I came to Atlanta in 74 and pollution of the Chattahoochee River was an issue. So I wrote this little poem about it that is still only recorded in my head. "Oh the fish in the river down south of the line they look mighty healthy they sparkle and shine. But you shouldn't clean them and you ought not to eat cause the poisons embedded its chemical meat. Now the politicians gather they laugh and they smile but they don't sit on the river line tight for a while. They talk about drugs some take by free choice while life in the river has no means to voice. While the limousines idle around the Capitol Dome I'm lost in confusion a fight to atone. Devising a program a political need that's thrown out of committee by money and greed."

I came to Atlanta in 74 and pollution of the Chattahoochee River was an issue. So I wrote this little poem about it that is still only recorded in my head. "Oh the fish in the river down south of the line they look mighty healthy they sparkle and shine. But you shouldn't clean them and you ought not to eat cause the poisons embedded its chemical meat. Now the politicians gather they laugh and they smile but they don't sit on the river line tight for a while. They talk about drugs some take by free choice while life in the river has no means to voice. While the limousines idle around the Capitol Dome I'm lost in confusion a fight to atone. Devising a program a political need that's thrown out of committee by money and greed."

Not to open a debate about global warming here but I was curious what my fellow anglers thought about the following question:

For whatever reasons(weather, too much fishing pressure, pollution, lack of public access, etc), have you noticed a decline in your success fishing? Are you catching fewer fish? Do you work harder to catch now than you did say 5 or 10 years ago?

Any particular reasons that you think has changed your results or are they just as good as always?

I'll give you my thoughts on this later. You folks go first.

Good topic g..
Personally I have not seen a decline in numbers of bass and walleye, especially in the greatlakes, where for the past 40+ years I have done 90% of my fishing….I believe but cannot document that the Lakes are much cleaner that when I started fishing the Detroit River from the bank back in late 60’s, early 70’s. White bass populations in the spring were huge…and they still are today… I believe walleye populations are bigger that ever… and small mouth bass populations are bigger than they ever were also. I used to fish perch, but I don’t anymore, so I have no experience with their populations one way or another…. I have a few friends who do fish perch, and all in all they seem to do well, as I usually get a bag or two of fillets from them..I kind of quit fishing inland lakes because they just couldn’t hold a candle to the big lakes as far as numbers and sheer size of fish..but I am only one person, so a very small limited view point….

Northern Puget Sound has gone so far down hill that Most species of fish can not even be fished for and those that can have such short seasons that the season can be wiped out entirely for small boats by a windy few weeks. I dan remember on most any day, going out in my 10 foot inflatable and getting my 10 rockfish, a couple lings and and all the greenling I wanted to catch. For me, the limits were just a target, as I released almost everything but the lings. I caught most rockfish using bass and trout gear while casting bass jigs, in under 30 feet of water. I am no longer allowed to fish for rockfish but that little maters, because I rarely catch one as by catch fishing for greenling. Just a side note, catching greenling has also become a challenge. For some reason the massive bull kelp beds are dwindling to kelp patches. Oh well, in a few more years I will be to old to go anyway. As for fresh water, the local bass fishing is in all likelihood better, but I can not say for sure as I don't like fishing the milfoil that is clogging all my old favorite fishing spots. Salmon I won't even get into. On the positive side, stocked trout are much larger than they used to be and triploids add a bit of spice. Kokanee have turned alot of lakes into good fishing locations and taken the pressure off of other fish in many of those lakes.

Bottom Line: More people means less fish per person and more commercial caught fish consumed, combined with more pollution, loss of high yield habitat and higher environmental impact.