wrote:
I don't want Tim to be right about this, because
****, I like to fish. Work sucks. My kids are grown.
Late in life the only pleasures left are the
the three f's of happines:
family friends and fishing (not fishing fighting and ****ing).
.....or maybe that's the 5 good things left.

But I have to say, despite all that, fishing is starting to lose its
alure.
When I drive up to Wolf Creek to fish the Missouri
and see 100 driftboats launching at once, I just
want to turn around and drive home. I have a lifelong friend
Randy who won't even fish in Montana anymore.

And yes, I know, because I make and popularize
driftboats, I'm guiltier than most. Byt blame isn't the point.
Crowded fishing conditions suck.

And there's a connection lurking there too, between
pain-in-the ass crowded fishing conditions and what Tim's been
talking about.

I remember when my dad and I first started fishing Sough Creek
and the Lamar in Yellowstone in the early 1960s. We'd fish
all week long and see maybe 2- 3 other fishermen.
And we knew all three of them. That's what I really liked about
fishing in
Montana, way back then. And those days are long gone, forever.

That's how I remember it too. There was a time, if you saw someone, or
a car, you were obliged to go somewhere else or make a damned good
effort to go up and around a long way above or below him to fish,
hopefully without him never being made aware of your presence. Fishing
to 'unspooked' fish was a primary quality of the experience. Then, to
go back to camp or home, with a few fish, eaten and never, ever wasted,
was the fishing experience. I remember the first time a 'guide' waded
right through my drift on the frying pan, I'll never forget that. I
don't think that they will ever be successful at eliminating
subsistence fishing, but, pure catch and release and no biological
management justification, will lose, and might lose to a popular vote
if put to it today.

Your pal,

Halfordian Golfer
Guilt replaced the creel