Capt. David Solesi of Bel Air earned his Coast Guard license nine years ago, taking out Ocean City anglers part time on his 28-foot Bertram. Six years ago, he switched to Bay fishing, applying for the required Department of Natural Resources resident fish license.
Then he waited during a five-year license backlog and worked under another captain in a required “apprentice program.” He finally got his license in August 2006, but he is not real happy about the bureaucracy and backlog.
“It seems that if you are competent enough to take an angler out 70 miles to fish for tuna, you are competent to fish the Bay,” Solesi said of his OC fishing background and his Coast Guard license, which is required when taking passengers for hire.
He recognizes that Maryland has a right to control numbers and cap license numbers. The working-apprentice requirement is for those lacking past full-time on-the-water experience, even though they have the stringent Coast Guard license.
“It?s a broad and complicated subject,” said Gina Hunt, DNR assistant director of fisheries.
There are several license types, Hunt explained, even if you only want to take anglers fishing. You can?t just run down to your local Wal-Mart, throw some money on the sporting-goods counter and stroll out ready to go.
There are rules, requirements, classes and sometimes required experience as an on-the-water apprentice. The backlog varies with the license. When checked by The Examiner, the backlog was 82 for the popular “Fishing Guide, Resident” (FGR, capped at 499) but only 15 for the “Unlimited Tidal Fish License” (TFL, capped at 2,079).
There are separate licenses for those only after commercial species. Those licenses seldom have backlogs but don?t allow taking anglers for hire. Starting a new fun career or putting a fishing hobby to retirement use can be difficult.
The required-for-passengers Coast Guard license is a prerequisite to a state Bay guiding license. Even with a Coast Guard license, there is a wait for a DNR Bay license.
But with a Coast Guard license, you can take another circuitous route. As an example, say you have two separate licenses ? oyster, fin-fish or clam ? along with the must-have crab license. At the August renewal time and with three licenses, you can apply for ? and get ? the overall Tidal Fishing License. That ? with the Coast Guard license ? allows taking anglers for hire, even if you never again want to ? or never did ? catch or sell a crab, oyster or clam. There are also other ways to segue into guiding anglers.
There are exceptions to the state license; none for the Coast Guard requirement. For Ocean City marlin captains trolling federal waters (three to 200 miles out), no state license is required. Solesi did that for years, before switching to his 23-foot Mako and Bay fishing. Now he guides light-tackle anglers, suitably equipped withboth the Coast Guard and DNR fishing guide licenses.
C. Boyd Pfeiffer is an internationally known sportsman and award-winning writer on fishing, hunting and the outdoors. He can be reached at [email protected].
