Fishing Related Stories Worth Knowing About

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Fishing Related Stories Worth Knowing About
By JIM SHEPHERD, The Fishing Wire

Pain at the pump…It comes as no surprise to most of us, but a June survey by AnglerSurvey.com says the record (and still-rising) fuel prices are causing anglers to cut back on their fishing plans. Last June more than a third of anglers said the fuel prices would have "no effect" on their fishing habits. This year, only twenty-two percent said they weren't changing their fishing habits. In further evidence of the bite of high prices, thirty-two percent of the anglers surveyed this June said their fishing plans were affected.

There are fewer anglers out there these days, but not for the same reasons.

The percentage change, although significant, is still less than the increase in an average gallon of gasoline compared to last year. The average price of a gallon of gas is up nearly thirty-nine percent over last July 2, 2007 according to the American Automobile Association.

From far north of the border, Statistics Canada has some grim numbers on that nation's anglers. Recreational fishing there is down by twenty-five percent over the past ten years. In 1995, approximately four-million Canadians bought fishing licenses. In the 2008 Enviro Stats report, officials say only three-point-two million Canadians bought fishing licenses in 2005.

And the anglers are apparently aging, too. The national average for a male angler is 48, with female anglers averaging 44 years of age. The significant drops in angling population were noticed in Quebec and Ontario, while Newfoundland, Labrador, Manitoba and Nunavut had slight increases.

Most of those surveyed say a lack of time and skills are the primary reasons they've stopped fishing.

Angling On The Mound…finally, a story that doesn't involve bad news. Bassmaster Elite angler Matthew Sphar is getting ready to make his debut on the mound at the July 18 minor league baseball game between the Buffalo Bisons and the Richmond Braves.

Sphar's not a pitcher; and he's not throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. In recognition of the July 31-August 3 Bassmaster Elite tournament on Lake Erie and Niagara River, he's going to be "casting out" the first pitch. Buffalo is the host city for the tournament.

"I'm not exactly used to casting baseballs," says Sphar, whose baseball experience was limited to youth leagues. "I'll probably have to modify the baseball somehow, maybe drill some holes in it to make it lighter.

"I don't really know what type of cast I'll use, until I get out there and try it. It's a bit different than casting from the deck of a boat, which is higher than a mound. I may roll the ball around the tip and make kind of circle cast. I'll do it however I have to get it to the plate."

Sphar's not the first angler to try his hand at baseball "casting". Kevin Wirth once "casted a pitch" for a AAA-affiliate Louisville Bats home game in 2006.

Sphar says he's "probably" going to use a baitcasting reel, flipping rod and heavy monofilament line- or maybe even a braid.

This might be a good opportunity for an angler to show baseball fans what it really means to "pull the string" on a pitch, er, cast.

We'll keep you posted.

--Jim Shepherd