Numbers down ... and down

[Bobfly]

Latest for E and W rod licence numbers shows a 15% fall in one year and 40% over 10 years. About 575,000 down. In the last 15 years Finland down 30 percent, Denmark down 32 percent, California down 56 percent.
Angling licences not alone. In ten years football down 18, golf 27 and swimming down 24 percent.
Too much screen time .... 

[SoldierPmr]

You'll still have the die hards that can now enjoy more water or greens without being disturbed. Trying to look on the plus side here.

[Wildfisher]

How often do you see youngsters fishing these day?

Pretty much never. Most of the places we fished around here as kids have been destroyed by the EU and farmers either through pollution or abstraction for irrigation. The Brothock Burn from which the town of Arbroath takes its name was a great trout stream in the 1960s. It was stuffed with fish, water voles etc. It has been pretty much trashed. The mass fish kills by agricultural poisoning from herbicides and fertilisers started in the 1970s. The Elliot Burn south of the town is the same.

Things change of course  and it's not the same everywhere, but  at the current rate of take up fishing could  be dead in Scotland  within a generation or two.  I suppose the overarching question is should we worry about it?

[arawa]

When I was a child almost everyone I knew fished. Looking to give away some of my tackle, I found none of my nieces/nephews and their children do so now.
It's not just participation that is the problem. My sailing club cannot find people, especially younger ones, to join the committee and do the work necessary for the club to operate – not helped by ever-growing red tape. My son's small golf course has the same problem even worse.
People, perhaps for various understandable reasons, just want to turn up and take part in the activity. But they do not have the time or inclination to do the work that enables that activity. Yet there is never a shortage of people to complain if things are not to their satisfaction!

[Wildfisher]

We started our fishing careers harassing perch and pike in the local quarries, ponds and lochs. The farmers saw the quarries as handy  places to dump their rubbish - I can still smell the tons of rotting potatoes dumped in one of them that finished it as far as fishing went. Of course the farmers didn't want people on their land fishing, so it was win win for them. Other quarries were filled in for "health and safety" reasons (great excuse for a new landfill). Bottom line is there are precious few places youngsters can just spontaneously go and fish now. It's all permits and pre-planning now. But as I said, things do change and perhaps we just have to accept that and move on. There are loads of other healthy outdoor activities.

[Laxdale]

Lots of kids are still fishing over here. We are lucky that the sea is free and full of fish, and no one is really fussed if you throw a worm or spinner in most of the trout lochs, and a few of the migratory systems.
But
I think one important point is that the kids can come and go as they please, free of all the rules associated with so much fishing nowadays.

[Wildfisher]

I think one important point is that the kids can come and go as they please, free of all the rules associated with so much fishing nowadays.

Spot on. That's the way it was here when I was a kid. We spent as much time climbing trees and exploring as we did fishing when we were out fishing.  Kids have to be free to develop their interests. Most places were free to fish (even the Kinnaber beat on North Esk  :shock:) . Local club junior membership  was 5 bob! 

[Tweed]

This is a real issue and all of the above is spot on.  Kids need a playground to develop the interest - the likes of Lewis/Harris and other areas can still offer that.  I've put some real effort into getting kids in my local area into the sport, but a lack of free and/or bandy waters, where you can go and just mess about for a day makes it very difficult.  You feel bad asking parents for a tenner so that their kid can go and fish for stockies against the clock for a few hours, and it's so far removed from how most of us got into it that it's actually a bit depressing.  Organised fun, with a card full of rules, is a poor substitute for being allowed to explore a loch or river on your own terms.  These places can also be far from easy, with the levels of catch and release now practiced.  I've seen many kids blank and know that it'll be a hard sell to keep them interested.

Rivers offer a bit more a back to nature experience, but they can also be ridiculously priced - especially if there's even a remote chance of salmon being involved.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but something needs to change.  Not just to keep the numbers coming into the sport, but also for the good that the sport can do for kids themselves - especially given how other things have changed and the increase of screen-time etc.

Andy T

[scobo]

One thing I've noticed at a loch I fish is an increase in walkers and the day trip "selfie" crowd.
During the 70's and 80's, you hardly ever saw another sole but the car park is often full these days.
I still rarely see anyone else fishing this loch but the single track road up to it has taken a hammering recently.
I guess the internet makes wild places that were once rarely visited by these types much more trendy and appealing, what with all the photos and videos on social media.
Strangely though, it doesn't seem to have had the same effect on the numbers fishing.

[burnie]

I saw a few teenagers spinning for mackerel on the rocks in the summer, but they are the only young 'uns I've seen fishing this year, introducing my grandkids to fishing, they had a ball chasing stuff with a net on Lewis beaches and "helping" granddad landing and releasing wee flounders. I have taken my lads two crab fishing with a line, but they are moving back to England next week. I have some wee rods and reels, so hope to find some fishing somewhere near Perth. Keptie pond used to have local kids fishing on it, but some miserable old scroutem had the council ban fishing there.