The Fishing License — A Necessary "Evil"

This entry comes with added opinions.
If the license laws make you groan, you have my sympathy.
I don’t like the concept of a license to fish on public waters. A nation’s residents should be free to drop a fishing line into the nation’s public waters, as long as they follow the fishing regulations, including methods allowed and size limits. License laws are too complex and the prices are far too high. The license fees do provide many millions of dollars to fund the stocking and management programs, including those at my favorite fishing places. But personally, as a big fan of fishing, I’d like to see most of those funds come from general fund tax dollars. Today’s license procedures simply prevent millions of people from ever enjoying a day of fishing on their own public lands because they haven’t obtained the expensive and troublesome licenses. All right, enough venting.
The fact is you gotta have ‘em. The game wardens are out there looking at licenses all day every day. It is extremely tempting to avoid the cost because you simply have the feeling, “Who in the world is going to come up to me in the great outdoors and demand to see my license?”
Believe me, they do. I’ve had my licenses checked more times than I’ll ever remember, sometimes on crowded fishing piers, but also in the middle of lakes or on a lonely riverside with not another soul around for miles.
Here’s an example of the licensing situation in the state this where blog originates, Virginia, and this is typical:
A license for a resident to fish in freshwater is $18 for one year. But wait – to fish in TROUT fresh water, that’s another $18. To fish in SALT water it’s $12.50 more. Or if you buy the fresh and saltwater combined, you save 50 cents. I don’t have a Virginia salt water license. Since I’m doing my salt water fishing in the nearby MARYLAND Chesapeake Bay, I paid 15 dollars for a non-resident Bay Sport license. My contributions to Maryland continue with a non-resident freshwater license for $35, and a trout stamp to fish in mountain trout streams for $9.
That all totals $95.
There are temporary five-day licenses that cost less and you may want those if you’re still trying to decide if fishing is for you. They are good for about two percent as much time as annual licenses, but they cost a lot more than two percent of the price.
If you’re still following all of this, one more issue is the term of the license. In Virginia, your license is good for a year from the day you purchase it. In Maryland, not so. When you pay the fee to fish for one year, you get less for your money every day you wait after January first. You guessed it: all licenses expire December 31. So to go fishing, say, in November, you pay a full year’s fee for a license that’s only good for a few weeks. Again, a lot of people certainly end up choosing not to go at all. Oops, I said I was finished with venting.
At least it’s not as complicated as, say, Maine. This is one of the truly great areas for fishing. But entire huge areas of that state are reserved for people fishing with fly rods. No fly rod, no fishing. That’s a good part of the reason it’s so nice and unspoiled in Maine, because so many people don’t have the means to fish there at all. But for beginners – beware the laws!
One good recent development is internet sale of licenses. Put your state, followed the words fishing license in a search and you'll come up with the site for buying your license. If you have some expertise with computers, you can often download the PDF of your own license, and reprint it anytime you lose your old one. Remember, you have to sign it.