More Room on the River? Fishing’s Decline Continues
By Tom Chandler on Jun 16, 2007 in News
The decline of participation in hunting and fishing activities continues to fall; the latest evidence coming via Newsweek magazine (pointed out by Alert Underground Reader kbarton):
Fishing participation fell three times the rate of hunting over five years—down a jaw-dropping 23 percent in the Great Lakes region. Freshwater fishing outside the Great Lakes was off 10 percent; saltwater fishing fell by 15 percent.
In 2006, 13 percent of the U.S. population still took the rod and reel out for a cast. Nearly 30 million people—five million less than 2001-went fishing, spending an average of 17 days angling during the year. They dropped about $40 billion on licenses, equipment and trips to support the activity.
Newsweek trots out all the usual suspects to explain the decline, and it’s hard to disagree with a lot of them. A focus on non blood sports, less family interest in the outdoors, the urbanization of the population — all are reasonable.
(At least nobody blamed the Trout Underground for the decline, which is good — most of my readers would probably agree.)
While fly fishing only numbers weren’t available, it’s clear that fly fishing isn’t the trendy sport it once was. When I moved up here, I rarely fished weekends due to crowding.
Nowadays, it doesn’t matter all that much. Sure, that’s anecdotal instead of statistically significant, but there it is. The real question is this: are we supposed to stop the decline, or accept it as a cyclical thing?
See you on the (empty, people-less) river, Tom Chandler
hawgdaddy | Jun 16, 2007 | Reply
This is a real conundrum for us fly fishers. I mean, we would be really thrilled to have our favorite streams all to ourselves, wouldn’t we? Looking at it that way, the decline in fishers is a good thing. On the other hand, if we don’t have the numbers to support angling-friendly legislation, we’re liable to be legislated right off the water. There wouldn’t be enough to support conservation measures to improve fishing. There wouldn’t be anyone to support keeping public lands and waters open to fishing, or, heck, there might not be enough of us left to keep public lands public. There wouldn’t be enough of us to fight certain extreme animal rights groups who argue that fishing is evil. There are positives and negatives either way. For now, it’ll be nice having a little more of the water to myself. Us fly fishers sure are an anxious lot. Seems like the sky falls every day. Take care,
hawgdaddy
ijsouth | Jun 16, 2007 | Reply
For the long term, this is a horrible trend. We who fish pay for most of the sport’s infrastructure (boat ramps, fisheries management, etc). Take our $$$ out of the equation, and things start to look bleak.
josh | Jun 16, 2007 | Reply
I go to school in New Hampshire, and the decline in fishing numbers has really started to hurt there. For the first time in a long time (according to my fishing mentor there) the Fish and Game Department had to request funds from the state legislature because not enough fishing licenses were sold. They also looking and cutting down on staff numbers, as well as upkeep of the fisheries.
hawgdaddy | Jun 16, 2007 | Reply
ijsouth and josh,
I failed to mention the funding issues ya’ll bring up. Good points…
Not to worry though, I’m sure that Donny Beaver fellow Tom is always mentioning will be glad to fill in any funding shortfalls to ensure all us common folk can continue to enjoy fine fishing.
hawgdaddy
Tom Chandler | Jun 16, 2007 | Reply
Hawgdaddy: You have a point. After all the good trout water’s been privatized, habitat protection won’t be our concern. Problem solved!
ethanopia | Jun 17, 2007 | Reply
Hopefully through proper subtle management techniques the habitats will maintain themselves and we won’t have to worry about too much funding for facilities or management programs. Ideally for me, the fish and the fishing should be there without funding or legislation. Except that my local trout stream is basically a stocked put and take fishery which has little to no natural reproduction of trout, and stands be barren wasteland of golden ghosts and hog suckers.
When articles like these talk about trends in precentages and slight shifts in the “popularity” of things, the changes they detect can be so small that they get overblown and the authors jump to conclusions like so many chicken littles.
Barring a massive takeover by the D. Beavers of the world, to me a decline in popularity is a good thing.
kbarton10 | Jun 17, 2007 | Reply
I think HawgDaddy nailed it, less crowding is good, less pissed off anglers writing their congressman is bad..
I wonder whether in large part all of this is moot, as the battle for “water” is likely to move from skirmish to open warfare. Less anglers mean the major metropolitan water districts and farmers will likely run rough-shod over the sport crowd.
