Angling Party Persistence and Visitation in a Recreational Lake Trout Fishery: Relative Influence of Travel Distance and Fuel Costs

Abstract Cormack‐Joly‐Seber (CJS) mark‐recapture analysis was used to estimate the effect of travel distance and fuel costs on angling party persistence (i.e., survival = probability of remaining in the Lake Trout fishery from year‐to‐year) and visitation (i.e., detection = probability of detection at the access point) over a 14‐year period (2006‐2019) for the Lake Trout recreational fishery in Lake Opeongo, Ontario, Canada. Boat identification numbers, positioned near the bow and present by law, were used as ‘tags’ in the analysis. Complete trip creel interviews at the sole access point provided information on trip characteristics. The long‐term mark‐recapture analysis of individual angling parties showed travel distance had a significant negative effect on party persistence among years and visitation within years. The distance effect was strongest for visitation, with visitation having a more negative relationship with distance than persistence. Persistence in the lake trout fishery was insensitive to fuel costs while the fuel cost covariate had a small though significant and negative effect on visitation. Time‐varying CJS models were ranked low with little model weight indicating the distance effect estimated for Lake Opeongo was a general phenomenon and did not vary by year. A mark‐recapture approach for monitoring angling parties provides unique insights into long‐term angling patterns that can aid in travel cost estimation.