Why I Temporarily Quit Trout Fishing

Wild trout are entwined with my soul. I need them, at least every now and then, in order to feel comfortable. I need to see them, I need to fool them, I need to hold them in my hands and try my best to capture their beauty in a digital format. But right now, I am taking a break from fishing for wild trout. It won't be a long break, but in my opinion I owe it to the fish., and I'm going to try to make the case that you should do the same.

On a fairly recent trip, I fished an unlisted, un-stocked, polluted, hard to access small stream. I had only ever seen one other person fish it in the past and I shared it with a small handful of my inner circle of small water wild trout junkies. I've also made sure to mask its possible identity the handful of times I've written about it, maybe employed a bit of "smoke and mirrors" even, and flat out lied about where fish were caught to certain people. But on this trip, the first day I'd been there this year, there were foot prints on just about every sandbar but the hardest to get to, very clearly fisherman, and very clearly fisherman that had no idea what the hell they were doing. There was no cautious approach, no respect for the banks. New trails were worn, bank erosion was obvious. There was trash. More than normal. Fishing trash: line, worm containers, snagged rigs. The number of people not at work or school, want for things to do, venturing to places they wouldn't have otherwise is huge.

I fish 250-320 days a year, right now a no insignificant amount of my income is tied to fishing. So this might sound selfish, like I just don't want other people on what I kinda consider to be my water. It isn't mine, though I have put a lot of work into finding much of it, and I'll be damned if I just sit by and watch a bunch of goons do serious and lasting damage to these places. Thing is, I don't think many of the people who are doing the damage are reading this blog. I think you all reading this are probably mostly very respectful and responsible. So it might be time for those of us that do really care to lay off a little bit. It might be time to give trout a break, because as far as freshwater fish go they are likely the most highly targeted in the country behind black bass, especially in places like the Northeast. There is "trout culture" here. I hate what that culture represents, as it has put fish in an arbitrary hierarchy and lead to a massively skewed idea of what the word conservation means, but for better or worse (it's worse for sure. A few billion times over) that odd trout culture exists here an a LOT of people want to go out and catch trout and don't really care to fish for other species. That's a problem. Increased fishing pressure is focused on a handful of fish species in a more limited number of waters rather than being distributed across all available species and waters. Trout are sensitive fish, very sensitive, and the habitats that can support them are also sensitive. Merely being present on a trout stream, wading in it, walking the banks, has small negative impacts. Catching the trout themselves increases the negative impacts. I generally try to be a non-interventionist naturalist, and that flies completely in the face of also being a fisherman. To catch a fish I need to intervene, and my intervention will always be a negative impact on that fish's life. I've accepted that. And I think there are times when we need to chose, individually, whether we are willing to have that negative impact on the fish, the riparian zone, and everything we interact with on the stream.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is such a time. This won't last forever, this pandemic. But the negative impacts of dramatically increased pressure on sensitive waterways might. Please consider fishing for something other than trout. Spread the fishing pressure out. And, of course, if you do fish a trout stream, report any law infractions to CT DEEP. Oh, and keep a stocked trout here and there if legal. Because those are pollution too, the worst outcome or perhaps the cause of "trout culture". Turn the tide. Fish for something else, maybe even something different each time you go out. Even if it's still in a stream. Do it for the fish.

Wild trout are entwined with my soul... but trout also aren't everything. Accepting that and fishing for other species instead just may save one or two special trout spots from short term destruction.

Until next time,

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

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