Wisconsin DNR is interested in Trout Anglers

[hookncook]

Survey looks at why anglers stopped fishing for trout

Weekly News Article Published: October 18, 2011 by the Central Office

Mail survey part of ongoing review of trout program

MADISON -- More than 800 anglers who haven't fished for inland trout the past three years will have a chance to tell the state why they've hung up their fly rods and spin casting rods and are no longer seeking the wily trout in Wisconsin.

The Department of Natural Resources mailed out surveys earlier this month to more than 800 randomly picked fishing license holders who had once been trout anglers but who had not bought a trout stamp that would allow them to fish for trout in Wisconsin's inland waters since 2008.

"What we're trying to find out is what are the reasons that people are no longer fishing and is there anything we can do about that," says Marty Engel, a Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist stationed in Baldwin.

"Obviously, angler retention is as important to us as any business. We want to know what the reasons are, and if there is anything we can do to address things like access or regulations, or anything else under our control."

The survey is part of Wisconsin's ongoing review of inland trout fishing. Participants at public meetings last spring got to tell DNR fish biologists what they like about trout fishing now and what they think could be improved. Meeting participants also filled out a survey to give more specific feedback on all aspects of trout fishing and management in Wisconsin, and nearly 2,000 completed the same survey online.

A second mail survey will go out later this fall to randomly selected trout anglers. DNR researchers are using results from the previous surveys available at the public meetings and online to help fine-tune the questions for the mail survey, which also will ask about angler effort, catch and harvest.

Jordan Petchenik, a DNR social researcher, is working with trout researchers, on the survey that seeks to find out why once avid anglers quit.

Petchenik worked with DNR's licensing staff to run a query of the automated licensing system to see how many people bought a trout stamp for every year 2004-2008 but stopped buying the stamp after 2008. That total was 2, 268. Those people received a letter to verify their address was still current. The survey design called for 800 of them to get a survey in the mail to fill out and return. The surveys were mailed out the second week of October.

"We know that the people who dropped out for the last three years had been dedicated trout anglers at one time because they had purchased trout stamps for five consecutive years," Petchenik says.

Results from the mail survey of anglers who have fallen away from the sport in Wisconsin's won't be available until the end of the year, he says.

Engel hopes the results will offer DNR important insights into trout fishing and trout management, and how DNR can work to improve both. "It's been more than 20 years since we surveyed trout anglers, and I don't think we've ever surveyed people who hung it up to find out why they did or what we can do to get them back."

FOR MORE INFORMATION: about survey methodology contact Jordan Petchenik (608) 266-8523; about how survey results will be used contact Scot Stewart (608) 273-5967 or Marty Engel (715) 684-2914 ext 110

[Scudly]

Article by retired Wisconsin Director of Fisheries Management, Lee T. Kernen

Taking a Look at Trout Regulations

Leet T. Kernen quotes:

Quote:

local angling effort has declined. I don't see the kids' bicycles propped up against the bridge abutment like I saw 55 years a go. Bait fishermen have abandoned the sport, and killing a trout to eat is not as common as it once was

Quote:

The decline of local angler participation may have coincided with the implementation of the current category system of trout regulations, but that is all it might be - coincidence

[Scudly]

Have you read the stories about Melancton Creek?

It is a story about several families who could no longer fish a stream that ran through their property. Like Ash Creek above, Melancton Creek became artificial only. This includes a 93 year old lady named Mrs. Selanny and her family who were protesting at the Trout Committee meeting.

Well the local bait anglers lost. And the Selanny property above highway 80 remained off limits to the general public for several years. Their land was posted with a 4' x 8' NO TRESSPASSING DUE TO WI DNR TROUT FISHING RULES sign.

"At the Richland Center Mtg I witnessed the passion of a family that could no longer fish the stream that ran in front of their home. Melancton Creek remains to this day an artificial only stream." -- Jim Waletzko, former WCC Trout Committee member at the time of the Richland Center meeting.