WI - Mail survey of thousands of anglers

[Hamilton Reef]

Sometimes I come across interesting data from our neighbor states. I then pass it on for future comparision to Michigan. The comparisions may not be available now, but with a search we can come back to this post when needed.


WI - Ice anglers keep higher percentage of fish

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/app ... 10572/1233

Data extrapolated from a mail survey of thousands of anglers who fished Wisconsin during the 2006-07 license year helped Department of Natural Resources fisheries researcher Brian Weigel estimate that nearly two-thirds — or 55.1 million — of an estimated 88.2 million fish caught were released.

Ice anglers spent an estimated 15.2 million hours fishing, caught 14 million fish and kept almost half of them, or 6.5 million.

Surveys were sent out every two weeks to 2,500 anglers randomly selected from the automated database of license holders.

Anglers spent more than 71 million hours on the water. Walleyes were the most targeted species, but more panfish — 57.7 million bluegills, crappies, perch and other species — were caught than anything else. Also in the top five were bass (10 million), walleye (7 million), northern pike (3 million) and trout (1.6 million).

Bass and muskie were the most-released species, put back alive almost 95 percent of the time.

Lake Michigan was the most popular water to fish, with 6 percent of angler trips, followed by Lake Winnebago and the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers.

However, the top 10 waters accounted for only 26 percent of angler trips, hinting at the diversity of fishing in a state with more than 15,000 lakes and 42,000 perennially flowing miles of river.

Wisconsin consistently finishes among the top states nationally in every sport-fishing category, along with Minnesota, California, Florida and Texas.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's 2006 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation estimated 1,394,000 anglers 16 years and older fished nearly 21 million days in Wisconsin in 2006, spending $1.6 billion.

Additional analysis by the American Sportfishing Association indicated fishing in 2006 supported 30,164 Wisconsin jobs, generated an economic impact of $2.75 billion, and created $196 million in tax revenues for state and local governments.

— Kevin Naze