dragman6693

I fish the octagon,sykes,NAS Pensacola,and both sides of portifino, and i've never been checked. i have herd of lisence checks on sykes though.

Jig n Hawgs

Guess I got checked once, he come up to my boat and asked if I had a license, I said yes, ok and he left. He didn't want to see it, just took my word. Then another time I was fishing on a boat with a friend, they checked everything but our license. Guess its done a lot on profiling and the way you act.

baldona523

I have not been checked on the beach, but have been checked at my car unloading and loading many times at the beach and bridges.



On another note, the whole license on you I understand but is also BS and I know for a fact if you have an ID they can call in to check if you have a license.



On one occasion, long story and I was doing nothing illegal and the officer was really nice, but I had been scalloping on a boat but was dropped off by my car. I had nothing but mask, snorkel, and fins on me and the officer stopped us at our car for our license and no dive flag. We said it they were on the boat (which they were), and he called in to someone to have our name and SSN checked and cleared us. Warned us about the no dive flag, understandable, but nothing I could do it was on the boat, whatever.



Another story, I was fishing on my kayak and thought I had my license in my wallet. I had actually left it on a friends boat in his tackel box. Officer pulls up, and says he believes me that I have a license but writes me a ticket and says all I have to do is go to the court house and they'll tear it up. Understandable, it was my fault. Well, actually in FL there is a court cost which was 10 or 15 bucks plus it shows up on your record as "dismissed" fishing without a license.



So, FWC can call in to check if you do not have it on you but it is cheaper to have an extra copy than get caught without it on you.

-WiRtH-

I buy an extra copy at wal mart. I believe its $2.50. One in my wallet one in my tackle box usually..

d_rifter

reel fanatical yo:bangheadu can always buy another license for your wallet. ha ha!! txtPost_CommentEmoticon(':banghead');

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iswim2fish

johnsonbeachbum (10/20/2009)I have been asked if I was a resident when you did not have to have a license. And I had to show proof (drivers license).

On Johnson Beach the park rangers will check you, sometimes but not all the time.



Once I was done and got skunked and was walking down the road with my fishing cart full of gear but no fish.

Lady ranger stopped to ask if I had a fishing license. I did not tell her I was a resident cause she did not ask. I said "for what?"

"Fishing" she says.

I told her I was walking down this road pulling this cart, not fishing.

She did not like that answer and turned on the blue lights and jumped out with her ticket book.



She wanted my i.d. and I said for what?



Didn't like that answer either.



I explained to her that no one needs a fishing license to walk down the road with a load of fishing gear. I have no fish in my possession and you did not see me fishing. Call FWS and ask the real fish police if they ask to see license if they do not see you fishing.

So she radioed in and got her dispatch to call FWS to confirm.



She soon said goodbye.



i agree with fishngator they are only doing there jobs.

PCsurffisher

I was leaving Mexico Beach surf fishing when a pair of officers on a 4 wheelers showed up. I was loading the truck, they looked at me a minute and went on down to the beach. This was backbefore Christmas.

flappininthebreeze

Interestingly, if you are passing through state waters to fish in federal waters (recreational) and have a speargun aboard (asssume you were going to fish in fed waters only), you have to have the state license. The interpretation is, if you have the gear aboard, you are fishing. I've been checked, more than once, and the interpretation is the same.

Likewise, if you have guns aboard in federal waters (commercial, without permits), you are assumed to be fishing, whether observed or not. It is very complicated and, if you ain't wearing the uniform, you are wrong.:usaflag