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| Millennial sportsmen and women give me hope. They appear to be less interested in harvesting and more knowledgeable about conservation. I think baby boomers (which I am at the tail end of) are split. You have those that pushed the conservation and catch and release ethic, but you also had a high percentage of boomers that were extremely harvest oriented. I think those that do participate in hunting and fishing will be a far more conservation minded participant. I just hope that enough of them participate so that our game and fish habitats can be sustained. |
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Location: Elko - Lake Vermilion |
musky-skunk - 1/16/2018 10:34 AM
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170315005391/en/Camping-U.S...
https://e360.yale.edu/features/greenlock-a-visitor-crush-is-overwhel...
Just another quick thought... look at the rough age of the people in the two pictures in the second article and you will see a ton of Millennials doing challenging things outdoors. They show the half dome hike; 16 miles round trip and the narrows hike; 10 miles round trip. Hiking, camping, climbing/mountaineering, trail running, mountain biking, kayaking/paddle boarding, slack lining, scuba diving/snorkeling, skydiving, nature photography and many more are growing at impressive (or alarming ) rates. National Parks are being overwhelmed and retail stores that specialize in outdoor activities are seeing record sales and growth. On my adventures I can say that people under the age of 40 are the majority. Though when someone over 50 is on the trail young people often gravitate towards them and the conversations are very fun and encouraging. I think we need to promote hunting and fishing with youth and make some sacrifices to mentor more. Unlike them we have the boats, the tackle, the hunting ground etc., we need to make the time as well. The idea however that young people are not desiring the outdoors and that connection with nature is false.
Agree with this. Adventure Sporting is growing like crazy. My seven Kids also like fishing and hunting when they can. It seems to me that when they turned 20 or so, they found other outdoor things to do instead of the video games .
Us "Older" folks need to give the younger people more opportunities to get out in the woods and out on the Lake. |
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| DRPEPIN - 1/16/2018 1:00 PM
I think what we are all missing is the fact that the younger generations are not getting involved with the clubs and organizations that shape the future of fishing and hunting.
Maybe they have heard complaints from the old-timers that run said clubs?
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Location: North Central IL USA | bbeaupre - 1/13/2018 11:44 AM
Wow... I just wasted way too much time reading this... when I could have been hunting or fishing.
LOL!!! yeppers! |
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| Then your living in the wrong area because were i'm from all of the kids hunt and fish when they can. |
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| late to this thread which is critical to the industry and of interest socially as well. my .02 as a 50ish Dad with a 15 year old son. I grew up roaming the woods and creeks of Maryland. There was no internet, TV was soap operas during the day and a few hours of prime time 8-10pm at night plus Gilligans Island in afternoon. I had no video games - to play those we went to the arcade and dropped quarters until there were no more to drop, and left unsatisfied and broke. I also played some mostly solitaire war games like Squad Leader and Runequest or D&D with friends on Friday night. Going fishing was exotic and exciting, like black magic due to the lack of info around. It sure beat looking at the neighborhood rocks and trees for another week solid.
My son plays 4K+ HD dopamine-engineered games for 8 hours straight. He has hundreds of online friends. Sometimes he leads adults on raids, using his experience and expertise to help them advance. He plays day or night. Instant colors and action and satisfaction. He has never complained about trolls or vulgar negative players and we share a lot.
I didn't do the best job of getting him into fishing, tried fast tracking to trophy bass and Stripers after a bit of Panfish but ultimately he is not interested in it regardless. Many factors including age, genetics, friends, and even hormones play into it so I won't blame myself. (BTW, my Dad who is on female hormone therapy for prostate cancer, lost his interest in fishing. He is a Dr. and when I inquired, he agreed there might be a link).
However, time changes everything. My dear departed Buddy Mike R. had a son who stood him up on his Birthday fishing trip, yet now is a huge fisherman (based on buddies getting into it) and recently went fishing with a Youtube star on my local lake. Mike - your boy is a fisherman after all! He is a few years older than mine. I hope to be around to fish with my boy and his boy or girl too.
I appreciate the many thoughtful posts on this topic.
