It takes more than a single afternoon to make a lifelong fisherman.
But the time you invest now could reap huge rewards in just a few years—or both you and your resource.
That is the reasoning behind a recent push by sportsmen’s organizations to create more young anglers.
It has been determined that kids who do not fish by the age of 14 probably will not ever take up the sport. In fact, they probably will not even fish at all, according to a study conducted by the American Sportfishing Association.
The report states that it is easy for sportsmen to blame the decline of fishing among young people on video games, cable TV, youth soccer, shopping malls.
However, these activities that vie for modern youngsters’ attentions are not the cause of a national fall-off in fishing interest, according to the survey.
The real reason that little Johnny cannot fish is that no one will take him.
Here are some statistics to back up the recent findings:
Although 29 million Americans fish, the number of anglers has not kept pace with population growth in the country.
And despite overall population increases in most states, total fishing license sales declined about 1.5 percent during the past decade.
This is not the case, however, in the Mountain State.
“West Virginia is one of the few states that has shown an increase in the number of anglers,” explained Mark Scott, assistant-chief fisheries biologist with the DNR in Charleston.
“The number of fishermen has dropped nationally, but we appear to be bucking the trend, especially here in the southern part of the state.”
Scott noted that one of the reasons for the continued growth in fishing in West Virginia is the strong cultural ethic that includes fishing and hunting as bonding opportunities for parents and their children.
“Kids must fish often to build a foundation of skills and success,” the biologist said. “These are great experiences with their dads and moms that they can recall later in life.”
Scott said that while more than 85 percent of Americans have been fishing, only about 28 percent of the adult population fishes.
A solution to the problem of finding anglers might be for each of us to take a kid fishing the next time the opportunity presents itself.
Better yet, make fishing a regular part of your daily family life.
The kids we take fishing today are the same anglers who will be purchasing fishing licenses and funding fishing programs tomorrow.
These kids are the future stewards of our sporting tradition.
Even more important, they are the ones who likely will be standing up for clean air, water, and wildlife in the decades ahead.
Here are some tips for helping to introduce a boy or girl to the sport of fishing:
- Make sure they get their turn with the rod and reel.
- Do not insist on a catch-and-release strategy all the time. Bringing something home as tangible proof of their success can be an important experience for children.
- If you cannot keep the fish, have a camera nearby to record the catch on film. It amounts to the same thing as keeping the fish for display.Â
- Start kids off with a good quality spin-cast rod-and-reel outfit. The older the kids are, the quicker they will become frustrated by their equipment’s limitations.
- Set an ethical example. Obey game laws.
- Go where there are lots of easy-to-catch fish.
- Finally, discourage kids from competing with one another.
It is important just to have fun without the pressures of everyday life.Â
Let the child be the star of your fishing trip, and you will never go wrong. As a result, do not expect to do much fishing yourself.
After all, it is up to us to make fishing fun.
Otherwise, we will not have anyone who will want to go with us when we are too old to go by ourselves.
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Top o’ the Morning!