not forgotten

[boneaddict]

This used to be one of my favorite days of the year.  I can remember laying in bed with almost as much excitement as the hunting season opener, with the anticipation of the alarm going off.  Nothing is bigger in a kids life than that early morning bonding with their dad or grandfather.  Those were the days.  I'm not sure where I lost that excitement.  Growing up sucks sometimes I guess.  Maybe it was the move to trophy fish, maybe it was the lack of time with dad where the excitement is lost.   It was a simplier time.  There weren't sports for young kids at that time.  Those are cherished memories and they are not forgotten.  I can only hope that there is some young man out there right now freezing with his Dad anticipating that fish to bite. I pray I never lose that feeling towards hunting.

[quadrafire]

Yea bone, I agree. Instead of fishing we have and 8:30 soccer game today. Oh well. They grow up fast, and I don't want to miss what they enjoy.
I'm not real big on the opening day rat race anyhow.

[boneaddict]

Yep, two basketball games today and two soccer games.  Its crazy.  I was supposed to work today but had to take a vacation day to make sure the kids made it to their seperate events.   Nuts. 

[buckhorn2]

Me to got the grand kids here and the poles rigged and looked out and it;s raining so letting them sleep in maybe this afternoon. Rain did;nt used to bother me but now I seem to look at the weather reports more often. Put a picture up of the game bone I really like to see those.

[WCTaxidermy]

Bone, your right on.  During my daughters school, my time was spent on school activities.  Now that she is out of school, we are making up for lost time.   Your post sure brought the memories back for me.  Fortunately I still am able to enjoy a day on the water with my dad.  He just turned 94 and can still get in and out of the boat and sometimes out fish me.  We sure share the good old days stories while fishing.  John
 

[jackelope]

I was feeling the same way this morning. A lot of the places I like to fish are already open or don't open till 6/1 but I know what you're saying.
My 2 year old did tell me she wanted to go fishing today so we're off to a good start.

[bearpaw]

Good post bone, I didn't even try to go fishing today, when I was younger, we camped out for a week at a time and I would go to work from camp and come back and fish after work. GREAT MEMORIES, not sure where exactly my priorities got all srewed up.

[cohoho]

Agree, mine have many opportunites to fish in some of the finest fishing in the world (AK), but here lately are more into Hockey, Girls and video games... Well maybe they'll come back around sometime and enjoy Sturgeon fishing with me before it's gone too.

[cougkilr]

good post, my twin baby girls are ten and a half months old, not this year, but just thining back to the excitment of going out on opening day gets me pumped up for the day that they are ready to go with me, good memories, and many more to make...

[bearpaw]

Agree, mine have many opportunites to fish in some of the finest fishing in the world (AK), but here lately are more into Hockey, Girls and video games... Well maybe they'll come back around sometime and enjoy Sturgeon fishing with me before it's gone too.

cohoho, at least some of your priorities sound right on....

[ICEMAN]

No kidding. I grew up on a lake here in Thurston county. Biggest day of the year for me was opening day of fishing. Being on the lake for so many years, I saw it go from a flotilla of boats, literally hundreds, to just a few dozen. Guys trolling around in circles all day to fill everyones stringer with fish.

Good memories of guys yanking on boat motors trying to get them running, to other guys wrapping their props full of line and tackle...    Heck, I remember one time as a young little hooligan, after we caught our fish, we went back out and troll frayed lines and blamed some old guy for cutting off our popgear! As I recall, the guy paid my buddy a few bucks.

I used to dig worms on our lot and sell them from the dock each year. Wouldn't sell a ton....but hey, I was having fun. Come home from school and toss the books, grab a snack and go fish until dinner. My mom placed a bell on the house facing the lake and would ring it thirty minutes before I was supposed to be back. I rowed a thousand miles on that lake. Put a thousands more on a teeny tiny old Shakespeare two speed trolling motor. Great memories.

Instead, this opener I was working on a trailer in my front yard in the rain. Hitting the Capitol grounds for a rally, Kids to Taekwondo and Ballet. My mother still lives on the lake and we spent dinner at Grandma's house, only saw two boats on the lake fishing for the evening bite. Pretty sad....

I will get my kids out fishing alot this spring/summer, but they will never have that pent up excitement for the opener. I felt that emotion for a dozen years growing up on a lake and am a better man for it.

[rasbo]

never got excited about opening season for lakes..Mineral cured me of that..We do like the high lake opener..When the boys were young there was always a lake open to fish .The excitement the night before an outting and that morning was and  always will be good memories..I cant help but think how many kids will get hooked on the outdoors because of the first day of fishing the opener and the traditions that follow..Great family times...

[billythekidrock]

I agree. For dozens of years my father, my brother and I would debate what lake to hit, how many canoes to take and over what type of gear would be best. This year we worked a 12 hour day putting on a new roof.  

I used to love the cleaning of gear, purchasing the latest and greatest as well as the old standbys. Getting up early and freezing my butt off was part of the fun. Not so much anymore and it is a shame.  

The desire for creek fishing lasted a bit longer and sometimes I still want to hit our fav spot for the opener.

[BigGoonTuna]

i've never really much cared for trout(other than smoked holdovers), and i used to fish hicks lake every opener.  this was the first one i've missed since i was old enough to hang on to a rod...probably around 20 years.  used to be i could fill a stringer with a mixture of perch, crappie and bluegill as well as some big trout, but in the last 10 years i haven't caught a single one of those on opening day!  it's like they all disappeared.

i don't know about the boat traffic dwindling down over the years, i think if anything it's stayed the same or increased, but the thing i've noticed is that there's almost nobody who fishes after the opener any more.  that's more than likely the reason why WDFW requires you to buy an annual license to fish the opener, because everyone seems to lose interest afterward.

[Curly]

I grew up living on a Thurston County lake too, like Iceman.  Actually the lake just upstream from him.  Growing up, I spent almost everyday on the water during fishing season.  Opening day was a really big deal.  My parents had a boat ramp and lots of friends and family would come over opening day and launch their boats.  My mom would make lots of food and snacks for everyone.....it was like a huge party on that opening Sunday.

Back in the late 70's I remember there being so many boats on the lake that you could practically walk across the lake going from boat to boat on the opening Sunday morning.  Seems to me that starting in the late 80's each year the number of boats would decline.  Then about the time they started having opening day on Saturday, the numbers would really decline. 

I believe a lot of the lack of interest started happening when the size of fish went down.  Used to be that the average size trout was close to 12" with a lot of 14" fish thrown in and quite a few 16 inchers and you'd usually be able to catch some decent 18" and 20" fish.

Also, there used to be lots of perch to be caught (decent size ones too).  That was great fun for kids.  Then the WDFW decided to put some big brown trout in there to thin out the perch population.

My parents have since moved away from the lake place, but the last few years that they lived there no one would come over for the opener anymore.  I stopped by there several years ago in the afternoon on the opener and was shocked at seeing only one guy in a boat trolling around out there.