Fishing is a popular outdoor sports activity. It’s fun to catch fish, and they are good on the dinner table..
Catching fish is an activity which can be enjoyed alone, fishing with friends, and fishing with family.
And while anglers can spend considerable money on equipment and fishing trips, it is an activity that can be enjoyed with very little investment or expense.
Despite fishing’s popularity, the sport isn’t without challenges that limit even more folks enjoying this activity, which has great tradition, according to a national outdoor sports organization.
In exploring what threats to fishing are of the greatest concern or have impacted today’s anglers the most, AnglerSurvey.com posed the question in one of its bimonthly surveys.
When asked, “What is the biggest problem facing fishing today?” 20 percent of respondents cited access to water as being the top concern.
“With increasing regularity, federal agencies and uninformed politicians unnecessarily close access to our public waters. But recreational anglers are conservation stewards, and our nation’s waterways can be conserved while we, our friends and families continue to fish,” says Liz Ogilvie, director of Keep America Fishing with the American Sportfishing Association.
Keep America Fishing serves as the unified voice of the American angler and works to keep the nation’s public water resources open, clean and abundant with fish, according to the organization.
After access, water quality was the second biggest concern among sportsmen with nearly 16 percent citing that as the major problem. Additional concerns included:
• 15 percent cited invasive fish or marine species
• 14 percent said there were too many disruptive and competing activities on the water
• 9 percent blamed over regulation
• 8 percent said there are not enough fish
• 8 percent cited the cost to fish
• 8 percent weren’t sure, and
• 4 percent cited too many anglers.
“The recreational fishing community faces continual policy challenges that affect fishing opportunity, on the national, state and local levels,” says Ogilvie. “We need all anglers to get involved to make sure our collective interests are represented when key decisions are made that affect anglers’ ability to enjoy our natural resources.”
We are fortunate in this area to have considerable public access for fishing. Specific information on where to fish can be found at the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Fish & Wildlife website.
We are fortunate in this area to have considerable public access for fishing. Specific information on where to fish can be found at the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources website. Information can be found under fishing. There even is a screen to help find access in local areas throughout the state.
Keep America Fishing is organized by the American Sportfishing Association. For more information on Keep America Fishing, visit its website at keepamericafishing.org.
To help continually improve, protect and advance hunting, shooting and other outdoor recreation, all sportsmen and sportswomen are encouraged to participate in the bi-monthly surveys at HunterSurvey.com, ShooterSurvey.com and/or AnglerSurvey.com.
Every other month, participants who complete the surveys are entered into a drawing for one of five $100 gift certificates to the sporting goods retailer of their choice.
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EAGLE WATCH -- View and learn about eagles in Indiana with indoor and outdoor programs at Patoka Lake Visitors Center on Saturday, Jan. 10, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. EST during the annual EagWatch.
The event will feature a live bald eagle and other raptors. Patoka Lake interpretive naturalist Dana Reckelhoff will explain the life of eagles. Todd Eubank, Patoka Lake wildlife specialist, will lead a car caravan to likely spots for eagle viewing.
Advance registration is required with a $5-per-person program fee. Participants age 5 and younger are free. Participants should dress for the weather and bring binoculars, spotting scopes, and cameras if they have them.
For more information, call (812) 685-2447.
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