Why We Fish - StripersOnline.com Poll

I've always wondered why we fish. I don't mean why I fish, I know that, but why we, as a group, fish. It turns out, at least in the results of our 5 day long poll, that people fish for reasons that are very different from the reasons we've always been told. Imagine that. I'm thinking about running this poll longer and from the main page of the site so non-members can also vote. I wonder if the addition of non-members would change the results drastically? Anyway, some disclaimers about this poll before anyone emails me to tell me why the information is wrong or anything else along those lines. The questions asked are shown exactly as they were asked. There was no viewing of or discussion of the ongoing poll results to possibly sway folks who had not yet voted - the results were not viewable until the poll had ended. The questions were just off the hip questions, there was no research or science of Herculean effort to make them anything other than questions I've always wondered about. The results of the 216 registered SurfTalk members are presented below. There was some problem with question number 7, it didn't give folks who were not members of the groups in question 6 any option...question 7 can pretty much be discounted for that reason but it's included here because it was included in the original poll.

For ease of interpretation, the number one and number two (in multiple choice questions) most popular responses are highlighted in a different color - number one choice being red and number two choice being blue. If you have any comments or questions about this poll, feel free to contact me at tims@stripersonline.com - if you'd like to link to this information from your site, please link to this page instead of to the page you are reading as this one changes...sometimes . This material is copyright protected and is not to be used in part or whole without permission - linking to this page is the only legally acceptable manner of displaying this information on another site.

Poll Results: Poll - Why do we fish? (216 votes.)

1. What's your primary reason for striped bass fishing?
I enjoy striper fishing, regardless of what I catch 50% (109)
I want to catch a lot of stripers. 3% (6)
I want to catch big stripers. 13% (28)
I want to catch a striper I can take home to eat. 3% (7)
I want to catch a striper big enough to hang on the wall. 3% (6)
I want to bring home as much fish as possible. 0% (1)
I enjoy striper fishing, regardless of what I can keep. 25% (55)
None of the above. 2% (4)

2. What's the most important secondary reason for striped bass fishing?
I enjoy striper fishing, regardless of what I catch 18% (38)
I want to catch a lot of stripers. 12% (26)
I want to catch big stripers. 28% (61)
I want to catch a striper I can take home to eat. 9% (20)
I want to catch a striper big enough to hang on the wall. 2% (4)
I want to bring home as much fish as possible. 1% (2)
I enjoy striper fishing, regardless of what I can keep. 25% (54)
None of the above. 5% (11)

3. True/False: I would fish more frequently if there were more big fish.
True 35% (76)
False 65% (140)

4. True/False: I would fish more frequently if I could keep three instead of two.
True 2% (4)
False 98% (212)

5. True/False: I would fish more frequently if the size limit were reduced.
True 3% (7)
False 97% (209)

6. I am a member of and support the following groups:
JCAA 5% (10)
RFA 8% (17)
CCA 18% (39)
None of the above 72% (156)

7. True/False: I feel that the groups I belong to represent me well.
True 60% (129)
False 40% (87)

8. True/False: I don't know enough about the issues to know if I'm being misled.
True 45% (98)
False 55% (118)

I think a couple very interesting points can be made from these result. The first is, apparently, very few people fish for striped bass in because they would like to take one home to eat. In fact, 97% percent of the respondents listed other primary reasons for striped bass fishing and 91% of respondents didn't even choose that as a secondary reason for striped bass fishing.

Another interesting point is only 3% of the anglers that responded would fish more frequently if the size limit were reduced and only 2% would fish more frequently if they could bring home three stripers per day instead of two.

And one thing I wish some areas of the recreational fishing industry would consider, at least in regards to the striped bass, is that one third of the anglers that responded would fish more frequently if there were more big fish in the population. Only 3% would fish more frequently if they could kill more while 35% would fish more frequently if there were more big fish. It's impossible to guess if those anglers that responded are representative of striped bass anglers everywhere, but I'm certain that these results do reflect a very contrary picture to some of the impressions I've gotten from the media for years. The majority of respondents fish because they want to fish, not so they can bring a fish home. Almost none would fish any more frequently with a lower size limit or higher bag limit. To me, that's very interesting...not necessarily scientific, but very clearly represented by the 216 people that participated in this poll.

The original poll can be seen here. Thanks to all those that participated, I look forward to the next one :-)

Tim Surgent