Wisconsin Trout Survey data

[Slabasaurus]

Anyone else see the results of the WI DNR trout anglers surveys?

Here's one of the tables from the findings so far. Not exactly what I was expecting, I am relieved that "complex regs" wasn't cited as much as I thought it would be.

Quote:

Another noteworthy finding is that while our inland trout regulations were certainly

cause for some anglers to break their participation, it was not the primary reason, and

significantly less important (less influential) than time constraints.

[ted4887]

I think one of the more interesting numbers there is that "Age, health, and companions" rank as 1st 21% of the time. It's no secret that most trout fisherman are older people. It's time trout fisherman in general start finding a way to get younger people interested in going out to the streams.

Everytime I hear that "complicated regs" are the reason somebody stays home, I think of how stupid and lazy they must be.

[hookncook]

It depends on when they did their survey and the ages of people that responded.

A similar study done by the Iowa DNR, with results being revealed at last year's trout symposium was that studies showed that children ages up 16 trout fished stopped because of their involvement in school, organized sports, or life. They then picked up fishing again between 25-30.

When you say get younger people involved with fishing, do you mean my age 30-40 year olds? Because current cultural and economic demands that we work our arses off and have little time to fish

[goblueM]

Pretty classic, almost all lapsed-angler studies find that the majority of people stop because they "don't have the time" anymore. A few studies have delved into that more and what that actually means.

But bottom line, people get older, work more, have kids/grandkids, get busier, have to do stuff around the house, and fishing stops being a high priority