Dave LaCourse wrote:


I never returned to the SJ because of the conditions. I have fished other
tailwaters and never saw the beat up fish that the SJ contains. I fished the
Big Horn and never caught a fish with lip sores or so defeated that it couldn't
fight.


What you saw is nothing unique. Fertile rivers that are heavily fished
will have fish setup below wading anglers. Some of the places I've seen
that are the Yellowstone in the Park, the Green, the Bighorn, the North
Platte, the South Platte etc. (Although Charlie may say they can't learn
- joke Charlie) fish are smart enough to make the association over time
that wading fishermen mean food.

Every heavily fished C&R water is going to have "scarred" up fish. The
more pressure and angler success, the more common this is. On all the
rivers I mentioned above, I've caught fish that had "scars" from being
hooked before (yes even the BIGHORN). On many heavily fished C&R rivers
the average fish is caught several times a season. Being hooked causes
some damage even from the most careful angler and from careless anglers????

Willi