Fishing License

I try to make sur eI have my original copy with me, but mostly just keep a photo of it on my phone. And if I'm feeling really efficient, I make a couple photocopies of it and tuck one into my various fishing backpacks.
 
FontinalisFin said:
Just take a picture of it, as long as you can read your hunter angler ID that should be all you need, unless you need a harvest card on you. I have been told by police that a photo of my insurance card is also ok, insurance doesn't even send the paper cards anymore, as long as you have your policy # they just run it in the computer. Since oregon now prints you 9x11 sheet of paper if you dont use the ap I just trim all the excess white off, fold it up and put it in a little plastic drug baggie and into the credit card slot of my wallet.
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Having a picture on your phone is probably OK. (DoL now recommends it for car registrations rather than keeping them in your car.) However, it doesn’t help you if you are fishing for salmon. You need to have a valid paper tag for that.
 
When I have to print an out of state license for upcoming road trips I reduce the image to fit in one of those tiny tying bead ziplocks. I may have as many as five in one ziplock in the tippet tender attached to my waders at the moment.
 
Original is in the waterproof pocket built into my waders. Photograph on my phone saved to the Archive folder so it doesn't get lost when I periodically clear my photos.

You can reprint the license itself, it's the catch card that's a pain in the ass since you have to have an 'official' one.
 
I get the online Oregon Fishing & Hunting renewal license and print it to a PDF copy.
I carry 3 versions of my ODFW license.
1 copy that is printed small enough to fit in my wallet and laminated.
1 copy that is printed slightly larger and laminated in my fishing vest.
1 copy that is printed full size, placed in a ziploc bag, stored in the boat "under seat" storage.

ODFW advises to not laminate your license, but when I was checked several years ago by an Oregon State Police Fish and Game officer, his comment was "nice lamination". As long as they can scan the QR code on the license, it's a moot issue.
 
I should mention that the Discover Passes you can purchase at their automated vending machines fade to nothing in the sun on your dashboard...they're thermal prints. I had one do so, contacted WA state parks and they sent me a replacement of the regular type I normally purchase at the local park headquarters.
 
I only worry about having my license/card on me when I'm planning to retain salmon. Otherwise I dont think about it, it's in my wallet which may or may not be with me while fishing. I almost never encounter a warden, and if they cant verify that I purchased a license that is just silly in this day and age. I would not pay a fine for them being 30 years behind the times.

I actually was checked by an honest to goodness game warden on my last day of steelheading. I dont know that I've ever encountered one outside of hunting ducks. I did have my license and he seemed like a solid guy. Got his number so i can tattle on the cheaters!
 
I am waiting until April 1st to get my fishing license renewed, since I was born on March 30 1953. I can’t help it though- the feeling that the other wading boot will drop to change everything. Like the Discovery pass goes up 400%! Sorry i do carry a curmugeon license at all times next to my Round tuit in my exploding wallet with duct tape holding it together.
 
krusty said:
I should mention that the Discover Passes you can purchase at their automated vending machines fade to nothing in the sun on your dashboard...they're thermal prints. I had one do so, contacted WA state parks and they sent me a replacement of the regular type I normally purchase at the local park headquarters.
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They do that. I consider it to not be my problem but theirs.
 
I only fish a couple rivers in WA, so my WA license just stays in a ziploc bag with a pen for the tag, and those always stay inside an inner wader pocket.

OR's digital license is easy to rememnber, as long as you have your phone with you, which pretty much everyone does nowadays.
 
_WW_ said:
They do that. I consider it to not be my problem but theirs.
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Same here, and apparently so do they, since it was replaced free of charge. I suppose I could have just left it in place and gotten belligerent with the park rangers (would have been an inevitable citation since I spend quite a bit of time in Washington's two largest state parks) but belligerence seldom plays well with enforcement folk.

I suspect most of the folks using the vending machines are just purchasing day passes.
 
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Thanks for the tips. Many of these ideas I have tried over the years and they all work...except when they don't. I often keep track of the licenses of my spouse/kids and I treat those differently than my own. I also have licenses from different states/countries and I manage those differently than my WA license. I manage my catch record cards different than my fishing license and so over the years, I have tried just about everything mentioned. One suggestion that I plan on doing is taking a picture with my phone, so at least that won't stop me from going fishing.

Because I don't have a single bag, coat, vehicle, boat, vest, pocket, set of waders, or other thing that I use every time, I did resort to just keeping my license in my wallet. I decided that a few years ago so when I went to find it there this morning, and it wasn't there, I was all kinds of discombobulated. My wallet is the only thing that I consistently carry with me every time, even my phones I often purposely leave them in the vehicle so I don't concern myself with 1) taking another picture of an 18 inch trout or 2) losing it in the pandemonium of running two bobber rods and hooking fish on each at the same time. Going forward, I plan on taking a picture of my license on both business and personal phone, keeping the fishing license in my wallet at all times and NEVER taking it out unless to show it to an enforcement officer, and finally, all the other paperwork need to go fishing for me and my family throughout the world will go in a Simms waterproof pouch (I bought years ago to keep my licenses organized) and hopefully I never have to deal with this again.

Good news, I found my license. :) Bad news, I didn't escape the house to go fishing before the wife, realizing I was playing hooky from Catchercraft, suggested a few things for me to do with my new-found time. :(
 
BDD said:
Thanks for the tips. Many of these ideas I have tried over the years and they all work...except when they don't. I often keep track of the licenses of my spouse/kids and I treat those differently than my own. I also have licenses from different states/countries and I manage those differently than my WA license. I manage my catch record cards different than my fishing license and so over the years, I have tried just about everything mentioned. One suggestion that I plan on doing is taking a picture with my phone, so at least that won't stop me from going fishing.

Because I don't have a single bag, coat, vehicle, boat, vest, pocket, set of waders, or other thing that I use every time, I did resort to just keeping my license in my wallet. I decided that a few years ago so when I went to find it there this morning, and it wasn't there, I was all kinds of discombobulated. My wallet is the only thing that I consistently carry with me every time, even my phones I often purposely leave them in the vehicle so I don't concern myself with 1) taking another picture of an 18 inch trout or 2) losing it in the pandemonium of running two bobber rods and hooking fish on each at the same time. Going forward, I plan on taking a picture of my license on both business and personal phone, keeping the fishing license in my wallet at all times and NEVER taking it out unless to show it to an enforcement officer, and finally, all the other paperwork need to go fishing for me and my family throughout the world will go in a Simms waterproof pouch (I bought years ago to keep my licenses organized) and hopefully I never have to deal with this again.

Good news, I found my license. :) Bad news, I didn't escape the house to go fishing before the wife, realizing I was playing hooky from Catchercraft, suggested a few things for me to do with my new-found time. :(
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Sad state of affairs! You'd have better luck arguing with an enforcement officer than with a spouse!
 
krusty said:
Each year's fishing license never leaves my wallet, along with my driver's license and concealed pistol license (none of which I want to be without should I encounter a LEO requesting to see them). I've had to produce each of them at one time or another.

When I'm on water fishing the wallet goes in a small dry bag and is on my person at all times.

I'm sure that if you forget such documents (but possess them) and get cited you could go to court and plead for a reduced or forgiven penalty, but who wants to go through that shit?
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I’m the same as you krusty, I carry the same ID’s all the time. My wife found little zip lock baggies just big enough to put my wallet in. Then it goes into a pocket in whichever jacket I’m wearing that day.
 
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