Edited by curdmudgeon 1/20/2018 8:34 PM
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| It is tough, I have two boys 9 and 3, both love to fish and my older son enjoys hunting in moderation. The phones/computers/videogames do bother me though, I was always outside as a kid always. By the time I was 9 I had caught every reptile for miles. I don't get it but I am glad that my boys enjoy fishing. Hopefully that doesn't ever change! |
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| Now that my daughter is spending most of her time in school or work, we rarely get out fishing like we used to. When I was her age, you couldn't keep me off of the water or out of the woods. I wish that I had a niece or nephew to take fishing, but there isn't any interest from them. Regardless of public opinion, I still have lots to offer and I miss sharing it. Teaching people how to fish is very gratifying. So is teaching them how to make and paint lures. I hope that I meet someone who wants to pick my brain so I can pass on what I have learned.
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Location: FIB land | My 2 cents; My desire to hunt musky is the result of a memory as a 12 yr old seeing a "huge" muskie mount on the wall at Driftwood Lodge on Sand Lake, Max, Minnesota. The beast came out of "Big Winnie". That memory is still in my head, thanks to my dad taking the family to Minnesota summer vacation. |
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| I got no patience with the original question because it lumped a whole generation into a observably false conclusion. What's really bothering you, man? |
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| Not sure they necessarily have, though a stroll through any MI club meeting or any of the shows and tournaments would certainly make it look that way. Lotta gray hair in this sport....
Might be as simple as not having the disposable income we had at their age. Student loan debt, lack of job opportunities...
Could just be a cultural shift. Seems a lot of younger folks are hot for moving into the city and not even owning a car. Probably not going to fish or hunt much in that situation. Worked with a woman a few years back, early 30's, couldn't name any of the major highways in the area, couldn't find the suburbs on the map, didn't own a car, never even got a drivers license. She admitted to me that she'd never been out of the city except to get on a plane and go to some other city. |
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| esoxaddict - 1/23/2018 11:56 AM
Not sure they necessarily have, though a stroll through any MI club meeting or any of the shows and tournaments would certainly make it look that way. Lotta gray hair in this sport....
Might be as simple as not having the disposable income we had at their age. Student loan debt, lack of job opportunities...
Could just be a cultural shift. Seems a lot of younger folks are hot for moving into the city and not even owning a car. Probably not going to fish or hunt much in that situation. Worked with a woman a few years back, early 30's, couldn't name any of the major highways in the area, couldn't find the suburbs on the map, didn't own a car, never even got a drivers license. She admitted to me that she'd never been out of the city except to get on a plane and go to some other city.
Being a millennial, I think that not having enough disposable income would be one of the biggest factors. Add up all the expenses that there are (rent, car, student debt, etc...) and there is not a lot of money to buy the gear required for the sport. These days it takes 20k to get a decent boat. Throw in another 25K to get a decent truck. That barely gets you fishing.
On top of that, if said millennial wants to start a family, its tough to justify spending 40K on a hobby when daycare for one child costs 800 dollars a month. |
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| I had some money saved up to buy a boat (around 20k) and then I had a kid...we pay nearly a grand a month for daycare. So I could not justify spending the hard earned money on something I would only use 15-20 times a year.
So for now, and for the foreseeable future, when I want to fish I go with my father and his boat. If he didnt have one, I would not be fishing. |
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Location: Waukee, IA | Millennial here.
My generation, simply put, doesn't care about the expectations and norms of the boomers or gen x. This is normal for every generation, the difference being opportunity. With the expansion of technology and society as a whole nobody is forced into doing the same things as the previous generations, professionally or in their leisure time. With the staggering cost of startup that is associated with muskie fishing and fishing/hunting in general I don't blame anybody for avoiding it. Add to that the pathetic state of our natural resources and the problem becomes clear.
I'll give an example for where I live. Central Iowa has jack squat for good public fishing opportunities, muskie or otherwise. Sure there are a couple lakes where you can scratch out a few fish, but the great fishing of old that attracted so many from previous generations simply isn't there. I got addicted to fishing early in life, so I'm willing to trailer my boat for hours to find decent fish. Where is the appeal to a newbie in buying extremely expensive gear to put in an extremely expensive boat that you need an expensive pickup to pull hours away to a mediocre lake where the cabin costs $300 per night and you're way more likely to have bad fishing than good?
Not blaming boomers or gen x, the appeal is just shrinking as cost increases.
Also, all of the generational stereotyping and complaining does nothing positive for either side. |
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| Since when do you need a $20k boat and a $30k truck?
I'd be willing to bet half the guys on this site couldn't sell their boat, truck, and gear for $20k if their life depended on it.
Get an old Esox Magnum, any-old-SUV, a used rod and reel, a dozen or so lures...
