Anybody Ever Get Caught Without Their License?

[king fisher]

       New Years day 1983.  I decided to go ice fishing.  I stopped at a store to get a license, but they didn't have any for the new year yet.  I stopped at another place, and they were closed.  As usual I was in a hurry and decided to just go fishing.  I was going to a lake I had never been to before, but was supposed to be on fire according to the sport section of the news paper.  Because I had never been there, I didn't know there was a spring in between the parking lot and where I saw other fisherman.  I fell through the ice trying to get to where everyone was fishing.  I was completely soaked and cold, but determined to catch some fish.  I caught a few perch, that I gave to another angler.  I was to cold to stay for more long so I left early.  When I got to my car I got checked by the game warden.  I pleaded with him to give me a break, but the only break I got was he let me sit in my car with the heater running while he wrote me a ticket.

      I learned two lessons that day.  Be more careful on ice, and never go fishing without a license.  Since then I have a few more close calls on ice, but have never not had my license.

[schplurg]

I want to be checked for my fishing license because I want those two dorks down shore from me to be checked too (bet they don't have theirs).

 

I pay good money for it, please, check me.

[gim]

Never been checked once, fishing or hunting here in MN for 25 years.

I do on occasion run into an intern at a public access who simply asks a few questions and is there to remind me about invasive species protocol.

One time about 20 years ago my Father and I ran into the Hennepin County Water Patrol on Lake Minnetonka in May. They checked our PFDs, throwable, and watercraft registration. Did not check our angling licenses.

 

We could use a lot more conservation officers here. They cover massive areas. I’m a law abiding citizen so I have nothing to worry about.

[Zcoker]

I've been busted by the FWC here in Florida for not having a freshwater fishing license, but that was years ago when I should've known better lol. They wrote me out a ticket, like a traffic ticket, and I had to pay the fine. From then on, I have had a license proper ever since and have been carded in the most remote places. Though not freshwater related, the following still holds true to what they can do to anyone, fresh or salt: I was down in the Keys shark fishing off a bridge and an FWC officer came up and carded me. He then proceeded to "dig around" in my bait cooler. And he kept digging and digging, pulling out pieces of a cuda that I was using as bait. He kept on digging around in the ice and took each chunk of cuda out and put them on the concrete. After he got all the chunks out, he then proceeded to put each of them together, like a jigsaw puzzle, until it was a whole fish. And then he measured it! Said the fish was legal but if I needed to cut it up anymore, I'd have to leave the bridge to do it! What? He said it was illegal to cut the bait on the fishing bridge lol Whatever. He gave me a written warning. Keys are weird, what can I say. Goes to show that one never knows from a simple license check what crazy thing they'll do next, or try to find next, or even try to event next lol So be prepared for anything, is all I can say!

[Krux5506]

There was one time and only one time I fished knowingly without a license and I did in fact get caught. It was one of maybe 3 times total in years of fishing that I even got checked for a license. The officer basically advised me to get a license, mail a copy in with the ticket and they'd drop the fine. That is actually what they did, but I still had a $100+ surcharge.

 

What I don't quite understand is, can you be asked to show a fishing license even if you aren't fishing? In my case, I was holding rods about to leave when an officer approached me, but not fishing. At the time I just consented to it though. NY isn't exactly clear on whether DEC officers or game wardens have special privileges that typical police would not have, i.e. the typical "probable cause" requirements. Just curious about how the 4th amendment would apply here. 

[Bird]

I've never hunted or fished without a license.

Carry fishing license, boat registration and photo of drivers license in waterproof pouch in tackle bag.

Have been checked quite often over the years.

[CrashVector]

Ours is tied do our driver's license.  There's also an app.

[ironbjorn]

Nope. It's cheaper to pay what amounts to a fast food #5 than it is to pay that fine and lose your equipment. It takes a mental midget to intentionally refuse to get a fishing license.

[J Francho]

1 hour ago, CrashVector said:

Ours is tied do our driver's license.  There's also an app.

Not exactly true. You do not need a driver license to get a fishing license in LA, but if you have a DL, you can use the wallet app. 

