BigBendFishing.Net

These figures should be required reading for every politician and bureaucrat:

Did You Know? Facts about Recreational Fishing

There are approximately 60 million anglers in the U.S. of which 46 million are estimated to fish in a given year. • One of every four anglers fishes in saltwater. • Fishing tackle sales grew over 16 percent in the past five years. • Since 2006, angler numbers grew 11 percent. • More Americans fish than play golf (21 million) and tennis (13 million) combined. • If fishing were a company, the amount spent by anglers to support fishing-related retail sales would rank number 51 on the Fortune 500™ list. • Fishing generated more revenue ($48 billion) than Lockheed Martin ($47 billion), Intel ($44 billion), Chrysler ($42 billion) or Google ($38 billion). • The economic activity generated by sportfishing is greater than the economy, measured in Gross State Product, of 17 states. • At more than 46 million anglers, more than twice the number of people fished in 2011 than attended every NFL game combined.

These statistics were provided by Southwick Associates and are available in Sportfishing in America: An Economic Force Conservation.

Let's do the math . . . $48 billion spent by 46 million anglers. That's an average annual expenditure of a little over $1000 per angler. Yep; that's believable.

And some of us spend way more than that, offsetting the frugal cane-polers and wade fishermen. Just ask the wives.

Don't even come close to showing this to my wife, I know I am way over the 1000.00 mark not counting trips to la. once a year.

Hey Silverking, why do you have to throw the wade fishers under the bus? LOL I consider myself to be a wade fisher and have spent a small fortune on my gear! However, I have moved up to the plastic navy ever since that bull shark ate my batch of trout.

No slight intended, RA. Some Texas waders spend more on gear than the average weekend boater. But taken in context waders tend to be more minimalist than other segments of the recreational community.

Congrats on joining the plastic navy. I have that same affliction myself now and it helps offset the high maintenance requirements of my custom skiff. My wife calls her the "Other Woman" and that's the PG version.

All good silver king, I'm just playing around. I also share boat ownership with my Brother in Law in an 18 ft Polar and we are always throwing money in that thing. Sometimes its just easy to throw your rods and that plastic boat in the truck and fish. I have caught just as many fish that way as in that Polar!

Joining the plastic navy to save money won't work. Its even more addictive. You'll end up fishing 10 times as much and spending even more on gas and gear.