Heating up on new fees

[mr crab]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

Not completely. On many Colorado waters, you need to pay a fee and get an inspection to put your boat in the water. There is one booth to pay the fee before you get to the boat ramp and then a second booth where you pay the fee. During the off season and after hours when the booths are closed, the boat ramp is gated off and it's a crime to put your boat in the water. I've also been to a number of lakes in southern states that required paying an additional fee to put a boat in the water (usually $4-$10 each day).

I've never seen or heard of a governmental entity in Louisiana charging a fee to access the water, though private ramps (like Hebert's and Spicer's) reasonably do charge a fee. A number of places in Florida do have access fees for public waters, with the fee scale depending on one's residency status.

So? What does that have to do with the reciprocity of non resident fishing licenses between tx&la. Tx don't charge out of staters anything extra to launch. Just buy a license and go fishing...just like la does. I'm not connecting the dots

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by mr crab

So? What does that have to do with the reciprocity of non resident fishing licenses between tx&la. Tx don't charge out of staters anything extra to launch. Just buy a license and go fishing...just like la does. I'm not connecting the dots

You were asking/asserting about "any state" (your words) not just Texas. I've never fished in Tx, so I have no direct knowledge, but I have fished in Colorado and many southern states so I was able to speak about their additional launch fees.

By advocating the increase of saltwater license fees for LA residents by 136%, but giving non-residents a pass on fee increases, CCA (a TX dominated organization) is clearly shifting more of the burden to LA residents and protecting Texans from paying their fair share. Texans may be paying CCA lobbyists, but at least they can't vote in Louisiana.

[meaux fishing]

Originally Posted by MathGeek

You were asking/asserting about "any state" (your words) not just Texas. I've never fished in Tx, so I have no direct knowledge, but I have fished in Colorado and many southern states so I was able to speak about their additional launch fees.

By advocating the increase of saltwater license fees for LA residents by 136%, but giving non-residents a pass on fee increases, CCA (a TX dominated organization) is clearly shifting more of the burden to LA residents and protecting Texans from paying their fair share. Texans may be paying CCA lobbyists, but at least they can't vote in Louisiana.

There are very few places on the east side of the state that dont have launch fees, that is because it is a business and you are launching on private property. They pay to maintain the launch. The west side of the state has as nice a public launch and facilities as I have ever seen. I am guessing this is thanks to casino and industry money. I've never launched a boat in Colorado, but in any other place I have launched a boat, fresh or salt, they collect fees to pay for the maintenance of the launch and surrounding area.

So youre saying you want to charge people from out of state more, and make them pay a launch fee when residents dont? who will collect this fee? Will the money generated from this fee be able to pay their salary? Lets discourage people from out of state from coming over, buying gas, eating at restaurants, buying fishing tackle, etc...

[MathGeek]

Originally Posted by meaux fishing

So youre saying you want to charge people from out of state more, and make them pay a launch fee when residents dont? who will collect this fee? Will the money generated from this fee be able to pay their salary? Lets discourage people from out of state from coming over, buying gas, eating at restaurants, buying fishing tackle, etc...

No, I am saying that if the in-state license fee is raised by 136%, the the out of state saltwater fee should be increased by a similar percentage. Collecting launch fees is silly because you spend so much to collect the fee, and if you just leave a box and use an honor system, people don't pay.

I was just making the point that higher (fishing and hunting) license fees make sense for out of staters because they do not pay Louisiana income taxes or property taxes, nor do they have to register their vehicles in Louisiana. My understanding on the E. Side, you will pay to launch at the private marinas (Rigolets, Bridgeside, Bobby Lynns, etc.), but that the boat ramps owned by the public (state, parish, or city) are all still free on the E side (Williams and Bonnabel on Lake P., Port Fourchon, Oakridge, etc.) just as they are free on the W side (Calc. Pt., Jetties, ICWW, etc.)

Of course, with the cost of fuel, it just makes sense to go ahead and pay $5-$10 to pay to launch at a private ramp if it is much closer to your fishing areas.

Here's a long list of ramps in Lafourche and Terrebonne. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all the public launches are free, and there are a lot of them. I think you have to go a bit further east (Orleans, St. Tammany) before you really have trouble finding free (public) launches.

http://www.houmatoday.com/article/20...NG03/901290951