By Donna Westfall – August 23, 2017 –

Did you know that you can actually fish for FREE 2 days a year?  Yep – it’s July 1st and September 2nd. That’s it.  It means you don’t have to buy a fishing license. Be still my heart.

Remember the Andy Griffith Show when he and Opie Taylor (Ron Howard) would walk down to the river with their stick, string and a hook? Ah, the simple days of fishing are no longer.  Welcome to the complicated realm of fishing in the State of California.

From the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) – “If you are new to the sport of fishing, and not sure if you will enjoy it, a great opportunity awaits you. CDFW offers two Free Fishing Days each year. On these days, you can fish without a sport fishing license. Free Fishing Days provide a great, low-cost way to give fishing a try.”

Further, “While all fishing regulations, such as bag and size limits, gear restrictions, report card requirements, fishing hours and stream closures remain in effect, there are two days each year when anyone can fish without purchasing a fishing license.

On Free Fishing Days, every angler must have the appropriate report card if they are fishing for:

• abalone
• steelhead
• sturgeon
• or salmon in the Smith and Klamath-Trinity River Systems.”

Bag and size limits?  If you’ve never fished before how in the world are you supposed to know about this stuff along with gear restrictions, report card requirements, fishing hours and stream closure?  Let’s look at their website for some instructions:

Oops, I didn’t find the answers I was looking for, but did find this this little ditty about not accepting cash any longer:

• Starting January 1, 2017, CDFW will no longer accept cash at CDFW’s License and Revenue Branch and regional license counters.
• Individuals who want to make payments at CDFW’s License and Revenue Branch or a regional license counter can use checks, money orders, or any debit/credit card with the Visa or Mastercard logo.
• This “no-cash policy” will improve customer and employee safety, department efficiency, customer service and provide cost savings. Accepting cash payments is costly in both the staff time it takes to process and in armored car services.
• Cash transactions will still be available for all items sold at authorized local sales agents. For a list of authorized local sales agent locations, please visit the Find License Agent page.

Well, I’ve run out of time to research this for the moment….

Wouldn’t you like to see more FREE fishing days?