Thirty years ago there was no such thing as a 10 inch screen on the top of a boat console that could tell you exactly where you were in real time. There was no magic machine that could look deep into the bottom and tell you exactly what the structure looked like and also if there were a bunch of fish down there. We didn’t have 40 foot center console boats that could run at 50 MPH in a 3-4 foot sea or skinny water flats boats with a 100 mile range that could float in 5 inches of water. We didn’t have $400 sunglasses or reels with super slick drags and hair like fishing line and we surely didn’t have the damn internet! The advances in fishing technology has exploded over the past few decades and it has allowed even novice fisherman the ability to have a good shot at being able to catch fish and for those of us who were already pretty good at catching fish without technology we can go out and wreak havoc. We can run further, go faster, stay out longer and find areas that only a few years ago were untouched. And then came the internet! It used to be that most fisherman kept their mouth shut about their favorite fishing holes and a secret spot was just that…a secret spot, but with the internet there is no such thing as secret spots anymore. With a multitude of online fishing websites, weather websites, articles, you tube videos, social media, daily fishing reports, online forums and chat rooms you can sit at your desk at work and know exactly when and where fish are being caught in real time. And once it hits the net you better believe that everybody with a fishing rod will be heading out as soon as they can to get into the action. It has gotten to the point that the fish really don’t have a chance, they get beat on day in and day out with very few places left to seek refuge. Stay tuned for next month as we will be will be discussing how environmental and economic influences have impacted our fisheries.
