Finding Right Bait To Reel In A New Generation Of Fishers

If Huckleberry Finn lived in the 1990s, he’d likely trade in his fishing pole for a Nintendo.

A container of worms and a fishing pole don’t lure teens to the great outdoors as they once did.

The number of children and young adults who fish is declining - and that has the fishing industry, conservation clubs and state fish and wildlife agencies worried.

While young kids can fish for free in most states, the biggest decline in anglers seems to be among young people ages 18-25.

As a remedy, Michigan is offering a voluntary fishing license to youths in that group. It costs $2 and includes a sew-on patch and a quarterly fishing newsletter geared to teens.

The state had proposed a mandatory $1 youth license, but legislators worried the price would further reduce the number of young anglers.

“This voluntary license will help us get some data about who is fishing and where they are,” Hagan said. “That information will help us develop programs to increase participation.”

Why is that important? Because kids who fish become adults who fish, and anglers tend to care about keeping water clean.

Children and families also benefit from fishing, says Sharon Rushton, executive of the Future Fisherman Foundation in Washington.

“It bonds families together and opens up communication,” said Rushton.

But children these days are more likely to grow up in urban and suburban areas, in single-parent families, with little contact with fathers, uncles and grandfathers, who traditionally introduced children to fishing.

The most avid adult anglers today are those who had more opportunities to fish as teenagers, Michigan research shows. The earlier people take up fishing, the more active they are. One national study showed two-thirds of very active adult anglers began the sport before age 10.

Michigan’s cheap teen license is only one step. State fisheries workers also plan to increase the profile of fishing in community youth recreation programs.

“The goal,” a state spokewoman said, “is to make fishing cool again.”