Interest in Ang/in^ 253 



in their natural state, a recreational value of one dollar per acre. Yet these 

 same lakes included some of the most important duck-hunting lands in 

 the Midwest, and were excellent for fishing. At the present time, duck 

 marshes in the Illinois vallev that were not included in drainage districts 

 and are still in existence have become nearlv unpurchasable, while corn 

 continues to be in glut supply. Happily, the U.S. Engineers now have 

 given recognition to recreation as a value of considerable importance and 

 equal to other less intangible v^alues. 



What are reasonable recreational values for productive fishing waters? 

 Here again the answers are variable. In one instance an annual value of 

 a lake for bass fishing was proposed ( on the basis of what fishermen were 

 willing to spend) of $162.10 per acre.*'* If we assume 4 per cent is a rea- 

 sonable \ield from a capital outlav generating an annual product equal 

 to 8162.10 per acre in goods and services, then the lake must have a value 

 of $4052.50 per acre. This is several times the per-acre cost of the lake. 



About 48 per cent of a fisherman's expenditures go into camping equip- 

 ment, tackle, outboard motors, boats, and trailers. This is almost one half 

 of 2.7 billion dollars or about 1.3 billion annually. The manufacture and 

 retailing of these items is big business of a very specialized nature. 



One of the "little businesses" connected with fishing is the live-bait in- 

 dustry which actually represents thousands of small businesses when one 

 includes all of the "worm farm" operators along with a smaller number 

 of minnow raisers and the retailers of these products. 



Supplying Fishermen s Baits. Not too many years ago a fisherman who 

 planned to use live bait on a fishing trip had to reserve the time necessary 

 to collect his bait— either the day before if it were not too perishable or 

 on the wav to the lake or stream if it were. Collecting one's own bait was 

 a matter of digging, hand collecting, or seining, and most fishermen kept 

 well-informed on where certain kinds of live baits were to be found. 



Todav few people bother to collect their own bait because bait dealers 

 are available wherever there are fishing waters, and their products can 

 be purchased without loss of time. 



Manv people engage in the part-time avocation of raising some kind of 

 live bait for fishermen. Some bait raisers sell these products locally but 

 many advertise in newspapers and magazines and ship by mail, express, or 

 truck. 



Earthworms and Other Invertebrates. Baits sold to fishermen for fresh- 

 water angling include earthworms, insects and their larval stages, Crus- 

 tacea, "minnows," and sometimes frogs. The extent of interest in the 

 propagation and sale of earthworms and other baits was e\idenced by 

 the "for sale" ads in a recent issue of a leading hunting and fishing 

 magazine. These ads, which exceeded twenty per cent of the space de- 



