CHICAGO — Joshua Sutherland beamed in amazement at the 6-inch bluegill he had managed to reel in from a small lagoon on one of the first casts of his young life.
"That was exciting," the 10-year-old said with a wide grin at a clinic for fishing neophytes.
Asked whether he would fish again, he hesitated and said "Probably."
For the more than $40 billion-a-year recreational-fishing industry, a lot is riding on whether kids like Joshua get hooked on the sport.
Long a favorite American outdoor activity, fishing has been slipping in popularity as a result of competition with video games and other options as well as the country's increased urbanization.
It's hardly a dying pastime; tens of millions of Americans still drop hook and line fairly regularly. But you can see a trend in the mostly older men who line the lagoon near Chicago's Lincoln Park with rod and reel on weekends. That is worrisome for those who love the sport or make a living from it.
People are also reading…
"The anglers are getting older — they're fishing less or dying off," said Steve Palmisano, 49, co-owner with his brother of Henry's Bait Shop, a South Side store started by their father in 1952. "We see some children, but not enough. We hope that they keep tugging on their parents' coattails and saying, 'Take me fishing, take me fishing.' "
Fishing sales nationwide have stagnated, according to the results of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey released in May.
The survey, conducted every five years, found that U.S. anglers spent $40.6 billion last year on trips, equipment, licenses and other items. That total, based on U.S. Census Bureau interviews with 31,500 people, was similar to 2001 but down 16 percent from 1996.
Perhaps more disturbing to those in the sport, it found a substantial drop-off in participation from the previous two surveys. The number of anglers declined 12 percent from five years earlier and 15 percent from 1996, with the steepest falloff — 30 percent — among Great Lakes anglers.
Even in Minnesota, which Fish and Wildlife identified as the leading state per capita in fishing participation, officials report a dramatic drop over the last 15 years in the number of people ages 16 to 44 buying licenses.
"The trends are showing that things are (still) downward," said Frank Peterson, president and CEO of the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1998 to try to halt the long-term decline. "I won't kid you. We are fighting some other circumstances — video games, and kids not being outdoors. But I think a lot has to do with how we approach it."
Mark Damian Duda of the outdoor research group Responsive Management in Harrisonburg, Va., said the nation's demographic shift away from rural locations to urban ones is the biggest reason for the change, with a related decrease in easy access to fishing spots. Then there's the plethora of other activities luring kids and parents alike.
"Thirty years ago, people would get up and go fishing," he said. "Now you get up and you have a soccer game at 9, a baseball game at 11, a team picnic at 1 — it's much more structured time. Video games also are part of it."
It's not only businesses suffering from the decline. Revenue from states' fishing licenses goes toward conservation, and a decline in anglers means less money for the cause.
Fishing's biggest backers cite positive signs, including a rise in spending on equipment such as rods, reels and tackle to $5.5 billion last year in the Fish and Wildlife survey. They also maintain that the study doesn't reflect a recent upturn in business in some areas.
The Outdoor Industry Association even pegged the number of U.S. anglers last year at 51 million and holding steady when kids and those fishing without licenses are included, based on the trade group's own study. The American Sportfishing Association puts the total at about 40 million.
Bill Hilts, outdoor-sports specialist for the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp. in upstate New York, points to sizable increases in the numbers of those fishing in Lake Ontario in the last three years, including the highest number of participants in last fall's area trout and salmon derby in 10 years.
The sport is "far from dead," he said. "We're doing a lot of stuff to try to get more kids out there — little kids' fishing competitions, or activities that get single-parent families out there."
The Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation has four initiatives under way: signing up kids for fishing-education programs; getting states to send license-renewal notices and recruit anglers more actively; a collaborative-marketing campaign for the boating and fishing industries; and its year-old Anglers Legacy program, designed to mobilize active anglers to take someone fishing.
The importance of young anglers is not overlooked on the southwestern shores of Lake Michigan, where as many as 15,000 children will participate this year in fishing clinics in Chicago.
Brenda McKinney, a former city schoolteacher, now promotes fishing education year-round as coordinator of the Chicago Urban Fishing Program for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
She stocks park lagoons in the middle of the night, does school presentations and organizes clinics. Based on the happy faces she sees, like Joshua's, she is hopeful.
"Most of the kids have never had a rod and reel in their hands" until the clinics, she said. "I love my job. I feel like I'm making some kind of difference."
LOCAL ANGLing
Young people's waning interest in fishing is definitely a concern for some Tucson fishing-equipment retailers.
"We don't see a lot of younger kids come in to buy tackle," said Frank Fish, owner of Pancho's Baja Tackle at 1293 W. Miracle Mile. "If we don't start them out fishing young, eventually it's going to stop."
Tony Meza, an employee at Saguaro Tackle & Archery, at 5552 E. Speedway, said he sees more young people "going to the tattoo parlor next store than here."
Some local fishing retailers blamed the proliferation of video games and other amusements, but the trend is also influenced by parents' not making time to take kids on fishing excursions, said Fish. That's particularly challenging in Southern Arizona, where fishing destinations are few and far between, he said.
"The parents got to get them out there and make it happen," he said.
Sales are still strong at local fishing shops, boosted by plenty of customers who are serious anglers, store owners said. But Fish and Eric Loeffler, owner of Dry Creek Outfitters at 5420 E. Broadway, say they're doing their best to reach out to the next generation. Loeffler sells fishing videos specifically targeted to younger people. He and Fish said they also encourage families to get involved in local fishing clubs.
"I think we can exert our influence locally effectively, regardless of what national trends show," Loeffler said.
Christie Smythe