WSPP314

• File Number: 8240.200.10.H
• Description: Colorado River Threatened-Endangered - UCRBRIP - Program Organization-Mission - Stocking
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 4/1/1996
• Author: CO DOW
• Title: Results of a Survey of Colorado Warmwater Anglers Residing in Delta-Garfield-Mesa and Montrose Counties - 04-01-96
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

Gila522

PART I. PROFILE OF WARMWATER ANGLERS

The intent of the first six questions was to get a snapshot of warmwater anglers in
western Colorado and what their preferences were for warmwater fishing
opportunities. Previous angler harvest surveys had yielded estimates of 88,000 +
recreation days for warmwater fishing in general in the CDOW's Northwest and
Southwest regions, but gave little detail as to habitat use or species preference
(Colorado Division of Wildlife, 1992). The results reported here provide a more
detailed picture of westslope warmwater anglers than previously reported.

Days Fished

For the 300 anglers surveyed, the median number of total days fished in Colorado was
16.4, with roughly 50% fishing a total of 15 days per year or less (Figure 1). When
asked how many of those days were spent warmwater fishing, the median number
of days spent warmwater fishing was 4.4 days (Figure 2).

Figure 2 also shows the frequency of days spent warmwater fishing by 5-day
segments: 1-5 days, 6-10 days etc.. Fifty-nine per cent of anglers indicated that
they fished 5 days or less in 1995; thirty-two per cent fished 6 to 25 days in 1995;
and ten per cent indicated they fished 26 days or more during the year for warmwater
species.

The 1991 survey estimated that Region-wide, for the two westslope Regions, there
were approximately 24,000 anglers who fished an average of 3.7 days each for
warmwater species. No effort was made to extrapolate this estimate to all western
slope anglers because an effort to estimate the total number of anglers was beyond
the scope of this study.

Age and Gender of Anglers

The median age of anglers in this survey was 39.5 years, with thirty-six per cent
being less that 34 years of age (Figure 3). The preponderance of anglers were male,
almost four in five, or 79% (Figure 4).

Species Preference

Since the effort to continue to provide warmwater fishing opportunities will focus on
the management of, and the use of bass, bluegill and black crappie, it is important to

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