Is $31 Too Much?
I was getting ready to buy my 2006 Fishing License, online, as usual. Then came the price tag: $31.
Is it me, or is this just a little too much to enjoy recreation fishing.
As a good friend, who like me always practices catch-and-release, stated after paying this tax,”Fuzzie, I’m eating the fish this year; $31 is just out of control!”
It’s been so long, I have forgotten what trout taste like. Not this year!
It’s not if the people you are “giving” it to give you good value for your money. I try to think of it as my making a difference fee.
Don’t forget the $9.00 Lake Erie stamp, too.
$31…not too much. That’s only 2 cases of beer. When it gets to 4 cases of beer, I’ll reconsider 🙂
How much did you last tank of gas cost?
$31 for year around recreation opportunity…. a bargain.
I guess it depends on your perspective.
I pay $0 to hike on the game land.
I pay $0 to enjoy camping in the forest.
I tend to fish for wild trout; and fish I catch go back into the water.
But the State can tax me to fish. And convince others that it is a bargain.
My idea of a bargain is getting something of value for less than its worth. Being tax to do what God gave us the ability to do for nothing is not a bargain. Imagine paying $31 for a hiking license. Or $31 for an outdoors license.
I can see the Forest Cops now: “Hey, where is your outdoor license?”
Sorry, I don’t buy into this “bargain” theory. Under that theory, I would be agreeable to pay $1,000 or more. After all, what price you can put on the value of fishing with your children?
I guess with that mentality we shouldn’t be paying for any services or taxes. After all…. God gave us the ability to do all these different things.
Look at it this way. The $31 is helping to pay for a WCO and the F&BC to regulate how many fish, wild or not, people can catch so there are fish there to catch in the future, including the wild ones. Just one example. I’m sure you understand the “tax” goes to the common good of every fisher person and not just those that choose to fish for native trout only.
Took my 7 year old nephew out. Worked with him using an open face spinning reel. First time with that. He did pretty darn good with it for a first time. Managed to catch a few too.
I would like to see a “catch and release” trout stamp that is cheaper than the “catch and eat” stamp.
I live in North Carolina and fish both here and in Tennessee. My NC license is $25 but a nonresident TN license will cost me $81 this year.