Do You Want a Saltwater Fishing License in New York?

Hello and welcome everyone to another episode of the New York Fishing Podcast. My name is George and I am your host.

I'd like to open with what a great fishing season we had. I'm gonna say we have just about the best fishery on the entire east coast between ins shore,  offshore tuna, and go too far offshore of whales being seen breaching from the beaches. Where is this place? Long Island, the number one.

Spot on the entire East Coast. That's what I'm calling it.  You can thank the folks that worked hard for getting the bunker bill passed years ago when Governor Pataki was around. And you can also thank the D for firming up that bill recently again, we had quite a season. We've seen a lot of fish we never saw.

Not on a regular basis anyhow. So we have things are changing. We have a transition going on, but it sure has not put a damper on our fishing. The main reason for this particular podcast is, I got word that the state is working on a proposal for  fishing license I think it kind of could, you know, would be expected at this point.

I'm not gonna say I agree or I don't agree, or I'm pro, or I'm not pro, but I am gonna lay out my feelings and what I think many of the anglers many of the anglers feel. I, I, look, I'm not gonna, I'm not speaking for anyone, so, but I do know the main issue is what's gonna happen with the money and where is the money gonna go?

And I'm afraid that this money. It's just gonna get washed in like anything else. I know you're gonna hear dedicated fund, but , a dedicated fund can be at any time. It's been hap it's happened time and time again in this state. So, you know, I , you know, again, I'm not that I'm opposed because I haven't seen anything yet, what's being proposed.

But from what I hear there,   a few interesting angles issue. Now, again, I wanna stress this is happening in fast motion. I do believe it is gonna happen no matter what. We do need anglers to let our representatives know how we feel about this. Main also, you know, you have a few people on the Marine Resource Advisory Committee a, that represent the recreational angler.

So I can tell you that   some of those people are supporters of a fishing license. If you don't support it or if you do support it, I think that we're gonna have to let them know. How we feel, because a lot is gonna depend  what they say. You know, in,  cases  these folks don't know what you want or how you feel or what you think.

So another thing I'd like to say is that, yeah  sure other states have it. I don't know the success of it. I, it's just the money grab in my mind right now. And, you know, we're a democracy. Not every state has to do the same thing. And I really don't see why we need this license. We have a registry that's free and I'm, I'm afraid we're opening the door to something that a lot of people can't, you can't even imagine.

I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go a little bit into what they have in California now, but before I do that, I just wanna say last time around  we had, you know, we had saltwater license years ago. While we were putting this license together, you know, there, there were things that they said that we were gonna do with it.

So one, you know, one of the things is, oh, we're gonna have more ramps, more fishing ramps. And my feeling was then and is now that I don't see why recreational fishermen should pay for fishing ramp  for boating ramps. Most of those ramps are used by. Recreational fishermen, recreational boaters rather, and jet skiers or you know, whatever.

But I don't see why we should be fixing ramps or paying for ramps. I mean, the surf fishermen's never gonna use a ramp. So the other thing we were told is that the money will go towards enforcement. Now I know that sounds good on the outside. I'm not gonna say it's, it could hurt, but it's really how can, how much can it help?

Right. New York State has over 2000 miles, close to 2000 miles of shoreline in the Marine District when you're taking the Hudson River and other areas that are managed  by de. So I think right now we have somewhere, I mean, my numbers be off, but it's gonna, it's gonna be closed. You know, we have somewhere around 60 officers handling the  long Island Marine District.

So let's say we were to double the enforcement, which I'm thinking would cost a heck of a lot of money. So now you're gonna have 80. So I mean, your percentage is still gonna pay one in a thousand that you're ever gonna be stopped. And we all know that fishing regulations are basically like an honor system.

Anyone can beat the system. We all know a person who you know feels it's okay to keep a fish one eighth minute.  But the vast majority of people do the right thing. Let's again, you know, you can po probably almost every day and never get boarded. I mean, I know many people got boarded this year, but the fact is fishing at night is just a million ways.

It is an honor system, and I think we all know. So if we double the officers, triple the officers, I, I just don't see how that's helping anybody. I, to me, it's just gonna be more harassment out on the water. That's the way I see it. So again, you know the, I'm giving you the way I, my feelings about the thing.

Now I also know, you know, I'm a realist, so I know that we're gonna be getting. If we do, you know, we contribute a lot to the economy where, I don't know, a million anglers, 500,000 anglers, whatever it is. We contribute billions of dollars in trickle down effect to the economy. We also pay a 10% tax already on every single piece of tackle that we buy.