Most of the densely populated states have enormous water problems, both on the supply and delivery side. Donnie Beaver may have his moment, but even he will watch in frustration as his water is diverted to feed the maw of Philadelpia or NYC.
Neither coast is immune - as evidenced by Mr Schwarznegger’s recent speech about the canal needed to feed greater Los Angeles. Remember the “Peripheral Canal” debate?
As TC pointed out earlier, Rachel Ray and her ilk may be allies, but that doesn’t make me sleep too soundly..
Tom Chandler | Jun 17, 2007 | Reply
Sadly, it’s likely the major metro areas and irrigation districts would roll right over anglers even if there were twice as many of us.
And yes, managing fisheries for wild populations does away with the need for expensive hatchery programs, but — like the water issue mentioned above — there’s a lot of inertia moving things the wrong way.
KW Morrow | Jun 17, 2007 | Reply
Wow! Y’all need to visit the Ozarks. Our “destination” fisheries have no shortage of folks fishing. Quite the opposite! I fish weekdays at these places because of it.
But,yes, the overall numbers (nationally) look bleak for fishing and the shooting sports. It’s been that way for awhile. 2-3 generations of school kids being told by their teachers that these things are “bad” will do that.
But one phenomenon we also see in hunting and fishing is that these fewer and fewer anglers and hunters seem to be packing into the same few “hotspots” all the time and ruining them.
I find myself going further and working harder over time to find good outdoor experiences off the beaten path.
Tom Chandler | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
I think the Southeast and the South might be the exceptions, at least as far as fly fishing is concerned.
The “boom” in fly fishing seemed to start a little later, and a lot of the tailwater fisheries are still relatively new.
KW Morrow | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
Well, we do a lot of warm water fly fishing, too. So it isn’t just the tailwaters. But they are the big draw. Actually, the huge pressure on Ozarks waters comes from float trip canoe outfitters. That is wildly popular here. And then the lakes have tons of bass anglers swarming them for largemouth, smallies, stripers, and hybrids. This is the home of the goliath of angling, Bass Pro Shops. It’s very fertile ground for fishing businesses, sporting goods, and boat builders. By living around here, you would never have a clue that fishing is on the decline.
Tom Chandler | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
I could only speak to the fly fishing bit, which seems to be coming on pretty strong.
With all the money and hoopla surrounding professional bass fishing, I’d guess that sport’s not suffering a huge decline either.
KW Morrow | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
Bass fishing and deer hunting are the juggernauts of the hunting/fishing industry. That is a FACT.
hawgdaddy | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
The horrors of competitive bass angling are alive and well here in North Alabama. At one time, I was really into that stuff, and my father still is. Fortunately, it drove me away to seek more solitude and quiet. Bass fishing is definitely NOT on the decline here either. This would be a good thing in the whole legislation/power/money/influence sphere if most bass fishermen were active conservationists (because, believe me, they have lots of money and influence), but around here they’re not (conservationists that is). Luckily, my father is a rare exception to that statement. Take care,
hawgdaddy
KW Morrow | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
Most of them…and deer hunters…are not around here, either. BUT a good amount of the $$$ generated goes to conservation anyway. And some of the leaders in that community know where their priorities need to be. Bass fishing leaders on Table Rock Lake started a good chunk of the water quality orgs and initiatives within the upper White River watershed. And while almost the entire bass boat crowd is running 4-stroke engines now, the vast majority of fly fishing guys are chugging along with old, nasty, dirty, inefficient 2-strokes while they grouse about water quality declines caused by “everybody else.”
hawgdaddy | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
That’s some good news about the bass fishing crowd. Bass fishing orgs have taken some positive roles around here as well (fighting aquatic herbicide spraying and chemical dumping). Good water quality is good for them just like it is for fly fishermen. Unfortunately, many of the individuals I know are much more concerned about making a buck and out-competing their friends than with the quality of the fishery. Ah, but here I am stereotyping folks, and that’s not good. I know some fly fishermen who fit that bill as well. We could all, being Americans, do more to consume less resources, so I’ll stop fussing on the local bass fishermen. Take care,
hawgdaddy
Clay | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
On the Great Lakes decline in fishing one must consider the lack luster economy around here. If you do not have money it is difficult to pay a guide or stay in a cottage on the river. I believe some of the nostalgia of “A River Runs Through It” is now fading and fly fishing novices are on the decline. Fine with me because most of these people are unaware of “river etique” or even fishing regulations for that matter. Although local fly shops will suffer and I worry for my friends Bill (Thornapple Orvis) and Glen (Great Lakes flyfishin) as well as the lovely shops on the P.M. and Au Sable. I just wonder if the natural reproduction will get a boost from a reduction of all the spin casters with crawlers slaughtering the fish. Viva La Trout !!!
