Cost of Fishing License
Yeah, I heard that the price of fishing licenses were going to increase, but I just experienced sticker shock last Saturday.
We were going ice fishing on the Presque Isle Bay in Lake Erie, so I stopped at Gander Mountain to buy the Pa. adult resident license and a combined trout and Lake Erie stamp (new this year). The cost was $38.00!!!
What happened to the days when you could get out the door for $17.50 with a trout stamp, too?
What happened to $1/gallon for gas? What happened to affordable health care? I could on & on.
$38/year for recreation is dirt cheap.
BOOM,
At what cost would you consider this particular form of recreation (fishing) to be unacceptable? $50/yr, $100/yr, 500/yr, $1100/yr????? Just curious.
For some fishing may be close to religion, for others it may consume about 3 or 4 weekends a year, for some it may be a once a year family outing while on their summer vacation. So, said family goes on their annual summer vacation and instead of taking the kids down to the lake to fish, Mom and Dad skip paying $76 for fishing licenses and take their kids to the amusement park instead.
The point here is that some folks would pay for a license regardless of cost but how many others are being deterred? Before we quick to say “Well, we don’t want those non-serious casual license buyers anyway”, think about how high the cost will really get when all of those dabblers quit buying licenses. Who will bear the cost then?
While it is still a good value to the avid fisherman, I can’t help wondering if we will lose numbers in the ranks.
Russ
BTW: I enjoy your website, nice job, and thanks.