License increase or fewer Trout

[Lkyboots]

The fish com. wants to raise licenses from $21.00 to $27.30. They want to raise Trout stamps from $8.00 to $14.40 total cost if raised would be $41.70 for license and Trout stamp. If they don't get the increase they will have to close three hatcheries. They would stock 240,000 less Trout. Only one Trout hatchery would close the other two warm water hatcheries.

I hope they get the increase, it would probally mean less Trout fisherman but that's okay for me.

 

[jifigz]

I hope that they get the raise the license fees and close three hatcheries and stock less trout. And then I hope that they take the entire county of Mifflin off of the stocking list. Yep, that is what would make me happiest.

 

[DanL]

I'm fine with the increase. Adding the Erie stamp will make it around $50 a year, which seems reasonable given how much use one can get out of it, compared to other activities.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

I don't want a license increase but I fish enough to get my money's worth.

 

[STONEMAN]

hey, forum masters, make this a poll!

 

[Zak]

I wish they'd make it $100 so that we could actually do some real 'good' instead of just keeping thing afloat. $50 is absolute grand theft for the amount of recreation I get out of it. It's fine though and long overdue. I wrote my state rep yesterday with a simple support of the bill. Give them the extra cash.

 

[Bamboozle]

Lkyboots wrote:
I hope they get the increase, it would probally mean less Trout fisherman but that's okay for me.

If they eliminate the requirement for displaying your fishing license as proposed, there won't be any less trout fisherman...

...just less people fishing for trout legally.

 

[REDNECK_FLYFISHER]

For as much as I fish $41.70 is still A bargain. I hear people spending that much just for 2 people to go to A movie anymore . There is one guy I work with complaining that he wont spend that much on A license , he says its not worth it... But this is the same guy who just spent over $1000 on A new cell phone. I do believe he has his priorities messed up.

 

[salmonoid]

jifigz wrote:
I hope that they get the raise the license fees and close three hatcheries and stock less trout. And then I hope that they take the entire county of Mifflin off of the stocking list. Yep, that is what would make me happiest.

There's a novel concept to financial equilibrium. Increase revenues AND cut costs. But they won't do that. They'll hike license fees and try to maintain the currently unsustainable status quo. And it won't work. So they'll come back to the license trough again or build a mechanism in to automatically increase license fees. I'd actually support a small inflationary annual license fee increase - psychologically, it's easier for the license buying public to pay $1 more per year over a ten year span, as opposed to having the license fee be a step function that increases by $10 every ten years.

 

[wildtrout2]

I'm good with whatever increase they're seeking. Stocked fish play no role in my trout fishing adventures. I still want them to stop stocking over wild populations though.

 

[Camp]

Raise the price. Still the best bargain going at twice the cost. Oswayo is too nice of a facility to close and it could produce more trout for fall stocking.

 

[falcon]

Just stop stocking over wild trout . less fish needed

 

[CRB]

I'm fine with the increase.
Lower the creel limit to 3 would make sense too.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

I pay $50.00 for a NY 1 year fishing license just to have some fun with the salmon. So the increase (although I'd be pissed) would be do-able. Anyways, being a Veteran I get a PA discount.

 

[FarmerDave]

I'm already paid more than that (non-res) to fish in PA maybe twice last year.

The non-res price seems steep, but in the grand scheme, it is a small percent of what I spend on those two trips.

I can't say I support raisin non-res prices again, but I won't shed any tears over it, either.

 

[bigjohn58]

My only issue with raising license prices is the younger people. I know when I was 16-22 (late high school and college) shelling out $20 was rough. Raise the price too much and you'll be losing a lot of the younger people I am afraid. I mean I would have still paid it but would the average person who goes a couple times a year that makes up the majority of their sales pay for the price increase? I'm not so sure...

 

[tomgamber]

i paid for both my kids licenses every year. its a great investment. as for stocking... stock all they want in the places with less or no wild fish. the places that warm up first so they take em out and eat a few. this keep the lawn chair, surf rod, minnow flinging, cooler fillers off the better streams. yeah, i said it. like others have said its still a bargain. a decent case of beer costs more than that anymore.

 

[CRB]

$50 for a fishing license does not seem that far out of wack when$30 20 years ago would fill the truck tank. Now $50 will not fill it.
Every thing for the most part have gone up at lease 25%. Even a candy bar a few years ago was like .89 now $1.50.

 

[Mwheaps32]

Most of the increase will go to protect pensions and not help the hatcheries

 

[GANGGREEN]

The far bigger issue than the pensions is health care and that's beyond the ability of the agency to address. If you don't want your license money paying for benefits for the employees, I'd encourage you to contact your senator and congressperson and tell them to repeal Obamacare.

As for the license issue, I'm fine with an increase in license fees. I'm also OK hypothetically with an increase in the trout stamp since I recognize that stocking is a large part of their expenditures. That said, I haven't killed a trout in decades and I rarely fish in stocked water, but I'm still required to purchase the trout stamp because one of these days I might just go fish approved trout water. I recognize that lots of guys accept the benefit of the stocked trout without harvesting them, but I wish there were some way for the guys that really relied on stocked trout to pay more given that they benefit the most.

I'm also hypothetically OK with the agency stocking less trout and never stocking over healthy wild trout populations. And that said, I happen to live very near the Oswayo facility, know all of the folks who work there and would prefer that it stay open, but.....