A quick chat with American Sportfishing Association president Glenn Hughes

For nearly 90 years, the American Sportfishing Association – commonly referred to as ASA – has been leading the way for sportfishing’s future.

The industry trade association is committed to looking out for the interests of the sport fishing community by assisting its members and by promoting programs, activities, and legislation in the interest of sport fishing and improved fisheries.

Glenn Hughes has been president of the association, based in New Alexandria, Virginia, for more than five years. Under his guidance, the group’s focus is on five pillars – clean water, abundant fisheries, access to those fish, trade and commerce and increasing participation in fishing.

When we caught up with Hughes for a brief chat recently, he wanted to talk about the last one.

Outdoor News: Why are you so focused on fishing participation in the future?

Hughes: Because the Baby Boomers are aging out, and that generation has a huge impact on everything in terms of the economy. As they get into their 70s and beyond, many will stop fishing. And fewer and fewer of them will be buying fishing tackle and taking others fishing. That’s a big group to replace.

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Many millennials are fishing, but members of Gen X and Gen Z may look at things a bit differently. We aren’t necessarily going to be able to replace the boomers unless we lead young people to fishing. We need to show them a good experience and make them feel comfortable with their fishing experiences.”

Outdoor News: How many people fish in the U.S.?

Hughes: There’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 52 million people who went fishing last year, and we had more than 10 million new or returning people who came into the sport. But we also had about that number coming out. And so, in view of this turnover, or churn, fishing participation is sort of a leaky bucket, and we have to do a better job of retaining anglers.

Outdoor News: Do you have a goal for fishing participation?

Hughes: I’d like to see us get to the 60-million angler level. It’s something that we’ve talked about within the industry and talked about with the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, but we’ve never quite reached that goal. So I want to see us get there.

That number would show growth, sustainability and probably less churn. That number can support our industry better and support conservation better.

Outdoor News: How might that level of fishing participation be achieved?

Hughes: I think we have a huge opportunity to introduce millions more kids to fishing. I would like to see fishing in schools – I think it should be a part of the curriculum in the physical education classes.

Similar to archery in the schools, which is in 9,000 schools, with over a million kids a year learning how to shoot bows and arrows. And that’s great, but there are hardly any programs for fishing. The kids can learn to fish inside the gym – there’s a curriculum for it.

As we always say, where do you fish? You fish where the fish are? And where do we reach the kids? The kids are in schools – 50 million of them from kindergarten through 12th grade, and we need to do a better job of interacting with them.

Many schools have done away with physical education because of a lack of funding. But there are many others that would be willing to incorporate fishing into their curriculum.

There is one program that hasn’t quite gotten off the ground because of funding, but it has supported several hundred schools with a fly-fishing program, and they are trying to get their spin-cast curriculum into schools. The cost is about $2,500 per school.

We funded it one year through a grant, but then COVID hit. We haven’t been able to find the right sponsor to date.

Outdoor News: Beyond the schools, any other strategies to get young people fishing?

Hughes: Our partner, the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, better known as RBFF, has a staff that spend their entire day thinking about increasing participation in fishing and boating. Their website TakeMeFishing.org is very good and provides a ton of information on how to start, where to fish and what to use.

RBFF has good marketing campaigns that promote fishing, as well as a strong partnerships with folks like Disney, to get their message in front of the largest audience of families available, including Hispanics.

Otherwise, the second best place to reach young people is summer camps. There are hundreds of different camps – YMCA, Boy Scout, soccer, football, tennis, science, etc. – but very limited fishing programs in the summer. I think the kids would line up if more fishing instruction was available.

The opportunity lies within state and local parks that have water, along with chaperons who have the summer off – teachers! The starting point is that there are more than 3,000 high school fishing clubs around the country that all need a someone from the teaching staff to oversee.

I believe these same individuals could hold week-long fish camps throughout the summer – and get paid well! We need to organize.

There are several groups that do a nice job in different locations. Fishing’s Future, run by Shane Wilson is based in Texas, but probably has 100 locations now. That group does half days on Saturday afternoons for young kids and families.

Learn to Fish with Us, by Greg Karch, is in Wisconsin. And a group called Future Angler Foundation is supporting an in-classroom and TV/video program called “Into The Outdoors,”’ which is somewhat based on science/biology and includes some hands-on, how-to -fish components.

The fishing clubs I mentioned are involved with B.A.S.S. and Major League Fishing, the two governing bodies when it comes to bass fishing. These are very organic because it only takes a couple kids who want to get it going and a teacher to sponsor them, and they have a club.

Outdoor News: How can readers learn more?

Hughes: Anyone who is interested in learning more should go to takemefishing.org. Our partner, the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation, through its website, is doing the best job of sharing information regarding participation.

RBFF is a national, non-profit organization that has been leading the drive for over 20 years – in partnership with industry and government, and through its brands Take Me Fishing and Vamos A Pescar – to increase participation in recreational boating and fishing.

We know that increasing the number of anglers will help to conserve and restore our country’s aquatic natural resources.