By Paul MacInnis 

It should be no surprise; the most popular gamefish in America is the black bass (largemouth and smallmouth bass). A five year survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the number of days anglers spend pursuing various species of fish per year. The survey result suggest American anglers spend over 170 million days a year fishing for bass.

As a saltwater angler I was curious to see how some of my favorite species faired. It wasn’t even close. Americans spend more days chasing bass than all saltwater species combined.

The chart below shows the top five most popular freshwater and saltwater gamefish in America.

The full report on the USFWS survey can be downloaded at http://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/Subpages/NationalSurvey/National_Survey.htm.