Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave R
If memory serves, they used to offer a $14 warm-water-species-only license. When it went away, I stopped fishing.
I have no desire to fund what I think is an absurd practice of raising feral species of fish for the sole purpose of "put and take fishing", nor do I wish to fund the practice of video-taping teenagers playing with little kid's fishing rods on a paddle boat. They've really got nothing better to do?
Bear in mind, I'm not condoning the actions of the teens, I'm just bothered by the absurdity of the whole situation. Fish and Game is funded by license fees, is this the best way to use the money?
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Funny enough is they actually do not have anything better to do. A CO's job is to enforce the wildlife laws of the state. They do not stock fish, F&G has biologists for that and other than assisting someone with a wildlife related issue, all they do is patrol for violations, check licenses and registrations of OHRV's, boats, etc. There are only a few officers for the entire state
http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Law_...ment/index.htm so they typically do not handle issues other than the items noted above.
The reason that they video tape suspected violations prior to approaching is that it creates an open and shut case if the accused decides to take the issue to court. It eliminates the "Oh, I was just holding the rod for my friend" excuse. It is more likely than not that anyone fishing on a lake the size of Winni, has at one point or another been observed by a CO at a distance. This is how they do their job. Ice fisherman are often viewed from a distance to determine if they have the proper amount of lines in the water per person.
Dave R, I hear what you are saying regarding the options for fishing licenses, but I think the issue becomes greyed when viewed from a selection standpoint. Unlike hunting, where you purchase a license to hunt deer you are likely not going to harvest a bear. With fishing, the vast majority of people fishing are just looking to catch something and then identifying what they have. That is the equivelent of shooting a bear when you are deer hunting and when you realize that you shot the wrong thing, just moving on to continue to look for a deer.
I am fully aware that some folks can target a specific species of fish and that is all they catch, I have friends that are quite good at this task. But, someone like myself that only goes fishing a few times a year are not going to be able to be that specific and good for that matter.
When you take a good long look at what the NH F&G, as a whole, does for the conservation of wildlife in the state, I would say that we are getting a pretty good return on our investment.