the St Jones River which is fed from the Bay. It is recommended you only eat mere ounces of fish per year from the lake.

 

[Laura & Charles]

The rain was pouring down outside O'Connor's Irish Pub.
There standing in front of a big puddle outside the pub was
an old Irishman, drenched, holding a stick, with a piece of
string dangling in the water.

A passer-by stopped and asked him, "What are you doing?

"Fishing" , replied the old man.

Feeling sorry for the old man, the gent says,
"Come in out of the rain and have a drink with me."
In the warm ambiance of the pub, as they sip their whiskies,
the gentleman, being a bit of a superior smart ass, cannot resist asking,

"So how many have you caught today?"



"You're the 8th", replied the old man.

e

 

[edjunior]

I am very lucky to have a 10 acre lake out my back door. I just walk out the back door, grab my pole, and catch two and three pound bass all the time. I have caught a couple that went north of 7 pounds, and bunches of smaller ones. In fact, I caught a little 1 pounder just today. Here is one of my nicer catches from a couple of years ago.

 

[Professor David]

Being from Detroit, I experienced polluted water ways as a kid. The Rough River, which I crossed over each day on the way to school, literally caught on fire in 1969 near Zug Island. The good news is that the Rough is much better these days but I still would not eat fish from it. Thankfully, we live in area with fresh wild trout a few mins away like the ones my son caught recently (see pic).

 

[Onyrlef]

Being from Detroit, I experienced polluted water ways as a kid. The Rough River, which I crossed over each day on the way to school, literally caught on fire in 1969 near Zug Island. The good news is that the Rough is much better these days but I still would not eat fish from it. Thankfully, we live in area with fresh wild trout a few mins away like the ones my son caught recently (see pic).View attachment 171639

Did he catch those on a flyrod?

 

[Professor David]

Did he catch those on a flyrod?

We were doing lake fishing using spinning rods at Pactola lake. I usually use lures or a fly/bubble bobber set up. Love it when the trout hit the lure or fly! I have a fondness for fly fishing on streams but also enjoy lake fishing with lures. I don't use bait since it's boring to me and way too easy. Before we rolled into Detroit in 1968 right after the riots, we lived in Colorado, which is where both my parent are from. My Grandfather and father were fly fishermen...and had me out on the water shortly after I could walk. I grew up fishing on fast moving streams/rivers and then went back every summer to fish in Colorado. Total peace and nirvana for me is fishing on a trout stream.

 

[Laura & Charles]

Being from Detroit, I experienced polluted water ways as a kid. The Rough River, which I crossed over each day on the way to school, literally caught on fire in 1969 near Zug Island. The good news is that the Rough is much better these days but I still would not eat fish from it. Thankfully, we live in area with fresh wild trout a few mins away like the ones my son caught recently (see pic).View attachment 171639

The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire at least 13 times. It inspired the Great Lakes Brewing Co. to create Burning River Ale.

 

[Onyrlef]

We were doing lake fishing using spinning rods at Pactola lake. I usually use lures or a fly/bubble bobber set up. Love it when the trout hit the lure or fly! I have a fondness for fly fishing on streams but also enjoy lake fishing with lures. I don't use bait since it's boring to me and way too easy. Before we rolled into Detroit in 1968 right after the riots, we lived in Colorado, which is where both my parent are from. My Grandfather and father were fly fishermen...and had me out on the water shortly after I could walk. I grew up fishing on fast moving streams/rivers and then went back every summer to fish in Colorado. Total peace and nirvana for me is fishing on a trout stream.

We fished the Platte above 11 mile reservoir a lot way back when. 5-10 lb Brownies in the river, Salmon in the lake. Grew up in North Fl and Co., born in Co. Favorite movie ever is A River Runs Through It. “ [a]nd under the rocks are the words….” Norman Maclean

 

[Professor David]

The Cuyahoga River in Cleveland caught fire at least 13 times. It inspired the Great Lakes Brewing Co. to create Burning River Ale.

Yes, the Cuyahoga is infamous for catching on fire. All that industrial waste flowing down river.

 

[Professor David]

We fished the Platte above 11 mile reservoir a lot way back when. 5-10 lb Brownies in the river, Salmon in the lake. Grew up in North Fl and Co., born in Co. Favorite movie ever is A River Runs Through It. “ [a]nd under the rocks are the words….” Norman Maclean

Yes, the North Platte was really good back in the day (60s). Now it's way, way too crowded like most of Colorado even if you work hard getting to the back country. My sister lives in CO and is an amazing fisherwomen. She has a favorite spot but you need to hike back 6 miles. Now, once you arrive after a 6 mile hike there are way too many frigging people fishing. South Dakota reminds me of CO when I was a kid...zero to few people fishing in back areas. "River runs through it" is one of favorite movies too. Last summer, we were in Montana where the movie was filmed. Incredible fishing areas!!! Blew my mind. My heart was going pitter patter the whole time. Plan to go back soon for tons and tons of fishing.

 

[Laura & Charles]

Yes, the Cuyahoga is infamous for catching on fire. All that industrial waste flowing down river.

It’s a decent beer, too.

 

[Ohiosnowbird]

We were in a bbq place today in Arkansas and two old-timers were complaining they went fishing yesterday and didn’t catch a thing. Hubby said to them, “that’s why it’s called fishing, if you caught stuff all the time, it would be called catching”. Funniest thing I’ve heard him say in awhile. The old-timers laughed too: “ain’t never heard it put quite that way before”.

 

[Tulecreeper]

We were in a bbq place today in Arkansas and two old-timers were complaining they went fishing yesterday and didn’t catch a thing. Hubby said to them, “that’s why it’s called fishing, if you caught stuff all the time, it would be called catching”. Funniest thing I’ve heard him say in awhile. The old-timers laughed too: “ain’t never heard it put quite that way before”.

My dad told me that when I was a kid. Also, that's why it's called 'hunting' and not 'killing'. Contrary to what a lot of non/anti-hunters think, a hunter does not kill game with every shot. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm an avid duck hunter and quite a good shot with a shotgun and even I can only connect maybe 70%, and that's on a good day. On an average day, I down a bird with about every 3 or 4 shots.

 

[1stimerver]

Believe it or not the Delaware in north NJ has cleaned up remarkably well since I was a youngun. The small mouth bass are incredible near the water gap over the last few years.

 

[old_toys]

Believe it or not the Delaware in north NJ has cleaned up remarkably well since I was a youngun. The small mouth bass are incredible near the water gap over the last few years.

back in 1957 we lived north of Bristol Pa and you could see the NJ factories across the Delaware river and they all had big 12inch pipes dumping liquid every color of the rainbow into the river.
didn't kill us as we ate a lot of fish i caught on the Pa side. don't know if the tide coming in and out swept a lot of it away.