New England Fishing License?

[fishinbill]

Has there ever been an attempt to issue a New England freshwater fishing license? This year, I hope to fish in MA, CT, ME and possibly NH. It sure would be easier to buy one license instead of four.

[bdowning]

That's too logical Bill . Seriously, I doubt the states could ever come to an agreement on a regional license, because it would undoubtedly mean less license revenue on a per-state basis. Even though you could argue that it would boost state sales tax & other revenues from other purchases by out of staters who normally wouldn't have fished anywhere but their home state. The question is, by how much?

I like the idea, but I don't think it would fly in this current economic climate.

-bd

[pat horgan]

Ah Fishnbill the pragmatist, and bdowning the economist. Has the catching of fish so obscured the real purpose of this obsession?

One of the best parts of fishing the hidden haunts of New England, is the purchasing of the several fishing licences, preferrably in the the most backward of country stores or town halls, where a grey haired, bespectacled, granny writes up my licence by hand in a thin spidery scrawl. And I buy my stamps and she gets change from a box marked "petty cash" taken from a huge black 19th century vault with a polished brass wheel. Now THATS a licence. My Pin-on camouflaged holder is fat with them - all the colers of the rainbow.

Buy a license...and a coffee and sandwhich from granny, and say something nice about her penmanship and smile.

[DLWKFW]

It's a great idea, but unfortunately a brute to implement. It would be nice to even get all the states to agree on how they use the money generated from licenses. In other words, don't just dump it into the General Fund.

[fishinbill]

Good points on patronizing the local merchants. For what it's worth, here is the response I got from the State of CT:

Bill,
Currently, there are no plans (or even discussion) to issue a regional license. There had been some preliminary thought in the past to having some type of regional fishing license. A number of issues including administration, coordination and fee structure were considered obstacles.