2026 Special Report on Fishing

Fishing remains one of America's most enduring outdoor traditions, drawing 57 million Americans to the nation's lakes, rivers, streams, and open seas in 2025 to reconnect with the water and with one another.

The 2026 Special Report on Fishing, a partnership between the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) and the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA), tells the story of a sport that is at once far larger than it was a decade ago and quietly harder to hold onto. Overall participation dipped slightly in 2025, with nearly a million anglers stepping away, even as saltwater fishing surged to an all-time record and total numbers held well above pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, the newcomers entering the sport are younger, more diverse, and more female than ever before. Understanding this push and pull, and the high-value, deeply loyal audience behind it, is the opportunity for brands and retailers today.

Inside the report, you'll find the key trends shaping fishing across nearly two decades of data, including:

• Saltwater fishing's climb to a record 15.5 million anglers, the most ever recorded, even as freshwater held steady and overall participation softened
• A "leaky bucket" that lost close to a million participants in 2025, with casual anglers and women proving far harder to retain than the avid core
• An aging, affluent base — 65+ is the fastest-growing cohort and nearly a third of angler households earn over $100,000 — with the time and disposable income to invest in gear, apparel, and travel
• A more diverse next generation of anglers, with Black participation at its highest level on record, Hispanic participation doubling over the decade, and first-timers skewing younger, more female, and more diverse than the sport overall
• Deep crossover with the broader outdoors, where 85 percent of anglers also camp, hike, or walk for fitness, making bundled and cross-promotional retail strategies a natural fit

The full report breaks down every fishing category and key audience in detail, drawing on 19 years of participation data from 2007 to 2025. Get the full report to see what the numbers mean for brands and retailers.