Yesterday The Outdoor Foundation released their annual 2009 Outdoor Recreation Participation Report, and the numbers show that participation in fly fishing has increased moderately after going through what now looks like a "free fall" in 2006-2007.
Kids' (6-17) participation in all outdoors sports declined somewhat, but appears to be bottoming out. Kids' participation in fly fishing actually increased 3.2% from 2007-2008 after declining more than 50% in the year previous. Involvement in fly fishing among "young adults" aged 18 to 24 increased 3.3%, again after a significant decline in the year previous. And participation by all age groups combined grew 3.2%. According to the report, 5,941,000 people in the U.S. participated in fly fishing in the 2008 period, coming close to reaching 2006's 6,071,000 number.
Interestingly, fishing remained the most popular outdoor activity in the U.S. in 2008, with 17% of Americans ages 6 and older -- or 48.2 million people -- participating. It's also responsible for the third largest number of "outings" (behind only running and cycling): 1.04 billion outings or 17 average outings per fishing participant.
Read the press release here.
Download the full report here.
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