Logged on today to purchase my 2002 license.
Boy was I suprised to see the price of the combo license. After the surcharge, darn thing would have been over $40.00!

As I see it, first day of the new season is going to run me $140.00 plus to take the family fishing.

Where's the money going? Few more years with this trend and it is going to be cheaper to buy fish.

Downriggin'

Downriggin,

Do you fish because it's cheap?

I see a lot of mismanagement/practices that effect us all here in Washington (IMO). I could go on and on with specifics. Unfortuntely, I don't have answers. One thing I truly feel would help out, stiffer fines for our unlawful anglers.

Point of the post was, "Where's our money going?" Never seen a WDFG buget report.. Just a little curious what areas are receiving the most cash flow. What results can we as anglers expect? As long as I can remember, I have yet to see/reep the results.

I am grumpy today.. I had plans to fish but, I am stuck at work . Sometimes the little things upset folks the most. And that would be me- especially today. I'll get over it- eventually.

Downriggin'

Downrigger-
Let's see $40 for: a saltwater license, a freshwater license, and a shellfish license.

Yeah that is pretty steep!!

Assume that you fished/crabbed/dug clams only 10 days a year that is all of $4/day. How much would 10 rounds of golf, 10 days on the ski slope, 10 Mariner Games, or 10 evenings on the town cost you?

I consider my fishing license $$ to be the cheapest recreation $$ that I spend.

Tight lines
Smalma

Downriggin,

I feel your pain. I'm stuck at work today too (and it's slow). I checked river levels and the Clack is perfect! Oh well, I have tuesday off.

Downriggin

Don't worry; it's already cheaper to buy fish now! Look what the state has already done with all your money to "improve habitat" in our oceans (joke, joke, joke) And don't worry either about all that other "fine money", it too also goes into the general fun so that the agencies and state bureaucrats can get all their own perks!

I wonder how many other people out there are sucking the nipple of the sport fishermen to support their own job!

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

Touche', Smalma.

Even a flick at the show is at least $7.50 for a matinee. I shuck out $48 for a day of skiing, and really only ski for about 5 hours.
Park your trailer for the night.....$25 w/hookups. Drive up to the Olympic National Park, $10 for a single day pass, $20 for the season ( rising now to $30 ), take the wife to Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Applebees or Red Robin and you're in $40 if you order a drink and leave a tip.

Forty bucks seems like the cheapest entertainment in town with the reward of having something to bring home, unlike all the other pastimes mentioned above.
The more I read about our sporting management, the more I realize what goes on behind the lines. Hatcheries that are holding genetic pools of fish for reintroduction once habitat is restructured to a point that it can support fish. Shellfish facilities that serve to seed beaches within a 100 mile span. Clams and goeducks that are planted by hand to ensure our future digs. Fin clipping of salmon.....geez, with all the management, and monies that go into it, I'd say we're darn lucky that we aren't paying 3 times what they ask for.

Not that I'm saying all this management is best, but when 8,000 people are all out clamming and salmon fishing on the same day.....well, I'd think we'd exhaust the resource without it.

In a perfect world, I'd be the only person with a fishing rod and a clam shovel and there wouldn't be a need for management of the resource. In the meantime, until you all quit fishing, pay up.

Quitcher*****in or quit fishin'.

diana

Let's try and put some perspective to this... After all, I am looking for the allocation of the money, not the shock of the price...

So if I have the price of "cheap entertainment" verses the price of the license correct, this would a fairly accurate comparsion:

Let's say every golf course decided to stop charging greens fee per round. Instead they charge by the year. Now you're one-time greens fee is $5000.00 for 365 days. Maybe a $1200.00 a year for the movies? Wouldn't you say this is crazy? What's my money being allocated for?

With that, can you tell me where your $10.00 PS Enhancement money went and why hatcheries are closing? Maybe you can tell me why money is spent on "Wild Cutthroat Release Area" signs which state "only hatchery fish may be kept" are being posted all over. Ever heard of a hatchery sea-run?

$40.00 isn't my issue. Proper enhancement and allocation is.

Downriggin'

Right on Downriggin! I totally agree with you 100%. Our state is screwing sport fishermen every chance they get. Its not about the $40.00 for the liscence, its about where the money is going! Te fact of the matter is that the money is not going where it is supposed to go. Hatcheries are closing, pubic access areas aren't being maintained, and the hatcheries that are still in business aren't planting near the numbers of fish that they used to. Rivers are closing, and there is generally less and less fishing opportunity for more and more money spent every year. This attiude of less bithin, more fishin would be fine in a perfect world, but things are far from perfect here.

Fantastic!

People are starting to use their own minds again! Its sounds like the "sheep heard" have just lost another one!

