What Makes Stocked-Trout Anglers Happy?

Trout fishing in the southeastern United States depends primarily upon stocked trout. In Virginia for example, over 80% of the trout-angling effort focuses on stocked-trout waters. Surveys show that Virginia anglers seeking stocked trout report lower levels of satisfaction compared to anglers seeking warm water species. We sought to address concerns by investigating how catch rates varied temporally following stocking and attempting to elucidate causes of angler satisfaction. Over two seasons, we conducted over 4,000 interviews on 17 waters. On the day of stocking, anglers caught trout significantly faster than any day after; catch rates 1-30 days after stocking however remained near management goals (1 trout/angler hour). Despite high catch rates on day of stocking, the majority of the fish stocked remained in the waters after the first weekend following stockings and some trout showed up in creels eight months later. The majority of stocked-trout anglers reported being somewhat to highly satisfied with their fishing experience for the day and we found a significant relationship between catch rates and daily angler satisfaction. Anglers’ motivations to fish did not affect their reported level of satisfaction, but catch-related expectations did.