[Fallser]

Being mainly a fly fisher, I always wear a vest when I'm fishing, and up until a couple of years ago in PA, you were required to wear your license so it could easily seen.  My license is in a holder pinned to my vest.  If I'm fishing out of state, I just fold the out of state license and stick it in the holder.  I've been checked several times over the years but have never been caught without my license.  One of the guys I fish with wasn't so lucky.  We were fishing at a lodge in NE Ontario and an aluminum boat pulled up to us and the fish warden asked to see our licenses.  I had mine with me but he had left his in the cabin.   The warden politely asked him for his rod and tackle box and told him to bring his license to the "ranger cabin" the next morning and he'd get his equipment back.  So the next morning we took the boat down to the cabin, which was about a mile down the lake from the lodge.  He showed the ranger his license, and got his equipment back.  No fine, but it took a bit of fishing time away from us.

[schplurg]

5 hours ago, Krux5506 said:

There was one time and only one time I fished knowingly without a license and I did in fact get caught. It was one of maybe 3 times total in years of fishing that I even got checked for a license. The officer basically advised me to get a license, mail a copy in with the ticket and they'd drop the fine. That is actually what they did, but I still had a $100+ surcharge.

 

What I don't quite understand is, can you be asked to show a fishing license even if you aren't fishing? In my case, I was holding rods about to leave when an officer approached me, but not fishing. At the time I just consented to it though. NY isn't exactly clear on whether DEC officers or game wardens have special privileges that typical police would not have, i.e. the typical "probable cause" requirements. Just curious about how the 4th amendment would apply here. 

He may have seen you fishing from a distance. They have been known to use binoculars to catch people. You don't need a license to carry a rod and reel anywhere. Never heard of it anyways.

[CrashVector]

8 hours ago, J Francho said:

Not exactly true. You do not need a driver license to get a fishing license in LA, but if you have a DL, you can use the wallet app. 

That's what I meant.  It's on the la wallet app thing.

[TriStateBassin106]

I did last year in March, it was our first warm day in 2021 and there was still some ice and snow on the bank I was fishing at a local pond, all of a sudden a black pick up truck with the word POLICE on the side doors pulled up behind me in the parking lot to the pond, officer was a nice guy and I always had my license renewed every year so he just gave me a warning I guess. I wouldn't even call it a warning just a "make sure you try to renew it ASAP" we also talked about trout stocking in the nearby river and he then left. 

 

My only problem with this encounter was a few months later we had problems with foreign speaking folks taking buckets of bluegill and undersized bass and there wasn't no game warden to be found...

[pondbassin101]

This thread actually just reminded me that I need to renew my license.

[TOXIC]

Just got back from St Clair and although we didn’t get checked for our licenses, we were stopped by the Sheriff Water Patrol.  Had a big RIB with dual 300’s.  Did a safety check and ran our names.  Infraction was getting on plane less than 200 feet from shore.  His parting words were “If you’re going to boat on our waters, know our laws”.  We did not get ticketed.  

[DINK WHISPERER]

Just happened to me Friday. Officer was super cool though and didn't make a big deal of it. 

[Stratocat_Joe]

It's ironic to me that this post popped up on Memorial Day weekend.  It was Memorial Day weekend in 2004 and I had just moved back home to SW Missouri from Ohio.  There was a creek a few miles from my parent's house that, when I was younger, I would ride my bike down to and fish.  Never once in the 100's of times I fished that creek growing up did I ever see a Game Warden.  Well, flash forward a few years to 2004, and I decided I would run down to the creek for old-time's sake.  My Dad had just picked up his new Harley and we crossed paths and he was showing me his bike.  He asked where I was going and I told him that I was just going to fish the creek for old-time's sake.  With a father's intuition, he asked "Do you have your fishing license, yet?"  In a moment of immaturity, I said "No, we've been fishing this creek for years and I have never seen anyone here ask for a fishing license."  Dad had a certain look on his face but just said "Okay, then.", and took off on his bike.  I pulled up to the spot and started fishing.  I had only made a couple of casts when I heard another vehicle stop and the door open and shut.  I look up and there is a Game Warden walking towards me.  I was afraid he was going to confiscate the fishing gear (which was my Dad's) but he was nice enough to just give me a $120 ticket!  Lesson learned and I never fish without a license now!  Also, I had to explain to Dad why I was home from my fishing trip so soon!  

