Am I the only one?

plumbertom · Dec 24, 2015

Who thinks fishing licenses & fees are going insane?
In order to buy a 2016 license, Columbia watershed enhancement, Shellfish license and a salmon tag
it will consume almost all of a $100 bill.
When I bought my first fishing license at 16, in Ca. I'll admit, it cost me all of $2.25 with the then required
trout stamp.
Now, I'm on SS and haven't had a CoL increase for what will be the third year in a row.
Yet Or. requires that seniors be not only 70 years old but also a 5 year resident before they think price relief is warranted.
And even with their insane increases, they can't even put up a simple stocking schedule for the new year until well into the year.

rogerdodger · Dec 24, 2015

yes, licenses and tag costs stayed the same for 6 years, since 2010, except for the temporary addition of the Columbia watershed endorsement. this year they have increased. cheers, roger

Irishrover · Dec 24, 2015

If you want to consider the real dollar amount to run ODF&W you need to take a look at the budget.

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/agency/budget/

Part of their income comes from the general fund. It's about 8% of the budget or 30 million bucks. Some folks might look at this as a subsidy because not all folks who pay into the general fund hunt or fish. However a lot of folks who benefit from the non consumption side of ODF&W purchase no license or tags.

ODF&W receives 38% of their budget from the Federal government (the feds giving the money back to folks from whom they took it.) That money comes from the Pitman-Robertson act. It is about 140 million bucks. It comes from a tax on ammunition, firearms and other sporting goods.

Hunting/fishing licenses and tags bring in 26% of the budget about 94.5 million bucks.

Commercial fishing contributes 3% or about 9 million bucks.

Now I'm not a fan of paying more for anything. I'm not a fan of how ODF&W runs lower Columbia chinook harvest. But to be completely honest by looking at their budget I can see that we who are the consumptive users are paying a little more than 25% of their overall budget. It's not a bad deal. We certainly use more that 25% of the expense side of the budget. I do think that if you are post 70 and have lived here for a year you should get a senior discount.

Now if you are looking for things that can drive you nuts about ODF&W. Check out the link to their budget. In the first pie chart it shows clearly that 8% comes from the general fund. It also shows that 1% comes from the Oregon lottery. 8+1=9. However in their written description of the budget, right above the pie chart it stated the following.

"Although ODFW manages fish and wildlife for all Oregonians, only about six percent of ODFW’s revenue comes from Oregon’s general tax dollars and the lottery combined."

It is stuff like this that makes one loose confidence in that agency when they are talking about finances. That is a difference of 3% roughly 9 million bucks.

jamisonace · Dec 24, 2015

It's actually a real bargain. Something like $.52 a day and less than cable and beer.

plumbertom · Dec 24, 2015

jamisonace said:
It's actually a real bargain. Something like $.52 a day and less than cable and beer.

Considering I don't fish every day or even every month, nor can I afford cable or beer, it doesn't seem like such a bargain to me.

eugene1 · Dec 24, 2015

You should have stayed in Cali.

Resident Sport Fishing $47.01 (includes crabbing and salmon)
Steelhead Report Card $ 7.05

A real bargain is the lifetime license in Cali.
If someone buys one for a 1 year old kid they can fish for about 2 cents a day if they live 70 years!

plumbertom said:
Who thinks fishing licenses & fees are going insane?
In order to buy a 2016 license, Columbia watershed enhancement, Shellfish license and a salmon tag
it will consume almost all of a $100 bill.
When I bought my first fishing license at 16, in Ca. I'll admit, it cost me all of $2.25 with the then required
trout stamp.
Now, I'm on SS and haven't had a CoL increase for what will be the third year in a row.
Yet Or. requires that seniors be not only 70 years old but also a 5 year resident before they think price relief is warranted.
And even with their insane increases, they can't even put up a simple stocking schedule for the new year until well into the year.

rogerdodger · Dec 24, 2015

eugene1 said:
You should have stayed in Cali.

Resident Sport Fishing $47.01 (includes crabbing and salmon)
Steelhead Report Card $ 7.05

does Cali support their wildlife stuff with more general tax revenue and rely less on license/tag fees? after all, they are getting a double tax bite out of folks (income tax + sales tax)...cheers, roger

hobster · Dec 24, 2015

Not another thread about this. :sad: Merry Christmas everyone!

eugene1 · Dec 24, 2015

rogerdodger said:
does Cali support their wildlife stuff with more general tax revenue and rely less on license/tag fees? after all, they are getting a double tax bite out of folks (income tax + sales tax)...cheers, roger

I'm really not sure how the money stuff works at all, roger.

Pretty much everything is way more expensive in California than in Oregon except a fishing license, so reading about the drama associated with the price hike in Oregon is kind of interesting. Folks who relocate to OR from CA for retirement save a substantial amount of $ on taxes. I'm not singling you out, plumbertom, but I am guessing you have a significantly better financial outlook in Oregon even with the fishing license rate hike? Many of my California friends have either moved to Oregon or are planning to move there because of the tax advantages.

I'll get another non resident fishing license for Oregon next year again just to fish a minimal number of days, but it's worth it to me. It really comes down to how many days you fish a year, if the annual license doesn't make sense just get a day license when you fish and be legal.