You may not know that, but every rod real sink, whatever you buy. 10% is added on that, and it goes to a fund. The what's being kicked about right now is a $20 license. Again, I don't have all particulars, it's very early, but it is going at the speed of light. So the  the money they're talking about is a $20  license.

I don't know anything about, you know, single day licenses. You know, maybe that's gonna be five or 10 bucks. For a day. But there are a few things in there that really had me concern and, but when I say in there, but a few things had been kicked about. One of those is  requiring charter boats and party boats requiring an angler to have a license to get on a boat.

So rather than a blanket license, which most of the East coast states that have licenses do. They, you're gonna have to buy a license before you get on that boat. So cuz I, I doubt the boats are gonna be selling licenses. I guess they could, they do in California, but do they need all that and how will that affect their business?

I think it would really put a dent in things when people are trying to put together a group charter. Somebody who's going fishing couple days here or there.  You know, I mean, the whole thing is a hassle. If, if, if you're gonna go out and take your  your daughters in town and she's got a couple of friends that never fish, if you wanna go fishing with them now, you're gonna have to get a, a license for that day.

Or, I mean, there's just a million examples. This is not just, I know many of you listening and saying, what the heck? Who cares about the 20 bucks? You know, we spend so much. It's much, much more than that. So, so now here we go. It's  20 bucks, right? The thing that really has me is in addition to that, they, they're talking about a $5 stamp fish first strike pass.

Now, again, everybody's singing my, okay, what's five bucks? But why are we paying $5 extra to fish for a stripe bass? It just doesn't make any sense, right? Do, does anyone listening to this believe that that's it? That's the last, the end of it, that we're not gonna hear, oh, $5 for the blue fish, $8, you know, for a fluke, or $10 for a blue kunos.

But it opens that door, and I'm really concerned about that. And again, I'm gonna tell you what it's like in California. Let me just go to that right now. So I have a page up here on my screen and it's the sport fishing items and fees for fishing in California. And I'm not gonna go through every single little thing because it is a, a laundry list of items that get so creative.

In ways to pick your pocket.  So here we go. A resident sport fishing license is 60 bucks. If you're a non-resident, 160, then they have all these other fees.  Let's see. So, okay, a one day license is 20 bucks, two days is 30. 10 day is 60. Then they have ocean enhancement validation, recreational crab tracks if you want fish, the Colorado River.

 If you wanna fish for salmon, if you wanna fish for sturgeon, if you wanna fish for steel, head spiny lobster, you gotta pay for all of those. And the numbers, you know, they're big. And here's one of the best ones. If you wanna use a second fishing rod on your boat, that'll cost you 20 bucks a year. In addition to the li this is all in addition to the license when you look at it.

They also have a LI lifetime license. I had to mention this because it  sums it all up. So the, for a lifetime license, ages zero to nine, so you haven't even been born. It's $644 for a lifetime license, zero to nine. Why would they pick zero? I mean, I don't get that. Maybe somebody could, could explain it.

Then they have different prices, you know, basing on your, based on your age.  But it's, it's goes up over a thousand dollars a year and in addition, you gotta pay another 4, 430 $5 for all the other stamps and the, you know, the steelhead and all that other stuff. That's where I'm at right now. I don't like the stamp at all.

I don't see why we need to put in another $5 to fish for stripe bears. What makes a stripe bear so special? It's not any different than any other fish. I'm sorry. I just don't, oh, we're gonna do more studies for Stripe Bass. The most studied fish on the planet has been more money spent on Stripe bass on the East coast than any other fishery probably in history.

So why do we need more money? For the stripe bass, especially here in New York where we produce the stripe bass, we add a lot of stripe bass to the, you know, to the overall population of Stripe bass. I think everybody knows that now. The Hudson River is a huge contributor. So that's where I'm at regarding what I'm hearing about now.

Please stay tuned.  Subscribe to this podcast. I will be bringing you news as I hear it regarding the license. Again, I, I wanna stress that this is not something where you're gonna go out kicking and screaming and make a difference. We need to, I haven't figured it all out yet, but I do plan on putting together some type of a plan where we can, you know, let our leaders know.

What we want if this thing is gonna happen. And because I'm telling you, you can kick and scream all you want, you know, the  the writing's on the wall this time.  But I, I think we need to organize, let the M R A C guys know and, and gals  know exactly how we feel. This is a trying time. Do you want to, do you want to  have people buy a license assault with a license up until they're 70 years old?

I don't know. I don't know. Anyway, once again, let's stay on top of this. If you have an interest, be sure to subscribe here or go to our website@nyangler.com. I'm gonna bring you as much as I can, and I'm gonna wish you all a happy Thanksgiving out there and until next time.