I’ve been away for quite some time. I’ve been terribly busy transferring positions within a company, moving my crap to LA, and taking on freelance work. Come tomorrow, I will be a Playa Del Rey resident living on the beach and commuting to Santa Monica. While the process has been somewhat tedious, the beach vibe is totally worth it and has led me to this next quick post.
FREE BEACH FISHING!!!!
Photo: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1105127/wordless-sundays-myrtle-beach-sc
I don’t know how useful of a date idea this is considering your lady-friend might be a bit squeamish. Even if she is, she’ll have plenty of opportunity to catch up on her tan as you grow a beard and do other awesome manly things that fishing involves. Shoot… you should make yourself a badge if you do end up CATCHING A CRITTER from the beach water.
The issue when fishing in California is that most sport fishing requires you to own a fishing license (good for an annual year for around $40) when fishing out of state, county, or shore water. If caught without a license in these situations, the rangers will take your critters, your gear, and your money. Don’t do this.
The only free spots to fish out of California are off of public piers.
Taken directly from the Department of Fish and Game:
Anyone 16 years and older must have a fishing license to take any kind of fish, mollusk, invertebrate, amphibian or crustacean in California, except for persons angling from a public pier in ocean or bay waters. A license is required to take reptiles, except for rattlesnakes.
According to this statement (on the DFG site as of 3/10/11, or this posting date), you must have a sport fishing license in order to fish in California unless on a PUBLIC PIER.
“What is considered a public pier,” you ask? The DFG defines a public pier as:
A public pier is defined in the sport fishing regulations as a publicly owned man-made structure that has the following characteristics: is connected, above the mean high tide, to the main coastline or to the land mass of a named and charted natural island; has unrestricted free access for the general public; and has been built or currently functions for the primary purpose of allowing angling access to ocean waters.
My personal general rule-of-thumb is that if you have 3 bodies of water surrounding you (left, right, front), you are probably on a place legal to fish.
Here is the list of our free California angling spots on BeachCalifornia.com
Free Fishing in Southern California
