Were they really "the good old days?"

It has often been said that if you don’t learn anything from the past you will be destined to repeat your actions in the future. Looking back on the past and learning from folks who have “been down that road before” is interesting as well as enlightening. I really enjoy listening to people recount stories from the “good old days”, especially when it comes to fishing. It almost always seems that the stories and memories from the past are bigger than life and nearly mythic in every way. The fish were bigger, the water was better, and fishing in general was at the height of its potential. Sometimes those stories get stretched a little out of proportion but hey that’s what fishermen do and a little embellishment really never hurt anyone did it? But what if you could get a first hand account of what it was really like minus the hype, that would be a great story wouldn’t it?

On a recent trip I had a client ask me one of the usual questions “how long have you been guiding?” I answered with a smile about my own career and began to name off some of the other guides on the lake who have been around longer and helped me along the way. With that thought in mind I remembered one man who has perhaps seen as much of

Sabine Lake and local marsh fishing as anyone, Capt. Noson Fontenot. I can remember years ago sitting down with Noson and quizzing him about the “old days”. I set out to find some of those notes from that conversation and luckily was able to put my hands on them. At the time of our conversation Noson had been patrolling Sabine Lake in various crafts in search of fish for nearly 50 years, so you can see why he would be a good authority on the subject.

Back when Noson started fishing the lake in the late 40’s with the help of his 14 foot plywood boat and 10 horse outboard motor, boat or fishing traffic was almost zero. “You may fish for a week and not see 3 boats” said Noson, “the lake was wide open”. During the 50’s and 60’s there were some days when the shrimp in the lake were so thick “they would almost stop your boat” according to Fontenot. Limits on fish were basically unheard of and most folks caught all they wanted. “I remember when a Louisiana fishing license cost 75 cents!!” says Noson, “you could buy them at any little store and then go out and load the boat with the 50 fish limit, any combination of trout and reds that added up to 50 was legal”.

As the 70’s rolled around Sabine lake was still a fishing heaven that occasionally was upset by industrial or chemical pollution in the air that seemed to effect fishermen more than fish. More people began to fish the lake and take advantage of the outstanding populations of fish that would migrate in from the gulf. “Every year as the fish would stack up in the surf we would get a dozen or so fellas together and go down to the beach and spread those big seines (nets) out and catch trout by the thousands, we would literally fill up the beds

of trucks with these fish” said Fontenot. “In those days that was a major victory or a great day of fishing according to most of us, now that I look back we were foolish to be so greedy”

The fishing on Sabine Lake would trend up for several years and then drop off like anything else for a while until the 80’s came around. “The 80’s was probably some of the best fishing we have ever had on this lake” said Noson. During the mid 80’s, according to Fontenot, the reef on the south end of the lake virtually came alive with big fish. During June of 1987 Noson caught 3 speckled trout over 10 pounds while fishing the reef, so you can see why he would say those 80’s were great. The peak of the big fish coincided with what

may have killed the lake had it not been stopped, commercial netters still roamed the lake and took tons of fish from our waters. “The populations and the size of the fish in the lake really declined for a few years until the netters were banned from our waters, since they have been gone we have seen fishing as a whole improve each and every year” said Fontenot.

The words from that interview still ring true today and really make you think, “Were the good old days really that good?” If you sit back and think about how much smarter we are today and how far we’ve advanced in fishing techniques, stocking practices, and as well as conservation measures. I know on my home water our average speckled trout and redfish are much larger and more prolific than when I started fishing the lake almost 30 years ago. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would ever catch as many big trout as we have without going down south where it seemed like they were everywhere. The incredible population of redfish continues to boggle my mind on an almost daily basis. It’s

amazing what has happened to our fishery in the past decade and how it’s shaped the overall landscape. The two big hurricanes we endured could very well be looked at as Mother Nature working her rejuvenation magic. Since those two catastrophic events we have just been nearly over run with redfish. Schools of fish from 15 inches to 15 pounds seem to be at times around every point and along every shoreline. In my book that would qualify as “good days”, not “good old days”.

The future for the coastal angler appears to be bright as science and common sense seem to be more like partners than enemies these days. The continued strides and efforts made by various organizations and most importantly the everyday fisherman bode well for the days and years ahead.

Were they really "the good old days?"

Comments