Anglers aim to hook youngsters on fishing

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. "It was cool!"

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 weekend days. That is worrisome for those who love the sport or make a living from it.

"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.