Keeps using those mines guys, and don't be afraid to keep asking "WHY"!

Cowlitzfisherman
is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

Each year less licenses are sold, so, in an effort to maintain funding, prices are raised.
In 50 years, maybe the state will sell 142 licenses at $3,450.00/each?

Silly me - I thought that comments of "sticker shock" and "darn thing would have been more than $40" were lead-ins to rant about the cost of licenses.

Cowlitzfisherman is right we need to think. With shrinking budgets (especially in terms of real dollars) how can we expect to recieve the same services. Where would you make cuts? Have you lobbied for increased or even constant funding for WDFW or ODFG? Lobbied for stiffer fines?

Downrigger -
You asked questions about how the budget is allocated. Trying going to WDFW web site
www.wa.gov/wdfw. Click on "Who we are", go to "1997-98 annual report". While the 97-98 report is obviously dated it does have a graph that shows what % of the budget to each program.

To see where the this years cuts are coming from go to "Who we are" and then "2001-2003 budget reductions. WDFW was asked to reduce $50 million general fund dollars by 7.6 million. I think the legislature asked for more after latest revenue forecasts.

After doing this basic leg work you probably can get more detailed information on specific items by going to the appropriate program.

LittleZoZo-
You asked about access areas - go to the WDFW web page, click on "fishing/shellfishing" and then "introdution to wildlife areas". Within the Wildlfie areas click on "vehicle permits".
Did you know that $370,000 in fines go to various Counties in lieu to paying taxes on your Department lands?

A common "beef" on this board is the lack of enforcement. Looking at the 97/98 budget I found that enforcement gets 9.9%. 10% of a $40 license is only $4. That will buy you maybe 5 minutes a year of an agents time - how do you want them spend that time?

Let's do our homework and then we can provide informed requests on how we wish to spend limited dollars.

Tight lines
Smalma

Why do you THINK people are not buying them anymore? People are just getting plain flat tired of paying for nothing but more bureaucratic rules and regulations. Did you ever hear the old saying "Too many chiefs and not enough Indians"? This is what's happening to our resources right now.

Way too much "dead weight" just waiting around to get their retirement time in! When was the last time that you personally saw a "management" guy in WDFW, WDOE, NMFS, USF&WS, or any state or federal management position "bust their but" for our resource? Most of the ones that I know only work 4-10 hour days a week. Those kinds of hours may work well for private enterprise, but they are a joke when it comes to the management of our resources.

If you do see one working on a Friday, most likly he is getting paid overtime, or he getting comp time for doing it!

4-10 hours days shifts are great for manual production kind of work, but they suck for resource management work. Another GREAT use of our tax dollars! When was the last time you tried to get a hold of any management in the above mention positions on a Friday?

Don't forget our hunting and fishing license fees go in the "general fund" and DO NOT go directly back to a special hunting or fishing account. ALL THE MONEY GOES TO THE "BLACK HOLE" OF THE GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS!!!

Our Licenses fee go up only because the bureaucrats need more money to pay for their jobs and their yearly benefit increases.

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????

The way they make it sound there, user fees only cover a third of the expenditures. Is that right?

I seem to remember reading that fishing and hunting licenses do not go into the state general fund. They go directly to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

This time I am going to take the side of the WDFW. License fees are cheap compared to other sources of entertainment, in fact I would be willing to pay more.

I don't know about anyone else, but the regional biologist I run into on the rivers I fish is always willing to discuss topics with me, answer my questions and has always returned my phone calls. And Brain, the enforcement officer on the peninsula, can only do so much with a territory from PA to Amanda Park. Look at the numbers the WDFW is working with and the budget keeps shrinking, is that entirely their fault?

Just recently the Govenor has requested additional budget cuts for the WDFW this year. How many of you are going to write the Govenor or call your Legislator and tell them that these cuts are unacceptable and complain you are losing more opportunity and that poachers are stealing from you due to lack of enforcement, etc..

Seems to be plently of complaints on this bb, I always wonder how many take action to help create change,or are they too busy enjoying what they paid for. Have you ever thanked the WDFW when things are going well for doing a good job? It's not always entirely their fault. I don't always agree with the WDFW, but the fact is they need some support from the resource users too.

I am happy to buy my licenses at whatever the cost. I think that they are a great bargain. I certainly brought home enough fish to offset the cost of last years license fee. Heck, the smile on my two year old's face when he caught his first trout last year was worth ten times that. We need to pay for the resources we exploit. Plain and simple.

Double Haul

The fields personal are great! The problem lies deeppppppp inside the management of WDFW, not the people who go out and work their butts off each day, anyway, that just my opinion, and I have worked with many of these guys for over 14 years now. Believe me, they know it too!

I have "thanked the good ones", and the bad ones already know what I think about them!

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????