[Deleted account]

On 5/27/2022 at 11:31 AM, pondbassin101 said:

This thread actually just reminded me that I need to renew my license.

Same, MD went to the 365 day thing, and I didn't get mine until June in 2000 cause I was out of town for an extended time. Now I have to renew every June, I also have to stop the gas pump on a zero... 

[Big Rick]

14 minutes ago, Deleted account said:

I also have to stop the gas pump on a zero... 

With fuel costs as they are that takes lightening fast reflexes! Those numbers just fly by!

 

[sdowiat]

Not me, but my buddy & roommate.... and I had to go pick him up at the Jail!

 

In Dalton Georgia in 1987 I was 21 and lived with a buddy in an old run down house that we rented really cheap.  We actually worked at the same factory too.    I was fine in a dilapidated old house because I worked a LOT of weekends plus overtime and wasn't home much anyway.   He lived at home with his parents most weekends but it was like 2 hrs away. 

 

One Sunday morning in the early spring I was working for some double overtime money when I got called to the supervisors office for a phone call.  It was my friend calling from Jail.  It was a pretty morning and he had a new fishing rod that he just couldn't wait to try out... so he walked to a little neighborhood recreation area that had a pond.. and he said that before he made his second cast some official person appeared and asked to see his fishing license.    He didn't have one and they actually took him to jail!

 

I had to leave work where I was earning double pay on Sunday to go pick him up.  Maybe he got mouthy or something but he was normally a really subdued guy....    In retrospect it all seems a bit harsh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Swamp Girl]

I've only had one game warden ask me for my license and he was the most impressive game warden imaginable. I was fishing a lake in northern Ontario, miles down a fresh cut logging road. To reach the lake, you had to run four sets of rapids on four miles of river. Who would ever think a game warden would do that, much less a 70-something game warden, as lean and chewy as beef jerky. And he did chew me, chastising me for a dead walleye in my live well made of rocks forming a corral in the river.

 

"I'll eat it," I said, telling the truth.

 

"No, you won't," he said.

 

"Okay, I'll toss it in the woods," I said.

 

"No, you won't," he said.

 

"Okay, I'll toss it in the river," I said.

 

"No, you won't."

 

"Well, if I can't eat it and I can't toss it in the woods and I can't toss it in the river, what do I do?"

 

"That's up to you to figure out!"

 

Yeah, that two-legged beef jerky chewed me up and spat me out. No ticket though. 

[Luke Barnes]

This year is the first time I have been asked for my license and did not have it. It was only the second time I have been checked in my life. 

 

My wife and I were at a small city lake on a Sunday. She was out on her kayak and I was bank fishing.  On a previous outing I had given her my license to keep in her backpack because she was fishing and didn't have a license and since my is a lifetime disabled veterans license, if she got checked i was hoping the warden would give her some leniency. She never got checked and I forgot it in her backpack. So I get checked while I'm bank fishing and my license is in her backpack, out on the water, with her in her kayak. I tell the warden I'm a vet and I have a lifetime and he sees my drivers license with the veteran flag on it and says oh got ya. Thanks for your service and good luck fishing. I was scared I would get a ticket but he was super cool and trusted I had it. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

I always just play the "Sovereign Citizen" card, they don't ever seem to mind ?

[PressuredFishing]

On 5/25/2022 at 7:34 AM, king fisher said:

learned two lessons that day.  Be more careful on ice, and never go fishing without a license.  Since then I have a few more close calls on ice, but have never not had my license.

Just a little food for thought, game wardens have even more power than police, and can even search backpacks, coolers, cars and boats when normal police couldn't due to the constitution. 

[Chris Catignani]

On 5/26/2022 at 6:56 PM, schplurg said:

He may have seen you fishing from a distance. They have been known to use binoculars to catch people. You don't need a license to carry a rod and reel anywhere. Never heard of it anyways.

I was fishin the bridge there at Goose Pond (Guntersville) and the Warden was on the bridge with his binoculars...he was looking at these ash-holes that were on the dock fishing....(they were really on a golf trip). He asked if I thought they had their license's ....which I said, "I know those guys....they explicitly told me they were not gonna buy a license ?