I think that part of it is the breakdown of the family. Kids aren't
being taught to fish by their parents. A single parent has a harder time
finding the time for a hobby like fishing. Lack of time steers people to
"spur of the moment" activities, like movies, or shopping, or restaurants.
Fishing isn't as easy to "fall into" as it used to be. A lot more
people used to live out in the country, or at least knew someone who
did, and all they needed was to grab some live bait and a pole. Now the
population is more urbanized, and the only water accessible to them is
public water, where you need a license, and unless you really look, bank
fishing spots are scarce. In Texas, fishing licenses expire on August
31, no matter if you buy it in July. Full one year price for a month of
fishing? That makes it easy to say: "Let's do something else today, and
go fishing next month.
So someone watches a tv show and gets the bug, buys a combo and some
bait, and spends one of his precious Saturdays trying to find a place he
can bank fish without getting mugged. He finds one spot and it's covered
with beer cans, another and a gang of teens with loud music scares him
off. Another Saturday gone and he never realized the Andy Griffith
fishing scene he was looking for.
Or someone has a buddy take him fishing, and he gets interested in the
sport. In the past, he'd start out fishing small private water with one
rod and $20 or less worth of tackle, and buy more a little at a time
until he finds he's "hooked". Now he knows of no private water, and
because he's not plugged in, he doesn't know any bank fishing spots. So
he's looking at a boat, registration, trailer, registration, boat
insurance, oops, the car won't pull that rig, need a truck and receiver
hitch, ........ Know what? I can buy a lot of Cowboy (Ranger, Mavericks,
Sidekicks, Stars, etc) good seat tickets for that money, and I don't
have to find someplace to store them cause they won't fit in the garage!
I hate to say it, but I think it's amazing that there are many
fishermen left.