- are you aware that you need a fishing license to go fishing?
Yup
- if you hire a fishing guide service, do you expect the guide/service to provide a license for you?
I expect it to be talked about, especially if I am out of state.
- how surprising is it that you must provide a social security number to obtain a fishing license?
I haven't gotten one since moving to KY, but I think in KS all they asked for was a driver's license.
Obviously - unless you're native, also some work arounds for those living off grid.
No, I've always been responsible for procuring my own license on charters.
Got mine this year with just a drivers license. Although, It is tied to my hunter ID # which may (or may not - cant remember) have my soc associated with it.
Indeed, any fisher (usually over 16) needs a license in most instances. Sometimes e.g. if it’s a private pond on private property that is in no way managed by the state, you don’t, but pretty much all the rest of the time you do.
Some don’t realize this, though most do. The outfitter I work for mentions it with every reservation, every confirmation email, and every courtesy call the day before the trip.
We encourage guests to get the license before the morning of, cuz it can be a time consuming pita that eats into fishing time, but we still get plenty of guests who show up like I THOUGHT YALL WAS GONNA JUST TAKE CARE OF THAT FOR US.
It’s ultimately y’all’s own responsibility, we tried to tell you 3 different times, and now we’re standing around the shop inputting info from 15 different Texas driver’s licenses instead of heading to the river. (Uh ohhh, Tammy Lynn can’t remember her social security number, but more on that in a sec)
PhD, I largely agree that guides are for pussies. Indeed, for the price of one guided trip, someone could also buy pretty much all the fishing gear one would need to fish for years if they just figured it out themselves. But as long as those pussies keep writing my paychecks, then I’m not gonna complain.
I’ve been a client with a couple other outfitters, and neither made any mention of a license or even checked to confirm I got it. (This may be in part cuz I call like “I’m a guide in CO and know what I’m doing, just not for these fish in this part of the world,” but still). It almost feels like Colorado tourists need to have somebody hold their hand about every little thing.
And regarding the SSN, I think most states require it, but that still don’t stop y’all from chewing us out like we’re identity thieves cuz we have to ask for it. (Remember when we told y’all to take care of this on your own before the trip?)
But yeah, I’ve heard they ask for SSN more than anything so they can weed out guys who are delinquent on child support payments. If y’all are deadbeat dads then y’all can’t legally fish, sorry. Thankfully, at least at our outfitter, we’ve never had some error message like that, cuz how awkward would that conversation be?
