Decline in trout anglers

As for the Vermillion River, it is a whole different animal. Big water, dirty water, deep, muddy, and for the most part not an ideal trout fishery. That being said the fish that do make a home there are survivors and tend to get big. The area that I fish most often is the stretch from HWY 3 in Farmington to HWY 52 mainly because that is mostly state land and I have done very well there. I have caught some bigger fish in the ‘skinnier’ water upstream of Farmington closer to Lakeville and that too is mainly state land.

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I am not looking for anyone to give me their hot spot locations but it would be nice to hear how different streams are doing. Nothing worse than driving an hour plus to a stream for it to be unfishable!! is that even a word? I like to fish two new streams a year and it disappointing to drive a great distance to a location found on the trout map and find it to be poor quality. Gas is still not cheap to be wasting at least not for me.

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Winkels, I think you could get some of that info by sending some of the posters here a PM. Some stuff just doesn’t belong on the internet, IMO. I also love to check out new streams every year, and I live a long way from some of my favorite streams in the SE part of the state. Some explorations of new water are a waste of time, while others are outstanding.

the decline in trout anglers debate happening on a few of the forums that some of us frequent to me seems SOMEWHAT b.s. a couple of my favorite spots have been fished by multitudes of anglers the past couple seasons when a short 10 years ago i could spend 3-4 days a week down there (and i did) and not run into a single person.

has anyone ever thought that there is as many people fishing or not much less than there used to be but a lot of them opt out of buying a license?

there has never before been so many special regs. in the outdoor sporting world as there is today. people are getting tired of our big fascist government telling us what we can and cant do. there are many land owners down here (and i say down here because i live and work here every day not just come down on the weekends) that have quit buying hunting and fishing licenses to harvest game on their own property.

give me a F-ing break their trying to pass a law that is going to make people buy a license to have a garage sale because the government isnt getting any sales tax money from it. like they dont steel enough of our money the way it is. then what i suppose theyll hire a few dozen people and pay them in excess of $40K to enforce it. what the hell is wrong with this place.

this rant may sound like im the biggest anti on earth but i am not. i believe that sound conservation practices need to be used today more than ever. i fish bait from time to time and dont harm too many fish because of it. i hold the rod in my hand at all times. i dont stick it in the mud so i can drink beer and smoke cigarettes. if i do hook one bad o-well frying pan it goes the license fees, gas money, and all the money spent on gear has to buy me something more than an enjoyable time on the water (which for me usually isnt because i hunt for 20″+ fish and when things arent going my way i get worked up and dont even enjoy it) but thats my problem.

anyway thats part of my $0.02 could keep rambling about this kind of stuff for hours.

Fanatic

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has anyone ever thought that there is as many people fishing or not much less than there used to be but a lot of them opt out of buying a license?

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I have been called a pessimist(I think more like a realist)but that would be a stretch! I believe the majority of anglers and people for that matter are law abiding citizens. At least I hope!!

Article in the Wisconsin State Journal, Aug 19, 2006.

“A creel census (angler survey) currently being conducted on three northern Grant County trout streams is demonstrating that I am not mistake. To date only 7 percent of the anglers contacted on the streams have been local residents, and >90% of the trout caught have been released. And fly fishers outnumber bait anglers two to one. By comparison. a creel census conducted on one of these steams in 1979 showed that 80% of the anglers who fished this stream used worms.” In the next piece of data, compliments of TU, it shows worm decline to 24%.

Roger Kerr.

In case you were not aware, my data is supplied by Roger. Roger was the fisheries biologist managing southwest WI for 33 years from 1972 – 2005. Roger and others discovered traanslocating wild brown fingerlings versus brown hatchery raised fingerlings are twenty fold more successful. The wild browns have now displaced all of the hatchery fish. Roger’s other main achievement includes gaining unprecedented miles of public access for southwestern WI.

So Richland County alone has 85 trout streams with roughly 300 miles of trout water, most of which are class I with almost nobody fishing them.

WI State Journal Aug 19, 2006

Worm angler decline

PA harvest study

To get back to the original point, I HIGHLY DOUBT that special regs have had a significant impact on the number of trout fishermen out there. Mark, you cite Wisconsin data. I don’t know if there is a similar decline in trout stamp sales in Minnesota. These things seem to change year to year, whether it’s deer licenses or whatever.

I would add to the rant I made two night ago by saying that many of the fisheries in this state have actually improved over the past 20 years due to changing angler ethics, special regs, and on some waters (rivers), improved water quality.

There has NEVER been a better time to fish for muskies in Minnesota than today. Trout fishing in the SE is better now than it was in the 1970’s, and has hardly changed on the North Shore.

Frankly, if there ARE fewer trout anglers on the water today, then so be it. There still are times when some streams get CROWDED. Just release all your big fish (that aren’t bleeding), and keep a bunch for the pan from those streams that need thinning.

well said cutthroat. end of debate.