Surcharge Should Help Improve Fishing Opportunities

The cost of fishing for all species in Washington state went up $5 today.

You don’t have to pay the new $5 Warm Water Game Fish Enhancement fee if you plan to fish trout-only waters or intend to release all the bass, crappies, channel catfish and walleyes you happen to hook.

The surcharge also includes tiger muskies, but they’re only in a few lakes and there’s still not much interest in them.

If you intend to fish for steelhead during early 1997, you can save a few dollars. But you’ve got to submit a 1995 steelhead fishing license. That’s right a 1995 license. More about that later.

Anglers who fish exclusively for bass and four other spiny rayed species will have to pay the $5 surcharge to catch and keep the fish they like. Many anglers prefer to fish for trout, but they also spend time fishing for spiny rayed fish. They, too, will be paying the surcharge.

You don’t have to pay the surcharge if you fish for perch and bluegills, but you’ll have to release the fish covered by the fee.

Thousands of anglers won’t pay the $5 fee for warm water fishes. They are the people who fish exclusively for trout, salmon and ocean fish. Many are prejudiced against all spiny rayed species because, they believe, with good reason, those species are responsible for the deterioration of trout fishing throughout the state.

The good thing about the $5 fee is that all the money raised is to be used to improve fishing for the fish species mentioned above. Most of the state’s spiny ray fishermen apparently support the fee, but there have been some critics.

The surcharge is expected to raise $1 million the first half of this year and nearly $1.5 million each subsequent fiscal year. Development of new ponds and lakes for the species will be an important part of the program. Other key elements: Species management, research, habitat improvements and increasing hatchery production.

And now for those catch record cards. If you’re like most fishermen, you don’t spend much time reading the Fish and Wildlife Department’s fishing pamphlets. You may already have thrown away the cards. Certainly, most of you didn’t keep your 1995 steelhead fishing license so that you could get a $6 credit toward the purchase of a 1997 steelhead license.

If you want to fish for steelhead this winter, you must have a 1997 steelhead license. However, the catch record card you were issued for 1996 is good through April 30. Many steelhead anglers apparently don’t know that, to fish for steelhead starting New Year’s Day, they must have a 1997 steelhead license.

The fact that the 1996 catch record card is good through April 30, 1997, doesn’t help eliminate the confusion.

Madonna Luers, spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Department, pointed out that the catch record card is not a license. It’s just a catch record card. To fish for steelhead, a person must also have a license. Steelhead licenses are recorded on the general fishing and hunting license form.

To get a $6 credit toward purchase of a 1997 steelhead license, Luers said, a person must submit a 1995 steelhead fishing license to the department before Dec. 31, 1997. A 1996 license, Luers said, does not earn an angler a $6 credit toward a 1997 license. Only a 1995 license can earn the credit.

If, like most anglers, you have thrown away your 1995 steelhead license, you still can get credit by filling out a FWD affidavit. To get a form, call 1-360-902-2464.

The reason why the department is giving the $6 credit is because 1995 was the year the switch to a calendar year was made.

If you aren’t planning to fish for steelhead the next few months, you can still get a rebate. As described on page 6 of the 1996 fishing pamphlet, you can turn in your steelhead catch record card in to a dealer by June 1 and get a $5 rebate on that day’s license purchase or you can send the card to the department’s licensing division and get $5 credit toward the purchase of next year’s game fish license.

Inasmuch as most Eastern Washington steelheaders fish only from about mid-August through November, they can turn in the 1996-97 catch record card anytime to get the rebate.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Fenton Roskelley by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 3814.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fenton Roskelley The Spokesman-Review