LEE COUNTY, Fla. — More Floridians are taking up fishing and boating amid the pandemic, according to license sales data.
That's also causing a boom at outdoor stores as people stock up on what they need to hit the water.
Across the country, there has been an increase of more than three million licenses than last year. Floridians are fishing way more than they were last year.
Florida resident fishing license sales are up almost seventeen percent.
The recreational boating and fishing foundation tells Fox 4 they started to see a rise around May.
During the summer, they saw it take off even more. Despite resident licenses on the rise, nonresident license sales are down in our state.
At the start of the pandemic, many states saw significant deficits here due to all the travel restrictions.
The recreational boating and fishing foundation says that when it comes to rebounding, we are recovering.
In May, those sales were down twenty-two percent. Now, they're down ten percent.
