National decline is a sign of less paternal involvement in children's lives.

While the rest of the nation experiences declines in the number of fishing licenses in the millions, Washoe County is seeing an increase.

"We are kind of the poster child for urban fisheries," said Chris Healey of the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

He says that urban lakes like Sparks Marina, Idewild Park and Fuji Park to name a few are big selling points. The county is seeing almost 10-percent more anglers in 2007 than in 1995. Meanwhile there is a nation-wide decline in the number of fishing licenses, down by 5 million from 2001 to 2006 according to the Federal Wildlife Survey. Healy says the reason is an ominous sign of modern parental involvement in childrens' lives.

"It is kind of a national deal," said Chris Healey of the Nevada Department of Wildlife. "There are a number of reasons, not a lot of definitive evidence." But there is one widely-agreed contributor to the decline he says: the increase in single-parent homes.

"The one thing we do know is that the tradition of fishing and hunting is passed on by a father," Healy said. "If a father is not part of a kids life then that tradition does not get passed down.

The urban lakes in Reno may be what is reversing the decline. Healy says we have a lot of these "urban fisheries,and that is one thing that people seem to enjoy," making us a "poster-child" for the rest of the nation." More access to fishing in these urban environment may help the key person in the modern one-parent family.

"In single-parent households, the assumption is that the mom is the head of the house and mom is not a fisherman and mom doesn't know how to teach kids to fish."

This weekend is the change to get out and try a line in the water. Fishing will be free for everyone, and there are kids events both at Sparks Marina and Idewild Park from 7-11 AM.

We have an abundance of something else that is important to fishing: water. Overall the number of licenses in the state has been declining, and one of the reasons may be the drought that many western states are suffering from. Much of that decline is coming from Las Vegas because of drop in water levels in Lake Mead.

"As the lake has dropped, a lot of people didn't like the way it looked or something," Healy said and the Nevada Department of Wildlife is hoping the decline will be slowed this year. "Now they are going to add 30-feet to the water level (to the lake) and we are hoping that is going to increase the number of fishing licenses," he said.