Have you ever been asked to show your fishing license?

No, but the only time I made a committed attempt to fish was on the Pacific ocean near Cape Flattery, WA.

My guess is that the jurisdiction of game wardens doesn’t extend beyond the US coasts. Even if it does, I think we might have been outside of US territorial waters.

I have. Thankfully, I had it on me.

Game wardens, are everywhere. I always buy a fresh , and salt water license. Just in case there is any question about a river, or area being considered different than I thought.

The last time I went fishing, I was a child. We always fished on private lakes belonging to friends & family & were never challenged by the Game Warden. I now live in a really small town & I hear that the Game Warden pretty much leaves you alone unless you’re being totally stupid & doing something obviously illegal. Then they use the fishing license for a reason to look closer.

Yes, trout fishing in a stream. They were writing citations left and right. I had it with me.

Yes, where we were fishing was a “catch and release” section of the river, we would clip our license to the back of hat, The game warden could tell if you didn’t release.
Yes the wardens would write citiation for both no license and not releasing the trout.

Once. Fly fishing in a river in northern NH. It was about a 20-minute hike into the river, so we were surprised to see a fish & game guy appear out of the woods and start asking for licenses. Everyone had a license.

Yes, numerous times. And one time I got checked to make sure I wasn’t “holding”; I was taking care of clothes and equipment while two friends dove for abalone.

Yea out in the middle of a lake a game warden asked for our fishing licenses. Let min in the car and the game warden made us go get it. He followed us in. The fishing license said on it that it must be readily available. What does that mean? Always kept it on me after that even while snorkel spear fishing.

Nope. I’ve only been fishing a couple times, but both were in fairly obscure locations, including a state park that is completely “unmanned”.

Interesting. I think I’ve only seen a game warden once but I haven’t been fishing in years. I wondered how common it was. Thanks for the answers!

As a matter of fact, yes, I have. Decades ago, in Texas, fishing with my friend Carl. It had seemed silly to me, buying licenses. I thought surely there wouldn’t be someone going around checking everyone’s license. But Carl insisted, and I’m glad he did. Sitting there on the shore, we saw two officers going around in a boat doing exactly that. I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. I never thought the cost of fishing licenses would cover the salary for even one game warden, much less two wardens and a boat.

Thanks, Carl. Also, you were right about the author of that book: it was Nabokov, not Tolstoy. I owe you $5, plus 30 years’ interest.

@SaganRitual If you have ever seen how much those citations and “court costs” are then you’ll know where their salaries come from. Hunting and fishing licenses themselves are very important sources of revenue for conservation efforts. Not too many people understand that. I’m pretty happy forking the cash over knowing where it goes.

My understanding in California, you must have it visible on your person at all times. They sell holders that you can pin on o hang around your neck.

No. But generally speaking I don’t fish in Kansas. I’m after trout and salmon.

Yes, Missouri has river and lake wardens out constantly. It’s big fines and you can lose your license privelages.

I went trout fishing in Missouri once. Rick and I had been together for about 5 years at this point and he had no idea I knew how to fish! I never fished in the Kansas lake lakes. Cat fish is nasty and bass is rare. Anyway, he was gonna show the little lady how it’s done. I’ve known how to fish since I was 8 years old! I about had to stomp on his instep to get him to stop and get off me!!
He caught 2 or 3, I caught 0. They were super good on the grill that night. We stayed at some cabins at Roaring River.

Both of us got Missouri fishing licenses, but we were never asked to show them. However, we also had them pinned to our clothes in full view.

Catfish are awesome Dutch. Maybe you’re eating ones, that are too big. The ones closest to the smaller side of the legal length, are great. The huge ones, are chewy, and tough…

I hate catfish, too. Crappie, blue gill and walleye are best here imo.

Yeah. Crappie is great. I usually cat has them by accident, fishing for bream….