Fishing in our area is very popular, with many students fishing after school, work, practice, and on the weekends. It's a very big hobby in our area and is very popular for everyone, no matter age or gender. But fishing is not just popular in our area of Wisconsin. In 2022, there were 1.43 million fishing licenses sold throughout the year in Wisconsin. Wisconsin has about 15,000 lakes and just over 12,000 rivers and streams. There are also 160 legally catchable fish species in Wisconsin. Due to the availability of fishing and the quality and quantity of fish species in Wisconsin, the state is ranked fifth among the best states to fish in the United States.
I interviewed three of my classmates about their experiences with fishing. I interviewed Ryan Stoney, Isaiah Groom, and Aidan Uppena about fishing and they had completely different experiences, got introduced in different ways, and all have different next steps that they want to try next with fishing.
Fishing is very popular in our area and is something that a ton of people do in this school. All three boys said that they think that about 75% of the people in the school fish. Ryan said, “when I go fishing, almost every time I see at least one or two people I know or I have seen before out fishing as well.” All the boys started fishing in different ways at different times. Ryan said, “I have been fishing my whole life. My family has always taken me out, since I was really little, and I have basically grown up on the water.”
Aidan added, “My dad introduced me to fishing, taking me out on the boat. I was probably around five when I first started fishing.”
When I asked Isaiah about this, he had a very different answer from the other two boys. “I started fishing just a couple of years ago. My friends introduced me to fishing, mainly by inviting me to come out to ponds to fish, swim, and hang out. It is for sure one of my favorite things to do now.”
I talked to them about what their favorite species are to catch, and their answers and reasons varied widely. Aidan says that his favorite species is bluegill just because that's the only species he really goes after. Isaiah says it has to be Catfish because of their size and the fight that they have when you hook into one. And Ryan said, “It would probably be a largemouth or a smallmouth bass, but if I have to pick one it would be smallmouth bass because of the fight and the cool and unique coloring of the fish.”
Lastly I asked them how often they fish, when they fish, where, and what they hope to do next.
Ryan says that he probably goes fishing between two and five times a week throughout the whole year, meaning both open water fishing and ice fishing, and he normally fishes off the banks of rivers and ponds. He fishes for bass, but one day he wants to try and get into fly fishing because of all of the available streams that are around us, the unique style of fishing, and the look of the trout that he would be targeting.
Isaiah says he probably goes once every two weeks, only in the summer months, and just like Ryan, he fishes off the banks of rivers and ponds. “One thing that I would like to try would be fishing out of a boat on a lake or river,” he added.
Aidan says that he also goes once every two weeks, but he mostly fishes from a boat on a river or lake. He would like to try fishing with lures more because he mostly fishes with worms.
Wisconsin is a very popular spot for fishermen, and fishing is very popular in our area, with a majority of people in this area having fishing as one of their hobbies. Potosi is even known as the “Catfish Capital of Wisconsin”.