50 years ago the entire Sacramento river drainage was a great fisheries.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Even though all the rivers had been dammed up by then the fishing was still wonderful.



In the Spring we had big runs of Spring King salmon, Spring Half-pounders, Stripers and Shad.

In the Fall we had Fall King salmon and Fall Steelhead runs.

In the Winter we had Winter-run Eel river strain Steelhead.

We had good Smallmouth bass fishing in many rivers and creeks.

I can only imagine the LMB in the Delta back then?


I was introduced to all this good fishing by a group of old time Sacramento fly fishers.

These members of the Greatest Generation took us Baby Boomers with them.

They were also the founding members of the California Fly Fishers Unlimited.

Most of them were involved in World War II and/or the Korean War.

I can only image the fishing and hunting they had growing up in America in the 1920s and 1930s?


Slowly all this fishing and hunting has slipped away.....




* I worked in a big sporting goods store 50 years ago and the week before the Pheasant season opener they had to bring in a bunch

of people to sell hunting licenses, tags and shotgun shells to the massive amount of hunters.


There were camp grounds between Sacramento and Redding where hundreds of people came for these huge runs of fish.

[Tony Buzolich]

Remember when driving around that area you'd see pheasants standing on those rice checks or berms sunning themselves? When was the last time you even saw a pheasant around these area?

Before they built the Sacramento International Airport my dad and I would walk all those small ditches. It was just open country then and he'd have me get in the ditch to flush birds and go retrieve them when he'd knock one down. I was the dog then :)
Tony

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Yes Tony

There were so many Chinese Ring Neck Pheasants that we really didn't need to have a dog.

Back then we did a lot of "road hunting" because people did not really mind you doing a little hunting on their land.

Imagine today a car load of teenagers driving around with guns?



A friend of mine and I were talking about our teenage years in the 1960s where he had a gun rack in the back window of his pickup.

The principle asked him if he would hide the guns behind the seat when he was parked on the high school property.

We hunted and fished before and after school in the Good Old Days.



Some friends of my in south Sac had a "duck mobile" which was a large 1958 Ford station wagon.

They raised all the suspension for ground clearance and put big mud-n-snow tires on the rear.

They could haul lots of duck decoys in the back of it.

[tcorfey]

I remember walking down the street to the woods near our neighborhood to go hunting pheasant. Three teenagers carrying shotguns. Only got stopped once by the police because a person who just moved up from "the city" reported us as looking dangerous. The police officer just asked us to show him the guns were unloaded and the breach was open while we were walking on the street. Don't see that nowadays too many people from "the city" have changed all that. Well that and the woods are now home to a large warehouse. It's a shame that opportunity and freedom has been lost.

[Tony Buzolich]

We got called on to the police because we were shooting too close to some houses, Police came and called us over to their car an told about being too close.
Then asked what's in the canvas bag we had??? Opened it up and it was full of vermin of all kinds from jack rabbits to pidgeons to crows, etc. All the cop could do was smile and tell us to get on home as it was almost dark. I told the cop we were really tired and could we have a ride. Again the cop smiled, put all our stuff in the trunk and gave a ride all the way to my house.
Talk about the good old days :)
Tony

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Great stories.......we were lucky to be born right after World War II.



75% of America's land mass is rural and if you go there it is much like it was during our early days.

We go to South Dakota's rural farmland where everyone hunts and fishes.

Lots of folks still go to church on Sunday.

Lots of American flags flying everywhere.

Our old America still exists in the rural land............go there.