Tom Chandler | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
There have been a lot of interesting perspectives added to this thread (I love the commenting feature on blogs).
There is always that tension between those who believe environmental resources should be preserved for their own sake and those who want to preserve them because they have a stake in “exploiting” them (a loaded word).
And if the flood of novices into fly fishing truly is at a an end (I think the bulge is definitely gone), it’ll be a double-whammy for the print magazines, who have seemingly hewed to a formula that focuses on recruiting new readers every few years.
Where are the new readers coming from this time?
ethanopia | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
Provided that wasn’t a rhetorical question Tom, I might offer just a hint at a perhaps untapped resource of new fly anglers. Historically Fly fishing has been paired with wing shooting and other hunting/outdoors pursuits. Right?
But I think there is a population (perhaps because I am one) of folks who don’t come over from the hunting/fishing circles but are coming from the hiking / climbing / back country / kayaking side of things.
I used to go my local fly shop and think, “man why don’t they carry anything for backpacking or kayaking?”
But now I go the Hiking/Backpacking stores and think man I wish they carried some fly tackle… but I was never actually into hunting.
My point is that the skiing, snowboard riding, kayaking, hiking, mountain biking, climbing, crowd is the new generation of fly anglers. Which is why I think the new generation of media is looking more like a skateboard mag. So perhaps the marketing of the big fly corps should focus on reaching out to non hunting outdoors crowd? Maybe then they could find new customers who aren’t just interested in fly fishing for a week because they saw Brad Pit “shadow casting.”
kbarton10 | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
Where they have always come from - Xtreme atheletes whose bodies can no longer take the pounding of High Altitude Gutslammer Twinkie Stomping - and now must find a more pastoral sport for their dotage.
As the societal pendulum has swung right, with emphasis on “me-and-mine” - and will swing wildly back to the left, as it always does, we will return to Birkenstocks, Oat Bran, and Eule Gibbons…
“Love Mother Earth, Brother - can you spare some change?” will again be the refrain, as corporate excess gives way to ecosoundness and “Green” everything. We’ll get over handsomely as we invested heavily in fly fishing stocks, when they wuz cheap.
TC? You want to go in halfsies on a Donnie Beaver membership?
josh | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
My story: I’m 21, and I didn’t start fishing until two years ago. I’ve hiked, mountain biked, and played in the woods in other varieties my whole life, but have never been a hunter (although people in my family have). While I hated fishing as a kid (my brother always caught more fish than me), I started fly fishing after going to college. Don’t know exactly what got me going, but it definitely was helped by a professor of mine who taught me to fly fish.
KW Morrow | Jun 18, 2007 | Reply
Looking for recruits among hunters is a losing proposition for much of anything nowadays. Hunting is shrinking WAY faster than all forms of fishing.
But out of sense of duty to bust the stereotypes, my first guide job was in backpacking and paddling. I grew up hunting and fishing, sure. But I also grew up hiking, camping, paddling, and so forth. So when I read phrases like “the other side of the fence” in regard to consumptive and non-consumptive outdoor recreation it doesn’t sit well with me. I’ve been into rapelling, mountain biking, white water, paddling, hiking, backpacking, camping, mountaineering, orienteering, hunting, and fishing since my early teens. No skiiing though. That’s just crazy.
DaBeez | Jun 19, 2007 | Reply
Items in fishing I have noticed: Careless people who have infested lakes and rivers, bringing “boom boxes”, leaving trash to decorate the bottoms and shorelines. I am a Californian headed your way Tom with my 74 year old father who is from the great lakes region, Buffalo N.Y., where I grew up. We have fished the Kern River area, Eastern Sierras and Oregon, Montana, and have noticed that many of the new crowd do not respect Nature. He still manages to fish streams around the Buffalo area but being that I have never known him to have a drivers license, he is dependant on others.
We will be fishing upper Sacramento with a guide the first day, can’t remember the name but I will post. Departure from Castaic June 27th. Wet line June 28th.
Kentucky Jim | Jun 19, 2007 | Reply
Boom goes London,
Boom Paree,
More fish for you,
More fish for me….