{"id":7866,"date":"2016-06-13T16:09:17","date_gmt":"2016-06-13T16:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsunmedia.com\/?p=7866"},"modified":"2016-06-13T16:09:17","modified_gmt":"2016-06-13T16:09:17","slug":"fishing-lots-of-fun-and-good-for-the-local-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2016\/06\/13\/fishing-lots-of-fun-and-good-for-the-local-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"FISHING: LOTS OF FUN AND GOOD FOR THE LOCAL ECONOMY"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angling brings summer visitors galore to Wood River Valley<\/i><\/span><\/h2>\n

BY MARIA PREKEGES <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Chris
Chris Willich enjoys a Sunday afternoon fishing on Silver Creek. Photo courtesy of Taite Pearson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

W<\/span>hile summer does not officially arrive until June 21, summer activities in the Wood River Valley are already in full swing. A favorite Valley pastime is fishing; however, with high water in many locations, good fishing may have to wait until the water drops and clears. Nonetheless, a love of fishing appeals to both locals and to numerous tourists the activity brings to the area.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bill Collins, a staffer at the Sun Valley Visitor Information Center in downtown Ketchum, says that nearly half of the people that come in to the center in the summer ask about fishing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt least four out of 10 people that come in want to know about fishing,\u201d Collins said. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of families with young kids that really want their kids to catch a fish.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s where the Idaho Department of Fish and Game helps out, stocking local waters throughout the summer so families can have that experience of catching rainbow trout.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFishing is big here, and even though it might not be the hobby that people will do forever, they want to at least try it,\u201d Collins said. \u201cAnd many will end up loving the sport and coming back year after year to enjoy the waters around our Valley.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A love of the sport has created a strong economic impact for the Wood River Valley and the state of Idaho.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mike Keckler, chief of communications for Fish and Game, provided information from a 2011 national survey put together by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding the impact of fishing on the state.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe total retail sales in the state generated by fishing from the survey was $548 million,\u201d Keckler said. \u201cThis also accounts for about $229 million in salary and wages, and 7,200 jobs. This includes anybody and everybody in fishing, from people at Fish and Game, to store owners and outfitters, just to name a few.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Keckler said further that the survey estimated fishing generates $49.5 million in state and local tax revenues, and about $54 million in federal tax revenues.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an important part of the Sun Valley history since the founding of the resort,\u201d said Terry Ring, owner of Silver Creek Outfitters in Ketchum. \u201cThey founded the resort based on skiing, but the quality of fishing and hunting was a secondary benefit. So, as the resort evolved, and people started visiting the Wood River Valley, they spent a lot of time fishing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI came here for the skiing, then I stayed for the summer, and now the summer is much busier for us,\u201d Ring said. \u201cIt\u2019s an economic driver for not only the Wood River Valley, but the state of Idaho.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to economics, there are other more esoteric reasons for fishing, including getting exercise for both body and mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe places fishing takes you are pretty special,\u201d said Frank Smith, manager of Lost River Outfitters in Ketchum. It\u2019s almost like a form of meditation; when you\u2019re on the river, you\u2019re not thinking of anything else. Even tying a fly \u2013 you\u2019re concentrating on that, you shut everything else out, you don\u2019t think about appointments or what\u2019s going on in your life. When you\u2019re on the water, you get mesmerized by it all. It\u2019s a way to check out from your hectic life.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Angling brings summer visitors galore to Wood River Valley BY MARIA PREKEGES While summer does not officially arrive until June 21, summer activities in the Wood River Valley are already in full swing. A favorite Valley pastime is fishing; however, with high water in many locations, good fishing may have to wait until the water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,77,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment-2","8":"category-fishing","9":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}