BFHP Bass Articles
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BFHP Bass Articles |
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Anglers, Their Ideas, and Economics in Texas
Anglers and business owners in the Lake Fork area have hard decisions to make
concerning the type of fishery management they want at Lake Fork. To do this
intelligently, we all need some factual information about who is likely to fish
Fork and what they hope for and expect from the Fork Bass fishery. The results
of a survey of Texas anglers in 1995 and 1996 concerning angler participation,
attitudes, and economic contributions provides clarifying data.
In 1996, 2,612,000 anglers fished TX waters. The spent $2,869,557,000 in
fishing related expenditures with a total expanded economic impact estimated at
$ 6,366,579,000.
A 1995 Survey of bass anglers in Texas by TAMU researchers* commissioned by
TPWD found the following:
About 82% of licensed freshwater anglers in Texas preferred to fish for LMB.
The average licensed freshwater angler fished 35 days of which 31 were in
freshwater and 4 in saltwater. Of the 31 days, 29 were spent bass fishing.
Anglers average 30 years of fishing experience, and averaged 22 years fishing
for bass. About 57% thought they had average bass fishing skills
Only 15% were members of a bass fishing club or other fishing group. When
asked who they fished with, 30% said friends, 27% said family and friends, 14%
fished alone, and 3% with a club. About 23% said they’d used a guide at least
once, but only 15% used a guide in the previous
year. Those who used a guide, averaged 2.4 days with a guide. Most of the
anglers said the following reasons for fishing were UNIMPORTANT: To win a trophy
or prize (74%); to get fish to eat (61%); to test equipment (55%), or to catch a
trophy fish (51%).
TX anglers got fishing info from the following sources: magazine articles
(31%); Newspaper articles (27%). All lot of anglers got most of their info from
TV (61%). An earlier survey indicated bass anglers subscribed to an average of
less than two fishing publications. For every angler that reads two or more
magazines, there is at least one who doesn’t read anything. The Internet wasn’t
evaluated as a source of fishing information and MISINFORMATION at that
time.
The average bass angler fished 2.4 day trips an average of 92 miles away from
home. The spent $132 ($55/day). Average values of owned equipment were: reels
($291), rods($240), tackle ($368), electronics ($265), and boat, motor and
trailer ($5,076), for an average total of $6,555.
Most anglers (64%) supported management with regulations customized to
specific water bodies. Only 31% wanted standardized regulations. However, only
35 to 41% specifically wanted additional slot limits, depending on the slot
sizes. Fewer anglers (35%) wanted more 14-21 slots than wanted the less
restrictive 14-18-inch slot (41%). 35% were neutral on this issue. Only 39%
wanted more C&R-only waters. About 44% wanted a 16-inch minimum size while
29 percent did NOT.
Asked about keeping bass, 67% said they would keep some and 33% would keep
none. Of those who wanted to keep bass, 57% would keep a 26-incher and
51 would keep a 20-incher. But 77 percent released all 14 inch
bass. When asked what they considered a "trophy bass" more than half said a
24-26-inch/ 8-10 pounder. (Comment by this author: The average angler releases
the abundant fish and kills the rare ones, performing (backwards C&R)
TOURNAMENTS:
About 21% said they had participated in one or more black bass tournaments.
Those that did fished an average of seven in TX and one out-of-state event in
1994. Over 60% said they had fished on a lake while a tournament was in progress
and they did not participate. On average they claimed they encountered 6 events
per year. They hit a tournament on one out of every five trips.
Over 61% felt tournaments did not negatively affect the quality of their
fishing when they shared the water, but 39% said the impact was negative.
When anglers were asked if tournament- released bass survived, most (73%)
said yes, but this response was made before the high delayed mortality data
associated with warm-water contests was more widely published. Most (61%)
thought tournaments should return a part of the contest money to bass management
activities, and 58% felt a permit system was a good idea.
Overall, 48% of TX bass anglers supported organized tournaments and 15% did
not. About 40% supported a tournament exemption from length limits if fish
are released after weigh-ins, while 36% opposed this idea (about even). Some
24% of anglers were neutral on this issue (the swing votes).
Some 32% of bass anglers used live bait in 1994, and used it on more than one
third of their bass trips. Usually they used minnows (86%). Other baits were
waterdogs (7%), crawfish(5%), and grasshoppers and earthworms (3 %). Only 23% of
anglers wanted a restriction on live bait while 42% opposed such a restriction.
About 35% opposed any restriction on waterdogs, while only 21% wanted such a
restriction.
Please keep these preferences and percentages in mind. TPWD must respond to
them as they attempt to manage Lake Fork and other bass fisheries. Properly
informed or uninformed, the public rules, and all TPWD can do about wrong ideas
and emotional insights is attempt to better inform their constituents. It is
easy for those on either side of an issue to believe they have "the truth" and
that the other side is misinformed at best. In reality, both sides are usually
grossly under-informed about the actual impacts and problems associated with
fisheries issues.
* Ditton, R. B. and K. M. Hunt. 1995. Demographics, participation, attitudes,
management preferences, and trip expenditures of Texas black bass anglers. Dept.
of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences, TAMU. 102 p
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