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Seeing all these reports of nice fish has got me thinking about the "good old days" and I want to see if others here remember it the same as I do. I have been fishing for trout on the flats around here on and off since the 1980s, mostly at SM. I am not hardcore, but would fish maybe 10 -15 times a year. Back then, you could keep 10 trout over 12 inches. In those days, I caught lots of 12 inch trout, but I rarely caught a trout more than 15 inches long. As time went by, the minimum lengths went to 13 inches, 14 inches and then to 15 inches. As the minimums increased so did the frequency with which I caught larger trout, but even in the early to mid 1990s I do not remember commonly catching trout over 20 inches. (Net ban was voted in during 1994) Fast forward to today and lots of folks are catching seemingly lots of trout over 22 inches. Something unheard of (by me) 25 years ago. Kind of the same thing with redfish. What do you all think?

Full Box wrote:Seeing all these reports of nice fish has got me thinking about the "good old days" and I want to see if others here remember it the same as I do. I have been fishing for trout on the flats around here on and off since the 1980s, mostly at SM. I am not hardcore, but would fish maybe 10 -15 times a year. Back then, you could keep 10 trout over 12 inches. In those days, I caught lots of 12 inch trout, but I rarely caught a trout more than 15 inches long. As time went by, the minimum lengths went to 13 inches, 14 inches and then to 15 inches. As the minimums increased so did the frequency with which I caught larger trout, but even in the early to mid 1990s I do not remember commonly catching trout over 20 inches. (Net ban was voted in during 1994) Fast forward to today and lots of folks are catching seemingly lots of trout over 22 inches. Something unheard of (by me) 25 years ago. Kind of the same thing with redfish. What do you all think?

I am too young to have much to say on the topic, but its very interesting, I often wonder what the future holds for the sport... it'd be interesting to see how things pan out within the next 30 years and if this possible trend continues or takes a different turn.

I think the net ban had more to do with it than the slot sizes and bag limits. Also fishing patterns have changed. Also, the water quality is better overall.

I used to fish the Aucilla and Ecofina in the late 80's and early 90's and it was full of 22 to 26 inch fish back then. The same with Ft Pierce during the 80's, there were a lot of big ones around, but you had to target them just as we do now. I think there are more of us targeting teh bigger fish than we used to have.

But you could anchor between any two spoils islands and catch a limit of 12 to 13's with double trout touts in a couple of hours.

Now if you stop somewhere and start catching 12's you move. However, the best tasting specks were still the 12 to 13 inch ones. HMMMMM.

I rarely take any over 20 unless I gill hook them and if they have obvious roe bellies I try to not even touch them. Bless the Fish Grips and the Dehookers we now have.

All and All, the inshore fishery is getting better, but I think it is the holistic approach from Sportsmen and as many members of my family would remind me at the expense of the Commercial Fishery.

We dont make buggy whips anymore either, but we still have some fine horses around.

The fishery for trout seems to have gone down and then back up somewhat over the last 40 or so years from what I recall.

I can remember when there were no size or bag limits on trout. Folks used to catch the smaller trout by the washtub full drifting the flats using jigs, cut mullet or shiner tails for bait. For these fish 15" was a pretty good trout. Pinfish weren't pinfish back then, they were shiners. The guides used cypress boats. These were big, heavy, flat bottom skiffs with a pointed bow that never planed. Nobody had that much motor back then. A 50 was a bi-ig motor and there weren't many of those around. The commercial gill netters were still using nylon nets. Mono wasn't quite yet the hot new thing in gill nets or cast nets. At least not around here. The commercial trout fishermen were still using Calcutta poles. Dad and both Grandpas used to go to a certain place, that I still fish, when the tide was right and come back with huge trout. By todays standards these fish would be unheard of. We just cleaned them and ate them like all the smaller trout; and it wasn't unusual to find the big ones like that under the right conditions. This was in the days when the older set still referred to the refrigerator as the "ice box"; and some refrigerators still had pull-handle latches on the doors for the kids to get trapped inside. This used to greatly concern my Grandma Pulley even though it was repeatedly pointed out that she had so much food inside there was no room for a kid.

I can remember when FL first enacted a 12" minimum size limit on trout. If you read the fine print at the bottom of the regs there was one county in the whole state that was exempt from the size limit and that was Wakulla County. I don't know why it was like that or how long that lasted, but that's the way it was for a few years. I don't remember when the first bag limit was enacted. That may have come along with the size limit or it may have been later. This was about the time living on the coast became more popular, and about the time the trout fishing began to fall off.

I do recall a conversation with my Grandpa Pulley when the bag limit went from 10 - 5. He steered me in the right direction by pointing out that we never kept 10 each anyway, because they stayed fresher if you left them in the water until you wanted more rather than freezing them.

After the net ban took effect the trout fishing started picking up again, and seems to have gotten slowly but steadily better until you see what we have today. We still don't have them in the numbers and size that we did, but it's better than it was.

I can't really comment on the reds because we never targeted them back then. They were just something else we caught incidental to fishing for trout.

