Realized and Stated Preferences of Bank Angler Fishing Location within a Waterbody

Within a waterbody, angler distribution is non-uniform, non-random, and not ideally distributed according to fish or catch rates.  Thus, other factors must influence angler fishing location, but within a waterbody, these factors are unknown.  We examined bank angler party locations collected from roving creel interviews conducted in 2014 and 2015 in two reservoirs.  We used an ensemble of models to predict angler party location using a suite of environmental and infrastructure variables to determine which features most strongly influenced angler use. We interviewed anglers with forced choice question sets in 2016 to determine whether anglers perceived the importance of the environmental features in their realized site selection, and whether anglers were forced to make tradeoffs when selecting a fishing location within a waterbody.  We compared results of observations and surveys to quantify the relationship between realized and stated preferences. The construction, alteration, and closure of environmental features may provide managers with another tool to influence angler actions.