What will it really cost to fish in Maryland?.......OUTDOOR REPORT

What will it really cost to fish in Maryland?.......OUTDOOR REPORT

OCEAN CITY -- I decided to purchase my first Maryland saltwater fishing license. I don't really expect to do any fishing around here for a few months, but I've been squawking about the day when Maryland's coastal anglers would be required to have a license and that time has come. With a few exceptions, no longer can just anyone grab a rod and cast a line into Ocean City's bay or ocean waters without first filling out the forms and paying the fees.
At only $15 for Maryland residents, the annual fee isn't much more than what one might pay for a couple packs of shiners and box or two of squid. So this new license is really no big deal, right? Well, after I sat down with a pad of paper and a calculator to figure out all that would need to be paid to keep my fishing operation going this year, I wasn't so sure about the economy of the new required license.

If it was just me and a fishing rod I could have gotten away with only paying $15. But I have a wife who likes to fish, too. Then there are the four boats, two of which I use to run my charter fishing trips from and the other two I sometimes use to take friends or family fishing. Boats are expensive enough just to maintain; three of mine are registered with the state, which means $24 every two years, and as this just happens to be the second year, I get to pay $72 to renew three registrations.

Though boat registrations have nothing to do with the fishing license, while filling out the renewal forms, one has the option of paying an additional $50 for a Consolidated Bay and Coastal Sport Decal to cover anyone aboard who wishes to fish but doesn't have a license of their own. To make it easier on unlicensed friends and family who might occasionally come fishing with us, this is an additional expense we'll pay for two of our boats. That's another $100 to the state. Of course, even though our guests won't have to pay for a license to fish on our boats, they will still be required to go online and sign up for the free Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Registration so that state officials have record of who was fishing in local waters.
Paying for the $50 decal exempts the registered boat owner from having to purchase the $15 personal license even when they're not fishing from that particular boat, but in our case my wife will still need to purchase the individual license to cover any land-based fishing.
Because our other two boats are used for taking clients out fishing, we'll need to purchase a $240 Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Charter Boat License for each one to cover the licensing requirements for all our passengers. Add to that the $50 annual fee I pay for a Maryland Guides License, which is required for anyone to work as a fishing guide in Maryland waters, and that's another $530 off to the state.

So we'll be paying Maryland $717 this year for the opportunity to fish, boat and do business in our local waters. Granted, $122 of that has nothing to do with the new fishing license, and having four boats helps to juice up the expenses, but for the average local fisherman who is not a guide and only has one boat to worry about, the new license requirement will cost them a minimum of $50 before any of the add-ons. That's still a far cry from the $15 fee and simple sign-up process I was anticipating with this new program.

One good thing to report about Maryland's new license is that anglers under the age of 16 are not required to purchase one. That should make it a little easier on families with a number of children. I was going to say that another nice feature is that most of the transactions can be done online with just a few clicks and a credit card, but anglers should be aware that the state charges not only a $1 convenience fee for online purchases but also adds a fee coming to 2.5 percent of the total price. That may not be a lot of money, but it's just one more fee to factor in to the total price of Maryland's new saltwater fishing license.Read More ...

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