I'd venture to say when all is said and done you could get everything you needed to start out for less than $12,000, half of which could be used to buy a vehicle you can actually use to drive to work and back. |
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Location: The desert | esoxaddict - 1/24/2018 3:36 PM
Since when do you need a $20k boat and a $30k truck?
I'd be willing to bet half the guys on this site couldn't sell their boat, truck, and gear for $20k if their life depended on it.
Get an old Esox Magnum, any-old-SUV, a used rod and reel, a dozen or so lures...
I'd venture to say when all is said and done you could get everything you needed to start out for less than $12,000, half of which could be used to buy a vehicle you can actually use to drive to work and back.
Yeah, we agree here. It can be a challenge but you could probably do even better than that. Heck, you could hire a guide once or twice a month and network with other anglers and not even need a boat.
Where there is a will there is a way, the problem is there are a plethora of other hobbies and stuff that can be cheaper and not require any equipment, or significantly less. |
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Location: Already Gone | esoxaddict - 1/15/2018 4:30 PM
I fish because someone took the time to get me a fishing rod, took me to the lake, and spent countless hours sitting on the pier dealing with hooks and bait and tangled lines until I was old enough to be out there by myself.
A lot of kids aren't that lucky.
This old guy was lucky to have these guys....an Uncle, his friend, and my Grandfather on the right.
Ducks, geese, fishing, camping, burned into my brain very early on at 11. All done the right way, full respect for the outdoors. I find myself thanking them all the time....otherwise I might have ended up who knows where. I believe it's all about how you're brought up...and then it's about desire and ability. Things are different.... but I wouldn't use the word rejected, I see alot of good guys out there these days.
Edited by Mark Hoerich 1/24/2018 9:03 PM
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Location: Land of the Musky | BrianF. - 1/12/2018 9:00 AM
And, perhaps more importantly, can anything be done to bring them back to what once was a popular national pastime?? The Star Tribune article today by Dennis Andersen leaves me wondering. Brian
Well this sucks from a musky tackle manufacturer but it will only increase the size of musky in the future on "certain" lakes.... 
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| Here's my 2 cents on being a millennial. The biggest thing is that first experience. If you aren't successful there, especially with kids, they will lose intrest quickly. There are less opportunities for a lot of us because we live in a more urban area. For example I can fish on the river in the city I live in, but the better opportunities are 2 hours away. Another thing is being successful in the first times you go. A rocket fishing rod is not a piece of adequate equipment and leaves people frustrated. People also don't want to pay 40 dollars to get a decent piece of equipment and then buy lures that can rack you up to a hundred bucks for something you aren't very good at. One last thing is the lack of knowledge. They catch nothing while some other guy is catching them every cast. This is obviously not fun for them and usually won't ask for help or if they do sometimes people won't help them.
Sorry if its a little long or seems like a rant and feel free to dm me if you guys want to talk about this more |
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| I think we're all at fault to a point. We come back from a trip, post a bunch of pictures with a caption that says "6 fish day, 4 over 45"!"
And the rookies see that and think that's the kind of results they should be getting, because we neglected to mention that we caught one other fish the whole week, or that our 6 fish day was the best day we've ever had. The pictures and the stories, the big fish board, that's all fine and great. But it doesn't paint a clear picture of what most folks are going to encounter on any given lake on any given day. |
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Location: MN | It seems like some in this thread may be a little confused on what a Millennial is. It is people born between the early 80's and late 90's. So that would be people from about 20 years old to mid-30's. There are a ton of muskie fisherman in this age bracket. Go to any muskie show or tournament and people of this age bracket will make up a good portion of the crowd.
I live in a somewhat rural area and a majority of people this age bracket fish, hunt or do both. I am sure the metro areas are much different which is probably why the license sales are dropping.
You can get a nice boat without breaking the bank. Lots of muskie guys out there, including myself, fishing 16-18 foot tillers that can be had for a very reasonable price and get the job done just fine, even on big water. You don't need a sparkly boat to catch fish and a fancy truck to pull it. |
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Location: Aurora | I married a millennial and while we don't always agree on things, we definitely love to fish out of these little round boats together. Sure, they're not the best on big water but they're economical and killer for performing boat-side maneuvers. Oh, and once we hook up all we do is lean forward a little bit and slide the fish right into the tub.
She named hers the Millennial Falcon ~shrug~
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Location: oswego, il | Sidejack - 1/25/2018 2:47 PM
I married a millennial and while we don't always agree on things, we definitely love to fish out of these little round boats together. Sure, they're not the best on big water but they're economical and killer for performing boat-side maneuvers. Oh, and once we hook up all we do is lean forward a little bit and slide the fish right into the tub.
