The final 2006 Federal fishing and hunting statistics have been released refining preliminary numbers posted earlier this year.

The most popular fish species among the 25.0 million anglers who fished freshwater other than the Great Lakes was black bass. Ten million spent 161 million days fishing for black bass. Following black bass in popularity were several species with a similar number of anglers and days of fishing. Panfish were pursued by 7.5 million anglers on 102 million days. Catfish and bullheads drew 7.0 million anglers on 98 million days. About 6.8 million anglers fished for trout on 76 million days. Crappie fishing attracted 6.2 million anglers on 91 million days.

That makes trout a distant fourth, with Brownliner fish scoring the top three spots. Most of my trips this year have been “crappy,” it’s nice to know I’m squarely in the mainstream, as it takes the fifth spot.

The sobering element is that fishing still is 75% men, 25% women, and each year of college reduces your chances of being a fisherman. I’m guessing they meant, “each year of college completed” – they don’t count agricultural studies in Hops, Barley, or Hemp.

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