Re: $800.00 permit. All Boats!! Every Year!!!
But you have to admit, the only thing that would have made that story better would have been video!
If I would have had a camera, I probably would have beat the idiot with it.
I don't group everyone with a newer boat together, those that fit my description stand out on their own and we all know the type.
The problem is they seem to multiply every year.
I agree with a former post that if some don't wish to look at old boats, go to the private pay ramps, but it's been the opposite here, the pay ramps are usually all fishermen, while the public ramps are full of everyone else. I often use a private ramp but mostly just for the peace of mind knowing that my truck will still be there when i get back. There's been far too many break ins and trailer thefts at the public ramps these days. One pay ramp is a flat $20 fee and they put your boat in for you, very professional and they park your truck for you in a fenced, guarded lot. The other is a private marina, mostly all commercial fishing boats, that charges $10 to use the ramp but its also well lit and doesn't attract many non fishermen due to the way out location. It's not uncommon for me to come in at 3 or 4 in the morning, so having my trailer waiting to load is well worth fees. The public ramps are often totally dark too that time of day, making loading a real hassle. The pay ramp we use is well lit and manned at all times. It's nice to load and leave and head home for some sleep after a long night out fishing. It's also nice knowing that your rig will be there when you return, and in the same shape you left it the day before.
I must say, when it comes to being on the water, I've never had many problems with those in old, run down boats, but can't count how many run-ins I've had with newer boats and arrogant owners who have no clue what they are doing. I can't count how many times I've had boats come so close they run over out fishing lines or anchor line.
Generally I try to stay clear of the water on the weekends, especially holiday weekends. I fish mostly during the week, but in the summer, the shore areas are full of youthful novices with too much boat and not enough common sense.
I don't mine helping someone that deserves it or has the sense to ask, it's those that think they know what they are doing that scare me, and often those that feel that the ramp was put there just for them.
When I am at the launch, I've already untied, transom plug in, only the bow line is attached if it's a roller trailer, and a buddy is on the dock with a dock line in hand to take the boat out to the end as I drive away and park. It takes no longer than the time it takes to back down the ramp and float the boat. Once I see the boat floating, I pull away and park. By the time I get back to the dock, the boat is running and I hop in a leave. Coming back in, I hop off the boat at the end of the dock while a buddy holds the boat, I get in line, back in, then a buddy leads the boat to the trailer and hooks the bow eye and cranks it up. I then drive up and off near the exit to secure the boat, reconnect my trailer lights, and pull the plug. All gear gets stowed and we're out of there. It only takes a few minutes, no hassle, no fuss. At the one pay ramp, there are four launching positions, but I've watched as many as 8 smaller boats all going in at the same time, with no problems. Everyone knows what they are doing, and every boat hits the water, starts right up and drives around to a dock position to await the rest of the crew. I normally load towards the middle leaving the dock for those putting in.
Anyway, back to the topic of this thread, there is no way I'd pay $800 to boat, I don't care what the cause. Its bad enough they doubled the registration fees for both boats and trailers several years back, I already pay over $1700 in registration fees for my boats, trailers, trucks, and personal vehicles to this state. All that on top of the high cost of fuel, there's no way. I'd be all for a boycott of any such fee. They can't arrest and tow every boater and boat out there. As a business, I've already cut back and stopped all deliveries, the cost of fuel has increased the cost of doing business beyond what the market will bear. Add the cost of another $800 permit or fee, and there will be even less boaters and even less fishermen on the water.
I've watched several marinas, tackle shops, bait stores, and dealers close up over the years, as well as charter boats and head boats hang it up for good.
Such a fee would put the final nail in the coffin for the rest of the industry here.
It's getting to the point where we as Americans have to stand up and just refuse to pay some of these insane fees. The same goes for the cost of gas these days. This country needs to start drilling here for oil, forget all the tree hugging activists, we need cheap gas, before this country goes completely down the tubes. This all on top of new fishing restrictions and now a pending saltwater fishing license. Where to they think the money will come from?
If they want to charge fees, charge the foreign boats in the bay netting all hours of the night, charge the trawlers dragging the bottom where we fish, charge those that net and waste thousands of game species as bycatch.
There is no way they should allow foreign boats into our coastal waters to fish, then tell the recreational fishermen they need to pay for a license, pay for some EPA fee, all just to keep a handful of fish in the end?
Fishing used to be a way to put food on the table, it's cheaper to dine out these days. A day on the water costs me at least $200, sometimes more, and that's not counting the drive to the ramp, and for what, 6 or so fish that they tell us are contaminated but safe to eat just so we don't eat more than one a month?
I don't boat just for the fun of it, I boat to get to where the fish are because I like to eat fish. I don't fish for sport, I fish for food. If it cost more to catch fish than to buy fish, then I won't fish, therefore I don't need to boat, but that means I need to make more money someplace else to be able to afford to buy food or fish elsewhere. So, since I am a mechanic by trade, the cost of fixing your truck, boat or car will just have to go up. As in turn will everything else. If it cost me more to get to work, to heat my shop, to eat, the more you will pay. The problem is that this had very little effect on those that make the laws being that in order to get into that elected office, they already had to have money to spend. More money to spend in most cases than the job pays, so keep that in mind when you leave a business decision up to an elected official who spent more to get the job than they will get paid. I can't say how much effect a few of us writing our elected officials will do, the bottom line is the money. There are far more powerful forces working against us that want more money and don't care where it comes from. It's time instead to stop the paying for freeloaders and illegals in this country, just that alone will be far more than what they would collect from us with boats.
I'm all for alternative fuels, but until they are reliable and affordable, we need gas to keep this country rolling. We need to roll back the clock a bit on the high price of fuel before every working class American goes broke.
I am not going to buy a foreign car to save gas, I am not getting rid of my old truck or car, and I will not stop boating. We need to send a message to our elected officials NOW that we've had it and we ain't gonna take it anymore. I fear that it's already far beyond writing letters, the only action that will get the message across at this point is defiance. After all, isn't that how this whole country got started?
