Fishing Population Getting Older, Smaller

[roadwarrior]

The local paper picked up this article from the Associated Press:

"The number of people who participated in recreational fishing (freshwater) declined by 15 percent between 1996 and 2006. Spending on fishing trips, equipment, licenses and other items declined by 16 percent. The steepest falloff- 30%- was among Great Lakes anglers. Saltwater fishing declined by 18% during the same period."

Wow! Those are some big numbers.

[Garlando]

I remember a few recent statements in Bassmaster about the phenomenal growth of bassfishing as a sport in recent years. Maybe it's not enough to offset the decline in shad and alewife netting.

[LakeAnnaBasser]

Less people fishing means more fish for us. ;D

[George Welcome]

That statistic is greatly skewed and very much of a misrepresentation assuming I understand the context. The window is too large and fails to take into account any extreme causative factors. Sept. 11, 2001, Florida and New Orleans hurricanes, and outrageous gas price increases are outside factors that have taken a lot of the ordianary fishermen out for the period quoted.

[Guest the_muddy_man]

Everything has a ceiling, if the fishing population is shrinking, that really doesn't affect the average JOE. I am sure Boat Builders,Insurers,Tackle Builders and Service people will see a decline in profit. i doubt it will affect guides that much.

Even if less people get licences, as a Bass fisherman in PA; the fish and game here more or less take care of the Salmonoid fisheries a lot more than the bass.

I feel for people in any industry to loss income, but when the ceiling comes it comes TIME FOR PLAN B

[Redlinerobert]

I think its too much of a broad base - I am sure that bass fishing as a whole has taken off - I dont think that declining numbers validate the fact that hot new items are usually sold out or hard to find!  

[jeremyt]

I would have to argue the fact of saltwater fisherman has declined. You wouldn't believe the amount of yahoo's on the water down here on the coast of NC. I still think they should make you take a course to operate a boat. Some of these guys are going to get hurt or hurt someone else. You got to start somewhere, but dang. Just last month they closed a great boatramp on Camp Lejeune, because some idiot backed his 2wdrive truck to far back and sunk his truck.

[frogtog]

Whatever the decline I made up for in spending. ;D

[Wildbillb]

The economy in michigan is going down the tubes.  People are leaving the state fast.  Houses are for sale everywhere.  I would say that has a big effect on our fishing population.  We are a major automobile state and with the big 3 downsizing there are less and less jobs.

[justfishin]

This is just a generalization of what I have noticed here in my area. All of us older guys of course are still at the ramps, we have all been around a long time. I think that most of the youth have different agenda's in this day and age. Yes, they get interested, and some of us are involved in promoting the sport for the youth here but, I have seen a lot of them come and go in just the last 10 years. They go out and buy the best Jetboat you can get---about 18000.00---use it two years, lose interest and move on. Our local DNR are very rude here. Not all, but most. The ramps around here are not taken care of, and its all about putting all the money in trout stocking and thousands of dollars in the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal between Cumberland Maryland and Washington DC for bike riders while less and less importance going to taking care of the ramps and bass fisherman. We had a major fish kill here in 96 where we lost up to 50% or our bass. What did they do?, stock Tiger Muskies and Walleye. Times have changed fellas. Now its the pretty cloths, fancy wrapped boats and making a name for yourself, at least thats how it seems here. Most of these guys wouldn't be caught dead in a 16' flat bottom and 9.9. Yes, I have a fancy boat, but, its a tool to get out there, not a item to flash around. I still go with the old timers from time to time in the old boats. They forgot more than I know about smallie fishing around here. I think those statistics reflect the times. It seems people cannot enjoy the simple things anymore. If they can't win all the local tournys, have the prettiest truck and boat, they lose interest. Less places to fish, and less land to hunt has created a venue for people to lose interest in the outdoors. JMO

[Catt]

Along the Louisiana Gulf Coast the saltwater industry has doubled & it's all huge center console rigs. Hurricane Rita pumped millions of gallons of saltwater into the brackish marshes, the first year every thing was dead but since then the shrimp have returned to spawn in greater numbers than anyone can remember. The Speckle Trout & Red fishing is unbelievable and the duck hunting rivals that of the 30s/40s.  

[justfishin]

Thats great news CATT. Mother nature is a tough ol' girl.

[nboucher]

It's true that it's hard to draw too many conclusion from such numbers. As advocates for all kinds of causes know, if you pick the time range correctly, you can come up with stats to support your agenda. Also, the population of the U.S. is getting older, thanks to the number of baby boomers around, so it would be more suprising if the population of anglers was getting younger.