I don't think we'll ever see it again the way it was. Back then there just weren't nearly as many people around. A lot fewer people meant a lot fewer boats and what boats there were ran a lot less horsepower. Fewer boats tearing across the flats at a blazing 10 mph meant a lot less disturbance of the fish. A lot fewer houses along the coast and a lot fewer boats meant a lot less pollution in the water. Nobody used electronics for locating trout back then. Nobody had it, and you didn't need it.

Scallops. It used to be easy to walk out in front of Live Oak Island on a low tide and come back laboring under the weight of a full 5 gallon bucket. If you took the boat and went out to the flats SE of Live Oak Island to what we still call The Scallop Bar you could load the boat just by wading. Sure you can still find a few in those places, but if you want to specifically go scalloping you're wasting your time anywhere west of the Lighthouse, even in a good year. Like the trout, I don't think this has anything to do with how many we took back then, but the quality of the water and how many more people are pressuring the resources, and in what ways.

what a great read charles. thank you very much for posting. there is so much to learn from people who grew up, lived, and worked this fantastic slice of paradise. i have heard many of those same stories from dakidd, who spent much of his life around spring creek. it is always such a pleasure to fish and listen to him recall some of the good ole days. The things they saw, ate, found, and did fascinate me. These stories should be recorded before they are gone forever. For those of you haven't read "the spring creek chronicles", you may consider putting them on your x-mas lists.
Again, thanks for posting.

Had to weigh in with my two cents worth. I moved to the Panama City area straight out of high school in 1973 and have made my living in on and around the water ever since. I remember when no licence at all was required for anyone, Florida resident or not, to take just about anything from saltwater. In the winter I recall the locals lining up sholder to sholder at the dam or hotwater canal from the powerplant and catching trout by the hundereds. It was also perfectly legal for anyone to sell what they caught so anyone trying to make a buck off the tourists automatically became a "commercial fisherman" shortly after Labor Day. During the summer you could wade any bayshore and catch more scallops and blue crabs than you could ever use.
Redfish were plentiful but why would anyone want to catch one? There was no commercial market and lets be honest, as table fare they werent all that great. All that changed with a Cajun chef named Paul Prudomme and his blackened redfish recipe. It was a NATIONAL sensation and for a while some of us were paying for our trips (or new outboards) with a seeminly endless supply of redfish selling for a whopping 35 cents a pound. We pretty much destroyed the triggerfish population the same way. McDonalds started buying them for fish sandwiches and suddenly the most cussed at trash fish in the Gulf was paying the fuel. They were stupid, plentiful and easy to catch so we slaughtered them. Now theyre hard to find. Go figure.
I have certainly "disagreed" with some of the rules and regs and the science behind them but for trout and reds IT HAS WORKED! They are back. Now lets get to work on water quality and stop treating every natural resource like its ours alone for the taking. Can we start with the Fenholloway river?

Interesting read guys. You are right on about water quality. I also recommend reading Spring Creek Chronicles.

I have mixed feelings about the net ban. I was fortunate to go on a few dozen gill netting trips in my day. Caught lots of mullet for the table, friends, family and the smoker. I truly loved it. I think its too bad something else short of a net ban couldn't have been enacted, like partial closure during the roe season, larger mesh size, etc. Now, when I want a roe mullet to release into the grease, I buy a few from Mr. Rivers.

The recreational fisherman won the war...and rod and reel fishing, at least, is better for it.

Thanks to all who responded.

New guy here. Grew up in the panhandle (Ft Walton) and east coast (Indian river area) then military/gov took me away. Moving to PSJ when I retire in 2 years. This is an interesting subject...

I've often mentioned to my son (he remained in the east coast) that I think the water quality and fishing has gotten better since I was in H.S. (70's). This is my view from periodically returning to both the Indian River & Panhandle/PSJ areas over the last 20+ years. From a distance I was surprised when I heard about the saltwater rules/regs being put in place. _Something_ seems to have worked.

I guess what I'm saying is that I've had a "periodic" view of these places (kinda like only seeing my grandchildren every few months - the difference is more profound) and I like what I've seen. For the most part - what happend to Destin shocks me (negatively - condo canyons I call it) and I hope it doens't happen on the FC.

Looking forward to joining you all in about 25 months (but who's counting)

2-17-25 I found this kind of on accident and it was great. I had Grandparents who had the same problems with their ice box. When Grandmother went to heaven in 2009 we found cans with aluminum foil on them airtight from 2003 and she would have beat anybody who tried to throw one away.

I’ll add that we always called Redfish Channel Bass until the 90s when the sport part took off in Florida. People always ate them before the Cajuns but they were just another fried fish. I remember gill nets in hindsight but didn’t quite understand what was going on at the time. I just knew it was some kind of big net that brought in the same kind of fish. All I remember was average sized mullet but in hindsight it was probably Mullet, Whiting, and Bluefish and I couldn’t tell the difference. Then 1 day my folks grabbed me to show me something they’d caught. I’d gotten uninterested in them bringing in the same fish from the ocean which I understood had sharks and whales and stuff in it, but then finally in the net was what I was told was a giant Sheephead. I’ll never forget that fish it was a dang monster.

Well said.

I missed the Fenholloway comment. Has anybody been fishing out there? I think he discussed how the fishing had improved out there a few years ago and that somebody posted a cooler full of bream they’d even caught.

I have not heard that but good to know.