Fishing statistics are so rare I can’t help but pounce on them when offered. Like most pitchmen I’ll spin the numbers to prove something horrific and discard the facts enroute to a shaky conclusion.
This time it’s the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) and the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) who’ve commissioned Southwick Associates to reveal that despite the poor economy, sport fishing license sales are on the rise.
As of September 1, 2009, state fish and wildlife agencies reported a 7.7 percent positive change in the number of licenses sold year-to-date compared to the same months last year (January – July 2009 vs. January – July 2008).
The same states also saw a seven percent increase in the number of licenses sold in July 2009 compared with July 2008.
I’ll take the dim view of the above increase. Two factors come to mind; most of the Atlantic seaboard is now required to buy a license to fish from shore (new this year) – and the rest may be economics, fish are “free food” and other parts of the world have had a similar boost in rookie fishermen.
… and there was more about us fly fishing types. We’re white college graduates older than 45, make $100,000 a year, and male. We fish five times a year less than other types of fishermen – and are obsessed with meeting a female fly fisherperson that doesn’t exist.
There was no information as to whether we’re underwater on our mortgage or the financial health of our imaginary dream date. Per capita there are more fly fishermen in the West (especially the West Coast) – so if you’re looking for love the East Coast is strictly “bro-mance” turf.
We’re also growing fewer in number. Which could be explained by our discovery that everyone else spends $167 a year in tackle, and we spend ten times that and fish less…
The Good News is there are 146 million kids under the age of 18 playing fly fishing games on Nintendo and Wii. Unfortunately the game is flung aside after four minutes.
Face it, we’re the Brood Stock … and that ain’t saying much.
Tags: Lies, damn lies, and statistics, angling trends, recession based economic pressure, catch and kill, fish as “free” food, Southwick Associates, Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, American Sportfishing Association, brood stock
Brood stock is it? So after my usefulness I’m going to end up dumped into some marginal stream, hooked in the gullet while trying to snack on a marshmallow and then thrown in the freezer in perpetuity? Great.
.. you forgot the “dumped in the trash” part.
What’s this you say about making $100,000 a year? I must have nodded off during that part on Fly Fishing Orientation Day.
I am white, college-educated, and male…do I have to wait until I’m 45 to receive this last demographic perk? I’ll even spend lots and lots of it on tackle, promise.
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