Do you support License for smelt and crawdads??

[Special T]

For sure smelt should have a license. Why it don't blows my mind. Especially on a fishery strickly regulated.

 
I guess you can leave an exception for carp, but i don’t think it matters much.  Maybe to a bowhunter? 
If your fishing with a fishing rod you should have a license.  Saying your fishing for carp sounds fishy to me.

I only fish with my bow for carp. The amount  people that bow fish is huge, and only a few of us are crazy enough to eat them!

[CastleRocker]

Absolutely not!  Where does it end?  There is no management on smelt, never has been.  They guess as far as run size, and most times are way off.  As an ex-commercial fisherman, I can tell you this; there are so many thousands of ton of smelt wasted every shrimp season, it would blow people's mind.  When a dragger sets on a big biomass, they have no idea what it is.  When it's smelt, they are just dumped. If the WDFG would regulate that waste, we would have the runs like we did all through the 90's.  The year after they were classified as endangered was one of the biggest runs in history.  Why?  maybe it had something to to do with the lack of shrimp draggers off the coast that year?  As far as crawdads go, are you kidding me?  They don't even know how many there are, as they don't even do studies.  If the WDFG would study either species at all, then I'd agree to lumping them in with a fishing license.  Until then, we don't need to pay the WDFG any more of our money. 

As far as carp go, there should be a bounty on them.  (Should be a bounty on California Sea Lions as well, be we all know that).

[pianoman9701]

There's certainly been management on smelt via bag limits, Castlerocker. I agree on "no" to carp and crawdads. But requiring a standard fishing license (no extra charge) would mean that more people would be paying for gamies in the field to make sure no one's abusing the limits.

[jrebel]

Am I missing something......Wouldn't carp and crayfish be classified under your freshwater fishing license?  The only way to charge more for them would be to require a special license / catch card to report your numbers of these species caught.  If there is specific license required, where would it all stop??  Next thing you know, you would need a license for "rainbow trout" separate license for "Brown Trout", separate license for Large mouth bass and so on...... 

Sounds pretty dumb to me.   

[duckmen1]

Absolutely not!  Where does it end?  There is no management on smelt, never has been.  They guess as far as run size, and most times are way off.  As an ex-commercial fisherman, I can tell you this; there are so many thousands of ton of smelt wasted every shrimp season, it would blow people's mind.  When a dragger sets on a big biomass, they have no idea what it is.  When it's smelt, they are just dumped. If the WDFG would regulate that waste, we would have the runs like we did all through the 90's.  The year after they were classified as endangered was one of the biggest runs in history.  Why?  maybe it had something to to do with the lack of shrimp draggers off the coast that year?  As far as crawdads go, are you kidding me?  They don't even know how many there are, as they don't even do studies.  If the WDFG would study either species at all, then I'd agree to lumping them in with a fishing license.  Until then, we don't need to pay the WDFG any more of our money. 

As far as carp go, there should be a bounty on them.  (Should be a bounty on California Sea Lions as well, be we all know that).

Well they certainly regulate recreational fisherman with one or 2 days a year. And in those days only a few hours. And a limit. If we are lucky to see a day on the water. All the non recreational users go out and abuse that dip fishery as they have no respect for the resource, over harvest, etc. I see nothing wrong with adding smelt onto a general fishing license that the majority of fisherman already have or make a small fee license for smelt if one chooses to not purchase a standard license. They are participating on a run of fish and one that is regulated hard for recreational anglers. So why not a license.

[3boys]

For smelt they should have a license and tag for time and volume filled out to prevent all the dirtbags from driving around to other spots getting way over there limit.
If the warden checks you on your way to vehicle and you haven't filled out time and amount issue a big fat ticket.
Way too many greedy folks over harvesting  the resource.

[Hurricane]

We overpay already for the limited opportunity we get for our licenses. The WDFW can't give us a guaranteed smelt season and when they do it's not enough to justify charging for it. But I am sure with people being fed up and going out of state, the money has to be made up from somewhere. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we have to pay for this.

[duckmen1]

We overpay already for the limited opportunity we get for our licenses. The WDFW can't give us a guaranteed smelt season and when they do it's not enough to justify charging for it. But I am sure with people being fed up and going out of state, the money has to be made up from somewhere. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we have to pay for this.

I pay for a general fishing license to fish for trout, bass, catfish, walleye, salmon, steelhead, panfish, and just about anything else you can think of. One price for the bundle. Why not include smelt on my license within the bundle freshwater fishery license. It wouldn't be an additional charge to my license. Just to make it to where non license users pay to contribute as well and support our fisheries as you and I do.

For smelt they should have a license and tag for time and volume filled out to prevent all the dirtbags from driving around to other spots getting way over there limit.
If the warden checks you on your way to vehicle and you haven't filled out time and amount issue a big fat ticket.
Way too many greedy folks over harvesting  the resource.

Bingo spot on. A catch record card for smelt would help greatly in ticketing fowl play on the fishery.

[Jake Dogfish]

Am I missing something......Wouldn't carp and crayfish be classified under your freshwater fishing license? 

You are missing something.

[pianoman9701]

We overpay already for the limited opportunity we get for our licenses. The WDFW can't give us a guaranteed smelt season and when they do it's not enough to justify charging for it. But I am sure with people being fed up and going out of state, the money has to be made up from somewhere. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we have to pay for this.

I'm not saying that smelt should cost extra at all. I don't think it should. I'm saying that all of us who already buy hunting and fishing licenses will benefit from the extra revenue gained by requiring a fishing license from everyone who dips smelt. Don't you already have a fishing license?

[pianoman9701]

Am I missing something......Wouldn't carp and crayfish be classified under your freshwater fishing license?  The only way to charge more for them would be to require a special license / catch card to report your numbers of these species caught.  If there is specific license required, where would it all stop??  Next thing you know, you would need a license for "rainbow trout" separate license for "Brown Trout", separate license for Large mouth bass and so on...... 

Sounds pretty dumb to me.

Carp, crayfish, and smelt are currently unregulated. A license isn't currently required to harvest them...and bullfrogs. The proposal, as I understand it is to regulate them by requiring a fishing license.

[KP-Skagit]

Put me down as someone who just assumed you needed a license all along. From what I can tell this is not necessarily saying you need a separate license with a separate price tag. Of course it does open the door to that. All that said, my guess is most folks catching carp, smelt and crayfish are also carrying a fishing license.

To me, separating the three of them seems like an unnecessary complication (and why just these three, why not pike, pikeminnow, the list goes on). Also opens a potential door to abuse. I am fine with them requiring licenses, but not for any extra money.

[metlhead]

Definately for smelt. I am already looking forward to the s***show that's gonna happen down there next season. How entertaining it is when hundreds of people instantly 'no understand'. I'm really for just one simple license to take anything from state waters, within seasons and limits.

[Oldguy]

Since California has now classified a bumble bee a "fish", we will probably follow the stupidity in order to add a few pages to our enormous fishing regs. I wonder if the "Murder Hornet" is also a fish?

[Ghost Hunter]

Definately for smelt. I am already looking forward to the s***show that's gonna happen down there next season. How entertaining it is when hundreds of people instantly 'no understand'. I'm really for just one simple license to take anything from state waters, within seasons and limits.