Having said that, I suspect the drop in anglers is probably more or less accurate and significant. As a culture, we are getting farther and farther away from nature with each generation. Kids have so many more choices on how to spend their time now, and more and more people seem to feel that being outdoors is somehow dangerous (murderers, coyote scares, etc.). To most adolescents, a trip outdoors means a trip to the local mall.

Let's hope that the quality of anglers is on the rise, if not the quantity.

[stilldontlikeyou]

As a culture, we are getting farther and farther away from nature with each generation. Kids have so many more choices on how to spend their time now

Agreed!  I was one of those guys.  Growing up I spent most of my time glued to the tv and playing video games.  When I got into my teen years all we did was hang out at the mall or friends houses and just get wasted.  When I was in my early twenties, the same thing, just lounge around and play video games, movies, pretty much waste my life.

I'm now twenty five and this has been my turn around year.  It all started with losing weight and getting healthy, that I came to love the outdoors.  While running early in the mornings outside watching the sun rise it was beautiful.

After going fishing for the first time ever a month ago there was just something so peaceful about it.  Now you can't keep me in the house half the time.  I am going to try my best to expose my children to the outdoors, before they waste most of the life like I did mine.

[fishingfourfun]

I second FrogTog's post.

[dumb_dog11]

That statistic is greatly skewed and very much of a misrepresentation assuming I understand the context. The window is too large and fails to take into account any extreme causative factors. Sept. 11, 2001, Florida and New Orleans hurricanes, and outrageous gas price increases are outside factors that have taken a lot of the ordianary fishermen out for the period quoted.

great analysis, never thought about that

[Guest avid]

 Fishing Population Getting Older, Smaller

Yo, RW don't get so freakin' personal man.

I may be getting older, but that shrinking thing is definetly

a low blow  

[Fish Chris]

>> As a culture, we are getting farther and farther away from nature with each generation. Kids have so many more choices on how to spend their time now <<

Nboucher is absolutely correct...

I said this once before, when this same subject came up, but when you purposely surround yourself with people who fish, like most of us do, it's easy to believe that "everybody on the planet is a fisherman". But the fact is, the overall number of anglers (looking at all types of fishing across the board) continues to shrink, and I personally believe that within 50 years, fishing will be a thing of the past..... Of course, so will I.

Nothing lasts forever. Enjoy it while you can.

Peace,

Fish

[BassChaser57]

I think we all agree it is tougher on young people to raise a family with costs of everything rising. It seems lots easier to have a few extra bucks in my pocket with the kids gone and a little better financial position that comes with age. I understand totally that I have wanted to buy a nice boat and have nice tackle, it just took me 20 years to do it. The angling demographics make total sense to me.

[Maxximus Redneckus]

It has a affect on marketing also ,when wal-mart first opened around here  they had HIGH quaility reels,rods,my abu pro maxs come to mind 170 a piece now you barley find a reel for over 80 bucks,I will say this though i make a killing buying rods and reels and lures in the last 5 yrs on clearance 6 d5 garcias for 30 a peice i have about 12 black maxes i bought for 25 bucks a piece .Some walmarts i have been too used to have the  ORIGINAL all star rods .Yup times are changing  :

[fishing man]

Less people fishing means more fish for us. ;D

i like the sound of that right there.

[bassmasta7]

If you guys dont like this trend, do something about it. I'm 17 and have been addicted to fishing since i was 15. Teenagers can the love of fishing and the outdoors more than any videogame. All it takes is for them to get started. I would prefer to go fishing any day over just playing video games. I bought my own boat when i was 15. Since then, I have taken just about all my friends out on it. Every single one of them had a good time. And now all of my friends fish. Instead of playing video games or hanging out at the mall, we go bank fishing at the neighborhood pond. If you guys want generations to come to enjoy fishing, just take them. Every time you take them, they will like it more and more. They could eventually become addicted like all of us and the sport will continue on and on. I know not everyone likes fishing even after they try it but most people do. I know a bunch of people on this sight do take kids fishing and that is what is great about this site but it doesnt have to be just kids. Teenagers get that same smile on their face when they catch a fish. I think if a teenager develops a love of fishing than they are more likely to pursue it than a young child. If my generation doesnt start fishing than in 20 years me, bucketmouth, senko77, troutfisher, and filemob are gonna be the only ones on the lake catch 10lbers every cast.