Bob La Londe wrote:
A while back I commented on the drop in license sales, and the subsequent
decline in the industry. I got a lot of flack, and some constructive
commentary. I saw this posted on another group. I did not yet check it to
see if it backs up the declining license sales as reported in some of the
fishing magazines, but it has a lot of info regarding fishing license sales
if anybody is interested.

http://masl.gnomehack.com/?C56E32DE9

When I looked at Arizona, it looked like license sales were actually growing
for a couple years, and then dropped off the last couple. A small growth
would make sense due to the massive population growth of the state, but the
drop off the last couple years is a big surprise as the growth of the state
has done nothing but continue to increase. I was just checking total
licenses, permits, etc, so it is possible that the decline of winter
visitors post 9/11 has had a substantial effect.

This may be way off, but isn't Arizona a huge retirement state? I think
here in Wisconsin you no longer need a fishing license over 65 (I could
be wrong, and I a probably am) so I wonder if that has something to do
with the increase in population and the decrease in fishing licenses.
Also along the same lines, how has the number of country club licenses done?
In-Fisherman last month had a small article on the decline in resident
fishing licenses in Canada , but the increase in licenses from
non-resident fisherman. Maybe it is regional, but here in Wisconsin a
huge part of the population fishes, and it seems there are more and more
people fishing every year. In-Fisherman also mentioned that a big chunk
of the non-resident licenses come from Wisconsin as well. I personally
buy licenses for Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan , and Ontario. That also
includes a great lakes stamp where applicable :-).

Just some ramblings.

Chris