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TROUT FISHING WITH MAURICE RODWAY - Weekly Column: 04-November 1999
 Southland, New Zealand

The Importance of Fishing Licenses

So you want to go trout fishing but you don't have a licence. What do you do?. Here are some examples of what some others have tried.

You consider that the licence is a bit dear at  $65 especially since you are not going to do that much fishing. Sixty five bucks is quite a lot. You could buy a few dozen cans of beer for that. Anyway you are not likely to get caught. Once out on the lake however you are approached by a ranger and you say you have a licence but don't have it on you. The ranger could take your gear and you could be fined for not having it on you. A bit like not carrying your drivers licence. Not an instant fine, but a fine nevertheless. However the ranger gives you the benefit of the doubt and asks you to send it in to the Fish and Game Office. This you promise to do. You give a false name. The name of your friend who you know really does have a licence. But when your friend refuses to send his licence in you are in trouble. So you go to the sports shop to get your licence but you smudge the date and the time of the issue in the hope it will pass. Unfortunately it does not and you are charged with no licence, giving false information and using a document fraudulently. Fines and costs total $700. Perhaps it was better to get a licence in the first place.

Another chap decides to take his girlfriend fishing. He will hold the rod and so she won't actually be fishing. But the trout start to bite and a fish is caught. The girlfriend says "Give me a go". So out go two rods. Two lines, one licence. Not cricket. OOPS! here come those rangers again. Our gallant boyfriend owns up to fishing with two rods. Fine $350. Rod seized. A day licence of just $13 would have been a lot better deal. Especially as she didn't catch any fish as they had to pack up after that rather embarrassing experience.

Fortunately for these three rather foolish folk there are another 98 who do get their licence before they go fishing. In fact in Southland about 12,000 people buy a licence and go trout fishing each year and less than 5% of all anglers try to get away without having one. A fishing licence is more like a drivers licence than a ticket to the fair.  To fish without one is a criminal offence. It amounts to stealing from everyone else who takes the trouble to buy one. So don't try to fish without one, and if you know someone who does. A gentle reminder to get one would be a good idea. Before something rather nasty happens.

Maurice Rodway
Southland, New Zealand                           E-mail: information@southlandfishgame.co.nz

Article © 1999 Maurice Rodway, All Rights Reserved.

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