She named hers the Millennial Falcon ~shrug~
Her rod is bigger than yours. |
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| A lot of millennials are very career oriented and don't have the time or finances honestly. They're too busy in college 4+ years to fish or hunt, then they come out of school with a lot of debt. Millennials are very busy spending time outdoors and traveling when they can. A lot of more cost friendly activities are on the rise like disc golf, trail running, hiking, kayaking, cycling, etc. Also there is a large gravitation towards metro areas too for millennials. A lot of people would enjoy it, they just need the opportunity. I always take people fishing for the their first time, or first time in a long time. With some it really sticks, and some it doesn't. There is also the "I want it now" mentality too, we all know it takes a lot patience with some fish, especially with poor weather conditions. |
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Location: Already Gone | Nershi - 1/25/2018 1:17 PM
It seems like some in this thread may be a little confused on what a Millennial is. It is people born between the early 80's and late 90's. So that would be people from about 20 years old to mid-30's. There are a ton of muskie fisherman in this age bracket. Go to any muskie show or tournament and people of this age bracket will make up a good portion of the crowd.
I live in a somewhat rural area and a majority of people this age bracket fish, hunt or do both. I am sure the metro areas are much different which is probably why the license sales are dropping.
You can get a nice boat without breaking the bank. Lots of muskie guys out there, including myself, fishing 16-18 foot tillers that can be had for a very reasonable price and get the job done just fine, even on big water. You don't need a sparkly boat to catch fish and a fancy truck to pull it.
Many a good day was had in a red Lund 16 with a 25 Merc. Towed by a vintage burgundy Cutlass Supreme. Had the nice Brougham package going for those after-dark trolling runs in town too.
 Cripes sakes man, those were the days...
Edited by Mark Hoerich 1/26/2018 9:14 AM
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Location: FIB land | Bro- Ham . Lol |
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Location: Aurora | I think we're fine considering all the millennial's, both famous and not, that I've noticed enjoying a little "slime time" lately.
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Location: oswego, il | Mark Hoerich - 1/26/2018 8:54 AM
Nershi - 1/25/2018 1:17 PM
It seems like some in this thread may be a little confused on what a Millennial is. It is people born between the early 80's and late 90's. So that would be people from about 20 years old to mid-30's. There are a ton of muskie fisherman in this age bracket. Go to any muskie show or tournament and people of this age bracket will make up a good portion of the crowd.
I live in a somewhat rural area and a majority of people this age bracket fish, hunt or do both. I am sure the metro areas are much different which is probably why the license sales are dropping.
You can get a nice boat without breaking the bank. Lots of muskie guys out there, including myself, fishing 16-18 foot tillers that can be had for a very reasonable price and get the job done just fine, even on big water. You don't need a sparkly boat to catch fish and a fancy truck to pull it.
Many a good day was had in a red Lund 16 with a 25 Merc. Towed by a vintage burgundy Cutlass Supreme. Had the nice Brougham package going for those after-dark trolling runs in town too.
Cripes sakes man, those were the days...
I had a pristine 73 green cutlass bro-ham with a rocket tree-fitty that got 10mpg. Could you imagine the whining coming from the world ruining millennials about that gas guzzler?:-)
Edited by ToddM 1/26/2018 12:37 PM
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Location: Tomahawk,Wis | Ok peeps
My son in law did not fish with his dad..... When he came into the family my daughter asked me to take him along.... OK...
He pushes me to go fishing ... I also take his younger brother along ... Last year my son in law asked if he could go hunting gun for deer... I took him and he has not looked back at all. He is very busy in his world of work and trying to fit hunting and fishing in. I like the way he pushes me to do more in the outdoors. my daughter loves the outdoors camping and hiking. Not the killing and cleaning part... Do Not Give up on them.... Challenge them to try different things to come outdoors and enjoy it...
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Location: West Chester, OH | Mark Hoerich - 1/26/2018 9:54 AM
Many a good day was had in a red Lund 16 with a 25 Merc. Towed by a vintage burgundy Cutlass Supreme. Had the nice Brougham package going for those after-dark trolling runs in town too.
Cripes sakes man, those were the days...
Still having good days in a red Lund 16 w/25 Merc. Sometimes there's even a fish involved.
Guys pining for a Cutlass need to get out more. |
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