AMERICANS ENJOY ANGLING

Taupo Times, Volume II, Issue 54, 28 January 1953, Page 6

AMERICANS ENJOY ANGLING

ROD AND LINE IN U.S.A. More Americans than ever before a re fmding- pleasure in fishing. Angling is the mest popular form o£ this reereation in the country. Aecording to figures released by the U. S. Fish and Wiidlife Serviee, inore than 16,000,000 Americans hold fishing- licenses. This number is one million g-reater than last year's. Fishing- authorities .say, however, that, there are at least 10,000,000 mere who enjoy the sport — persons who fish on their own property, or who live in areas whieh do not reuure licenses. Aocounts of angling go back to '2000 B.C. in Egypt. But it was not until the seventeenth century that angling was popularized. Izaak Walton, English author, dealt with the subject in his essays. The sport soon became popular in the British Isles. Angling was introduced into North America almost as soon as the first settiers arrived in the early seventeenth century. The fishing season in the United States extends through America ?s long summer. The price of a license to fish in those areas where it is repuired is low. Whatever equipment is meedSed in addition to a rod and reel is inexpensive and within the price range of virtually. all income groups. When these factors are coupled with the summer vacation periods and the peace and contentment which comes from an out-of-door environment, it is little wonder that fishing is a sport which attracts men, women and children of all age groups. With the great extension of trails and roads in the United States during the past ten years there are few fishing spots inaccessible today to «anyone with the will to walk a few miles for the pleasure of fishing in isolated waters. Generally, only arid areas in the south-western United States lack fishing opportunities. In some States both fresh and salt "water fishing are possible in the same area. For example, brook trout are caught within a short distance of some of the best •surf fishing in the Nation. This is true in North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Maine, and Florida, on the east coast, and of California on the west. "Fishing TrainsA Fishing, is done from piers. hridges, causeways, roadsides, beaches, skiffs, and chartered boats. During most of the summer months, for example, a daily "fishing train" leaves crowded New York City for nearby Montauk, Lond Island. There it discahrges hundreds of anglers Who board boats leaving for fishing areas off the Atlantic Coast. While the vast majority of Americans who fish for pleasure do not consider tne pastime a competitive sport. there are more than 2,000 fishing eontests held in the United States each year. Tliey range from the oMest eontinuous national jboiirney, which is the 40-year-old Field and Stream Fishing Ccntest, tio the National Better Fishing Rodeo. The latter contesfc is held for children under 16', Thousands of them are expected to compete this year from more " than 277 cities and towns representing the 48 States-.