What’s With Making 12-Year-Olds Pay To Fish in Montana?
Why do twelve-year-olds have to pay to fish in Montana?
We're turning them into little democrats showing them that the government owns the fish and you have to pay them to catch them.
All kidding aside really, a twelve-year-old should not have to pay to fish in Montana. I wonder what year that started. It would pay dividends down the road when they get older and start buying all of the latest and greatest tools and equipment to do it right. Fishing can honestly become addictive and a lot of young men or women want to do it forever.
In fact, the only thing not addictive is dope; that's what the people who sell it say.
Anyway back to fishing... Those kinds of things for kids should be free and it would encourage them to get involved in hobbies that would be more productive for them. It would give them some physical activity, it would get them out of the house more, and get them some fresh air instead of staring at a screen all day.
We don't charge people to use the bike trails around Billings.
You can ride every day and don't need a license. You don't even need a license to ride a bike on the roadways around town.
But a twelve-year-old needs a Montana fishing license to throw a line in Lake Elmo or Riverfront Park?
We need to do everything possible to help kids be kids again and going out to fish and making some fishing buddies would be a good thing.
Plus, keeping track of how many fish they caught might helps with the dismal math proficiency scores we have in our middle school students.
There is something for everybody.
See ya tomorrow at 5 a.m.