I went over and spoke with Representative Erdahl about the “$200 club fee”. It turns out that what he is trying to do, is give some of the small clubs an out from the current $120 per event fees. However this is not what the bill seems to imply. (turns out that BassRaps guess as to what this is was- WAS close).
There is a fishing club in his district (up by Hutchison) that contacted him and asked him to try and do something to help them; under the new rules they need to pony up over two thousand dollars !!! .
The bill has been sent to the research department to fix the wording, it appears that the DNR is also looking into the bill.
He is very open to input and would like to hear suggestions on how to accomplish what he is trying to do. Rather then this being an anti-tournament bill, he is trying to soften the blow.
I support what he is doing, maybe we need to suggest that the threshold for needing a permit be raised or that more exemptions from the fees be added. 30 participants can mean 15 boats or 30 boats, and a $25 entry fee seems low in 2008.
I would like to see an exemption from the fees for clubs that conduct youth fishing programs. The DNR and fishing would get a greater net gain from clubs teaching fishing kids then it does from collecting fee’s