Good old days fishing

[DEVOREFLYER]

We often talk about the “Good Old Days”. I often look up old history about the local area. Here is an excerpt from an article about the upper Santa Ana River in 1869:

Cattle and sheep grazing were not the only enticements of the upper Santa Ana. Hunting and fishing opportunities lured increasing numbers of lowland residents to the area from the late 1860’s on. The San Bernardino Guardian of July 10, 1869 reported that a party went “to the head of the Santa Ana and brought back a near wagonload of fish and eight deer.” Trout fishing was so good on the upper Santa Ana that one pair of anglers caught 60 trout in two hours, another pair 90 trout in one day in 1873, two San Bernardino resident packed into the basin and caught 300 trout in one day.

Wonder what happened and where all the fish went..........lol

[cutbait]

We do bag on environmental wackos but sometimes they have a point.


Thanks for that post.. if only there were a time machine

[DEVOREFLYER]

I remember when the trout limit was 15 and when it was reduced to 5 ya thought the world was gonna end. I also remember drift boating on the lower Owens river when 90% of the trout we caught were brownies and most were over 18".

[old pudd fisher]

Things have changed Dev and will change even more years to come. I love the good fun things I did years ago. It was all so simple.

[muskyman]

And all the steelhead that ran up the river too. And the bears that use to inhabit the region too, I thought it was grizzlys if my memory was correct. Crazy how man jacks things up.

[cutbait]

Before the white men, here in Bakersfield we had tulare lake, Buena Vista lake... grizzlies, mountain lions, tule elk... the Indians had a bunch of fun back then.

Though they didn't have a concrete river with stripers in it so one might ask how much fun that really was?

[old pudd fisher]

Just boned a lot maybe and walked around naked.

[DEVOREFLYER]

Collectin' scalps with holes in the middle sounds like a lotta fun........:Shocked:

[DEVOREFLYER]

Caught a few of these in San Felipe Baja with my parents in the late 1950's. Incredible fish that was almost caught to extinction.

http://www.mexfish.com/mexi/mexi/af051209/af051209.htm

[Riverdale]

Wow Great article,once caught from shore using hand lines OMG!!!!Thanks for sharing!!

[DarkShadow]

You don't even have to go that far....

I remember fishing Castaic in the early 90s and having days where 5 to 8 pound largemouth were common, and I barely knew what I was doing.

In my ignorance, I thought catching 25 to 30 fish in the Spring was normal, and the average size of fish being 4 pounds was normal.