Is fishing aging out?

[joeD]

1920s: People fished

1930s: People fished

1940s: People fished

1950s: People fished

1960s: People fished

1970s: People fished

1980s: People fished

1990s: People fished

2000s: People fished

2010s: People fished

See a pattern? In fact, so many people fish for so many species in so many places in so many ways with such a diverse and available and useful array of equipment, that there are literally industries and economies based on fishing.

There is absolutely NO PROBLEM with recreational fishing health.

Existential hand-wringing over "todays youth" and how they spend their time is just an excuse to show one's outdoor piety, and a need to be patted on the back for "taking a kid fishing."

[Al Agnew]

Glad that somebody pointed out the statistical chances of a kid being preyed upon. Yep, it's not politically correct to let your kids go out in the outdoors on their own as kids once did; in fact, there are a lot of busybodies out there who will turn you in to the far too uptight authorities for doing so. But I highly doubt there are any more child predators out there than there ever were as a percentage of the population...it's just that the population is bigger so there are more of them in absolute numbers. But there are more kids, in absolute numbers, as well, so the chances of YOUR kid being a victim is probably no greater than it ever was. I'm not a parent, so I can't speak from experience, and I understand the need for parents to protect their kids from bad things. But at some point, in my opinion, the parent has ease up and prepare the kid for the real adult world by giving them some experience making their own mistakes and solving their own problems.

On the other hand...one possible change now from back when I was a kid in prehistoric times is that there are fewer cohesive neighborhoods. No matter what you think of a certain female politician, it really is nice to have the village helping to raise your kids. When I was a kid growing up in a small Ozark type town, every adult in our neighborhood knew every kid, and plenty of the women were not employed so they were always around to watch over ALL the neighborhood kids. Now far too many neighborhoods consist of not only kids who stay inside most of the time, but adults that do the same, homes that are vacant all day, and people who don't have a clue who their neighbors two houses down the street are, let alone their kids.

[LittleRedFisherman]

Observations I've seen around here, I see a lot the young'uns into fishing and hunting still.

[joeD]

Yeah, even with our idyllic and simpler past, everyone supposedly knowing everyone else and bike riding and pick up sports games and swimming pools and catching lightning bugs, certain kids still turned into miscreants and criminals and general ne'er do wells, despite the presence of concerned and able mothers keeping a tight watch over the neighborhood.

It's revisionist bullshit made by people who should know better. Kids could care less if you rode around on Schwinn Sting Ray. That was YOUR (MINE?OUR) life. Not theirs. Some kids turn out less than ideal. Has nothing to do with TV and video games and staying inside without a parent. It's life. A lot of these same "sheltered" kids turn out to be doctors and teachers and carpenters and engineers and all around decent, civilized citizens.

Fishing is not aging out. In fact, there are probably more fishermen competing for less productive water than ever before.

So, don't take a kid fishing, take him/her to a science fair.

PS: Where and when I fish, my hope actually is to NOT SEE ANYONE!

[Guest]

Science fair!!! No fishing boys were gonna build an internet sever today. Forget pork frogs, can you write code?

[Seth]

Science fair!!! No fishing boys were gonna build an internet sever today. Forget pork frogs, can you write code?

I'm glad I had enough of a video/computer game addiction in between wanting to play sports, fish and hunt when I was younger to make me go to college and get a degree in network technology. It now pays for my hunting and fishing addictions. I'll never agree that video games are what ruins kids these days because I am probably more addicted to hunting/fishing than a lot of folks (always have been) and I grew up playing plenty of video games. I still get yelled at for being on my smart phone too much.....

[fishinwrench]

Yeah, I enjoy having plenty of guys to talk to about fishing, but when it's actually time to go do it I want them gone.

[bfishn]

I dunno. looks like this little gal has it figured out...

...kinda makes you go "hmmmmm"...

[Big Brown Trout]

all on night crawlers lol

[ozark trout fisher]

As a member of the "Computer Game Generation" (20s) I often get laughs out of these discussions. As if there weren't people who stayed inside and didn't do much of anything 30 or 50 years ago. I live in a largeish, pretty liberal college town, and if I want to go fishing/hunting/anything else outside, I never have the slightest trouble finding anyone who is willing to go with me. If there's a problem at all, it's that people feel just fine about saying that a whole generation doesn't "have the desire to do anything anymore."

Generalizations are often wrong. I just got a smartphone for the first time a few months ago, and only because it was an absolute requirement. I still hope it doesn't have reception wherever I'm going fishing. And if you're posting on an internet forum, whilst complaining about computers, forgive me if I'm confused by that.