Merry Christmas y'all!

jamisonace · Dec 24, 2015

plumbertom said:
Considering I don't fish every day or even every month, nor can I afford cable or beer, it doesn't seem like such a bargain to me.

I'm with you my friend. I was being sarcastic.....just a joke from another thread. Sorry to hear it's a hardship. I'm afraid you're not alone.

Irishrover · Dec 24, 2015

California's fish and wildlife budget has many more sources of income than Oregon's. If anyone cares to check it out here is the link. https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Budget

With the vast sources of revenue, they can charge less for the license to fish. I'll stay here in Oregon.

Berg03 · Dec 24, 2015

It costs to have such a great fishery in oregon. Year around you can catch some real monsters in this state.

Dizzy Fisherman · Dec 25, 2015

If your not fishing because you enjoy being in the outdoors and a chance encounter with a fish is an added bonus than your fishing for the wrong reasons. If you want to eat a lot of fish sell all your rods, reels, tackle, boat, save your gas money, don't buy a license, and don't go on any guided trips. You'll have plenty of coin to buy fish at the grocery store. The license fee is inexpensive compared to many hobbies a person could have.

DirectDrive · Dec 25, 2015

I'm in Vancouver and buy non-res Fishing - Salmon/Steelhead every year.
Seems like it was pushing $150 last year.

Oregon PUNISHES non-resident anglers.

Dizzy Fisherman · Dec 25, 2015

Non- resident license is more expensive anywhere you go. Oregon might be more expensive than Washington but look at what a mess Washington is in. Even worse management than Oregon and opportunities being lost every year. I'm guessing it's a big part of why the Washington guys buy Oregon licenses.

jamisonace · Dec 25, 2015

Is oregon really that much of a destination fishery? I know Wyoming is but my out of state annual is just over$100 which I feel is a lot.

DirectDrive said:
I'm in Vancouver and buy non-res Fishing - Salmon/Steelhead every year.
Seems like it was pushing $150 last year.

Oregon PUNISHES non-resident anglers.

DirectDrive · Dec 25, 2015

jamisonace said:
Is oregon really that much of a destination fishery?

Yes.
The Deschutes River is found in the State of Oregon.
There is no other summer steelhead fishery like it in the Lower 48
But shhhhh......let's keep this quiet.

And the Snake Whisperin' is excellent as well.

jamisonace · Dec 25, 2015

Good point.

When I fish in Wyoming, I generally wait in line to launch my drift boat for at least 45 minutes and 80% of the boats are guides with what I assume are out of state guests. I guess I can think of a few places in OR where something similar might occur.

DirectDrive said:
Yes.
The Deschutes River is found in the State of Oregon.
There is no other summer steelhead fishery like it in the Lower 48
But shhhhh......let's keep this quiet.

And the Snake Whisperin' is excellent as well.

DirectDrive · Dec 25, 2015

jamisonace said:
Good point.

When I fish in Wyoming, I generally wait in line to launch my drift boat for at least 45 minutes and 80% of the boats are guides with what I assume are out of state guests. I guess I can think of a few places in OR where something similar might occur.

But sadly, Wyoming is too far from the sea.

Now there are some BC rivers with very, very large summers that exceed what we have down here.
Same run timing as Deschutes summers.

wils · Dec 25, 2015

Irishrover said:
If you want to consider the real dollar amount to run ODF&W you need to take a look at the budget.

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/agency/budget/

Part of their income comes from the general fund. It's about 8% of the budget or 30 million bucks. Some folks might look at this as a subsidy because not all folks who pay into the general fund hunt or fish. However a lot of folks who benefit from the non consumption side of ODF&W purchase no license or tags.

ODF&W receives 38% of their budget from the Federal government (the feds giving the money back to folks from whom they took it.) That money comes from the Pitman-Robertson act. It is about 140 million bucks. It comes from a tax on ammunition, firearms and other sporting goods.

Hunting/fishing licenses and tags bring in 26% of the budget about 94.5 million bucks.

Commercial fishing contributes 3% or about 9 million bucks.

Now I'm not a fan of paying more for anything. I'm not a fan of how ODF&W runs lower Columbia chinook harvest. But to be completely honest by looking at their budget I can see that we who are the consumptive users are paying a little more than 25% of their overall budget. It's not a bad deal. We certainly use more that 25% of the expense side of the budget. I do think that if you are post 70 and have lived here for a year you should get a senior discount.

Now if you are looking for things that can drive you nuts about ODF&W. Check out the link to their budget. In the first pie chart it shows clearly that 8% comes from the general fund. It also shows that 1% comes from the Oregon lottery. 8+1=9. However in their written description of the budget, right above the pie chart it stated the following.

"Although ODFW manages fish and wildlife for all Oregonians, only about six percent of ODFW’s revenue comes from Oregon’s general tax dollars and the lottery combined."

It is stuff like this that makes one loose confidence in that agency when they are talking about finances. That is a difference of 3% roughly 9 million bucks.

thank you for taking the time to lay that out.

not playing one round of golf pays for my annual license.
it sounds like not playing two rounds pays for the full monty if I wanted to add on all the bells & whistles.

the total cost of fishing is way more than just the license.