Survey: Access a Problem for 1 in 5 Anglers

New data uncovered by Southwick Associates’ Angler Survey shows that 1 in 5 anglers have either had to cancel a trip or stop fishing a particular area because they could no longer access it in the past year.
“Most of those concerns (81.5 percent) in the 2010 survey, which measured angler experiences from 2009, involved fresh water fishing locations where low water levels due to drought or lake draw downs, pollution generated from excess runoff as a result of storms, boat ramp closures and limited public right of entry points can all contribute to limited angler access. Interestingly, only 19.7 percent of access concerns affected saltwater anglers that year, but in the January 2011 survey (which measured angler experiences from 2010), that number jumped to 24.8 percent, an increase of more than five percent.”