Quote:
Originally Posted by piemma
...and I'm sure this will bring "hell on wheels" But 80% of the Comms have regular jobs and the bass money is "play money". Gas, eels, booze, whatever. Not needed to sustain their families.
I speak from experience. When I was a comm there wasn't one guy in our club who was comm and didn't have a regular, well paying job.
Am I wrong about this?
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It's time to call the "commercial" bass fishery what it is: a way for recs to defray the costs of their hobby and avoid paying sales tax on gear. The idea that 2 a day for a partial week, over 2 months, is the difference between staying afloat and going under, is laughable. Anyone who can afford the expense of owning and running a boat doesn't need to sell even 15 a day over an extremely short season. I'd estimate that only 10-15% of comm bass permit holders derive at least 50% of their income from the sale of fish. You want to have a commercial bass fishery? Fine, do what other states do. Require applicants for a bass endorsement to show their last 5 years of tax returns to pro that they earn at least 50% of their income from commercial fishing. The real commercials would enjoy a longer season, and maybe even be able to sell bass every day.
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