As someone who just completed the log, I think it is a totally fair change and I would have liked to have it earlier.
I'd rather wait for hours in front of a fishing spot, trying again and again until the fish bites, instead of trying for 5 minutes, waiting for an hour, trying for 5 minutes etc.

That being said, I think it would be nice for this skill to be a 'catch up mechanic', so that hardcore fisher can still have the challenge they are striving for when a patch launches - for example by having it work exclusively on previous expansions fishing spots.