The State of Trout Rivers

Take a real, damn hard look in the mirror, and be honest…

Is the TROUT fly-fishing experience better now than it was 10, 20, 30 years ago?

I’m not loading the deck, and I don’t have all the answers. I’m simply asking a question, and I’m hoping that that prompts you to come up with some honest responses.

I’ve never wanted to be that guy who says, “Yeah, but you should have seen it when…”

But having just spent a few weeks fishing at our family cabin in Michigan, on a river when 10, 20 years ago, we could reliably spend an afternoon coaxing at least a few decent fish to eat hopper flies–the fishing has sucked. Worst I’ve ever seen it.

Fishing the upper Colorado River, near where I now live, always (at least usually) produces some nice fish, but, if I were to rate the action in the past year or so on a 1-10 scale, given what I experienced a decade or more before, I’d rate it a “3” and I think that’s being generous.

Granted, there are about a thousand-plus directions you might point a finger: increased fishing pressure, climate change, warming water temperatures, effects of wildfires, a precipitous crash of bug populations, pollution, obsolete dams and more.

To be sure, there are some gleaming success stories of rivers having been brought back from the brink, where catching happens like it never has before.

And that’s wonderful.

And in some places, the wheels of commerce just keep cranking along. Places like the Delaware in New York/Pennsylvania, the Bighorn and Madison in Montana, the Green in Utah and many more places, just keep on keepin’ on. A July trip to the Green made me shudder with the realization of how many boats run that river on a given day (even the “C” section), but my party still caught plenty of fish, on dries, and it was wonderful.

But it seems to me, especially in places that are not tailwater bug factories/trout factories with constant near-perfect water temperatures, the fishing is not what it once was.

Trust me, I work for Trout Unlimited as my day job, and I am keenly tuned into the success stories. I want, more than anything, for the fishing to be better, as a result of the good work the TU and others do, more than anyone.

But I’m hearing 100 times “it isn’t what it once was” for every “it’s the best I’ve ever experienced.” Especially in the places that aren’t a famous tailwater trout fishery.

And that relates to the sizes of fish caught, the numbers of fish caught, the willingness of trout to eat dry flies and pretty much everything else across the board.

So, what gives?

You tell me. I don’t know.

First of all, is that a fair assessment, or am I just hearing it from the jaded anglers? (But please, spare me the promo, propaganda, chamber of commerce bullshit.)

Most importantly, what do you attribute the falling off to, in places that have fallen off? Is it water conditions, climate change, high temps, impacts of fire and floods, increased angling pressure, are the bugs gone, or maybe it’s a mixture of some or all of the above?

Again, I’m not here to point figures; I’m here to figure things out and hopefully point us in a better direction.

Please answer the two-part survey over on our Substack accordingly. – Kirk Deeter