Gamefisher

WA State Dept Fish Wildlife is $65million in the red. Fishing opportunties and Hunting success dewindles what happens when license are over priced. Out doorsmen/women stop fishing and hunting. Plus mismanagement the coffers drys up. I hate to see kids never have a chance to catch a fish or hunt for game.
I taught fishing classes when it was Fishing not drugs. Kids and and first time adults just wanted to catch a fish. after they wanted to catch lots of fish. then it was I want catch a big fish So on it went. The program ended we were volunteer teachers. Any other states going the same route?

flyguy Loc: Lake Onalaska, Sunfish Capitol of the World!

Welcome to the Forum, Gamefisher, thank you for volunteering. It will be interesting to see the replies. You have asked a good question.

Raw Dawg Ron Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

Gotta be management issues. Big money managers and overhead costs with pork spending projects! Can not be because of outdoor fans. We spend all kinds of crazy money, taxed up and overrated for our outdoor adventures!

kpt Loc: texas

That problem doesn't exist in Texas because the Texas parks and wildlife dept. are so well thought of in the state. Fishermen and hunters spend millions every year and that money is put right back into state parks, and millions of acres of fishing and hunting areas, as well as fishing , hunting and wildlife habitat areas. All the money from hunting and fishing license's as well as gear, is given to the state and is invested very well. Not to mention the conservation programs the keep the hunting and fishing areas well stocked and healthy.

Lskiles Loc: Vancouver, Washington

Spoken like a true Oregonian. Washington has much lower fishing license fees than Oregon. I do not fish nearly as often as I want to, but not because of fees or regulations. I live in the city and do not have friends who fish.
I would rebut your asinine post, but I do not think this is the proper forum

Jeremy Loc: America

Fishing GEAR purchased goes toward hunting and fishing resources? Private companies sell the gear and keep the profit. From what I hear most of Texas good hunting is ALL on private land and you have to pay to hunt on it. So the State is keeping private hunting properties stocked or public lands stocked?

kpt Loc: texas

Apparently you don't live in Texas because you don't know what the hell your talking about. We have a tax on fishing gear and hunting gear and licenses and a bunch of other stuff and that money goes to Texas parks and wildlife. You might want to check you facts before shooting your mouth off about a place you don't live and don't know anything about.

Foodfisher Loc: SO. Cal coast

Troll - an act of ph/fishing accomplished by slowly moving bait to see who er what bites. Shame on you Jeremy. There's plenty of that stuff elsewhere.

20mules Loc: Chesaw, Washington

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I think that if you spend a couple of minutes reading what there is in this forum you will find it is about fishing. I want to keep my fishing and politics separate. If you want to talk fishing I welcome you. If you want to talk politics I suggest you get on twitter with the rest of the twitter twits.

Placerville Loc: Northern California

Thank you, I will, just a reply

Jeremy Loc: America

The topic is about fishing in Washington so I commented on the topic.

Jeremy Loc: America

I don’t live In Texas. I was not aware of the tax on gear etc. thank you for sharing it with me now I know. Fish gear tax is a fishing topic. Now I’m a troll really?? Seems more the the one accusing me of it is more the troll. I know people that lived in Texas and they have told me Hunting is mostly all on private hunting ranches. Sorry that I didn’t know about a tax on gear and once again thank you for educating me on it. I troll for Salmon on a boat if that’s what your talking about trolling..

Kerry Hansen Loc: Bremerton, WA

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately I heard a guide say, when The state was planning on reducing available time to fish as well as catch limits because of the fishing was poor do too Springer Salmon returns and over fishing on a southwest WA river. he said he encouraged all his friends to call the state fisheries and tell them there were a lot of Salmon. he didn't want his clients to stop coming I saw this guide come back with his clients skunked several times and knew from my hard fishing and very low catch rates that the fish were declining. So I called the local fisheries and told them what was going on. The fisheries guy said no wonder he got so many calls with the same story. I told him he needed to do what was right so my kids and Grand kids and everybody else s have fish to fish for. I know this site is for fishing, but want to mention one thing about competitive shooting. I competed on a senor team as well as ran our clubs junior program. I welcomed all kids who were 12 and older. I taught them safety and then 4 position gallery shooting and those who wanted to shoot on a team I then coached them taking them out of the area. We shot in a parks department indoor range. Over time those who ran the Parks department forced the seniors to stop using the range because they were concerned about fire arms, public opinion was changing, but I was hanging on with the kids because I told them I was performing a public service. Finally after doing this from 1970 to the early 1990s I finally had to turn the reins over to someone else in the club and later it stopped. If you want, if enough interest, I can tell you about a none formal shooting tragedy

Placerville Loc: Northern California

Hate to see something that benefits the younger generation discontinued

Fishinmaniac Loc: SW Washington

This thread has degraded to the point that it is an embarrassment. Why some chucklehead from Oregon would try to answer a question about Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife by comparing the issues to Texas, and somehow working in his views on national politics is beyond logical.
As a lifetime hunter and fisher in the State of Washington and follower of wdfw policy I will try to bring the discussion to the point.
The original post stating that the wdfw is 65 million in the red is misleading. The department is asking for a supplemental operating budget of 26 million at this upcoming legislative session. This 26 million will make up for cuts implemented in 2009, stagnet license fees which haven’t increased since 2011, and some un-funded mandates which had “patches” which have since expired. And that’s just part of the story.
The State of Washington is experiencing record levels of revenue. The wdfw are not requesting anything unreasonable. If we let our legislators know that we are expecting them to support our outdoor per-suits by passing through these funds to the wdfw there is a chance that we might start to see some improvement.
Like most of you I don’t always agree with how our seasons, bag limits and resources are managed, but I am willing to pay close attention to what is going on and offer my two cents to the appropriate policy makers at the appropriate time.
A forum such as this can be a powerful source of shared information. Venting about what we see as discouraging, unfair or just plain idiotic fish and wildlife management should always be a viable topic on this site.
I value and respect each of you for your opinions, observations and experiences. I wish you all the best in your pursuit of fish and game in your state. If your coming to my area in SW Washington and need a fishing buddy of fishing information let me know. I may be able to help you out.

If you interested in knowing more about the wdfw supplemental budget proposal and what all is included go to the following link or directly to their website.

https://wdfw.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Budget%20Single%20Page.pdf