I received a bulging letter stuffed with photos in the mail this week from a fishing client. These were good old 4x6 prints, like we used to get in the mail a few days after sending the roll of film off. The photos took me back a few decades to, seemingly, a primitive age. They made me ponder some changes that I've witnessed in the past quarter century.

"What are some changes that you've noticed in the Sandhills over the years?"

This is one of the most asked questions that I get at book signings. It's not a question with easy answers. Some things are obvious, like the arrival of the internet, which connects ranchers with the entire world. From the beginning of time until just a few years ago, folks could live in places where all they knew was what they lived, read about in books, or watched in the evening news. Those were simpler times. Not so today.

One evening a few years ago I sat in a rustic, two-story ranch house and discussed old times with a seasoned Sandhiller. Buck worked ranches his entire life and recently made the switch from horse-drawn equipment to tractor power. He lamented the life savings that he spent on machines to replace his beloved work horses. "Tractors and big-round hay balers and processors have taken the place of several ranch hands and their families. What used to take lots of man power is now done with diesel-fueled horsepower. Young people are leaving the hills to raise their families in the cities, where the jobs are."

I began fishing the Sandhills in the 80's and started guiding anglers a decade later. Fishing in the Sandhills is a fickle affair. The ecosystem of a Sandhills lake is a fragile thing. Imagine all the ingredients that it takes to keep fish alive and thriving in six feet of water with the weather extremes that we experience in this part of the world. Fish need to survive minus forty temps in the winter, one hundred ten degree days in the summer, and droughts that cut the water depth in half. Add predators such as pelicans and cormorants that find these shallow lakes to their liking and it's a wonder that any fish can survive. Then there's possibly the biggest destroyer of the water ecosystem-- the common carp. Thanks to well intending, but short sighted Europeans that brought the carp to America, we now have a fish that is nearly impossible to eradicate. This fish can move in and destroy a Sandhill lake in the matter of a few short years. All this leads to my motto about fishing the Sandhills lakes: "If you find good fishing you'd better hit it hard, because it's not going to last."

Now, back to the photos that I received in the mail, I realize that some things will never change in the Sandhills. People who don't live here will always be struck by the peaceful feeling that envelopes their soul when riding the water of a natural Sandhills lake. Marsh wrens and yellow-headed blackbirds will never cease their mating calls. The bass will always be fat, the pike will never fail to exhilarate, and the perch will hold your thoughts captive. Thanks, Tony, for making my day!