Fishing licenses on line?
- Thread starter audsley
- Start date
Reason I asked is because two of my friends were accosted off shore from Puerto Lobos. Two federales in a panga took their names and said no more fishing without a license. The officers were polite and as non-threatening as two guys with AR-15s can be, but this was a weekend killer. My friends asked me to inquire on this forum, where the subject has been covered before, so I agreed knowing there was slim hope unless something had changed. One of them drove up to Rocky Point and back trying to get a license, but that wasn't possible since it was Sunday. Ruined their weekend.
That's it for me. I'll always buy a license every year from now on. One ruined trip, however unlikely, just isn't worth saving $48 a year or whatever it is now. Just wish it was easier to get the license.
That's it for me. I'll always buy a license every year from now on. One ruined trip, however unlikely, just isn't worth saving $48 a year or whatever it is now. Just wish it was easier to get the license.
Jungle Jim
Guest
Hello Audsley...............
I'm surprised that they were simply released. The usual scenario is immediate arrest and confiscation of the offending boat.
Anyone can get a Mexican Fishing License online from the Vagabundos Del Mar fishing club at: www.vagabundos.com. It only takes a day or so and a few bucks to be legal. Don't forget that EVERYONE on the boat is required to have a license if there is any fishing equipment on board.
Fishing offshore from Puerto Lobos and up North to Salinas Point is almost a guarantee that you will be stopped and boarded by the Mexican Navy. That section of the Gulf is well known as Drug Smuggling Alley. Trawlers from as far South as Colombia and Panama pose as innocent commercial vessels with their holds filled with tons of coke, meth and weed. They stay offshore twenty miles or more and offload the goods onto pangas also posing as commercial fishing boats. The pangas bring the goods to shore and load it up onto pickups and cold storage trucks that head North.
The LAW always knows your whereabouts as the Mexican Navy flies old submarine chasers out there and the DEA flies Predator drones all the way from Fort Huachuca AZ over that area on a daily basis.
I have been boarded at gunpoint twice out there and it's a sobering experience. First, getting run down by a high speed torpedo boat with a fifty caliber MA DUCE machine gun trained on you, then being ordered to ALTO and be prepared to be boarded by a bullhorn from the PT boat. Once alongside, four or five Mexican Marines come on board with locked and loaded full auto rifles pointed at you. All I can say is that you better have every imaginable document that they might ask for on hand and ready to give to them.
They will search your boat and finally leave with a Muchas Gracias and go on their merry way. They always leave the gift of filthy greasy combat boot prints all over your deck and have no problema with relieving you of a half dozen of your cold cervesas.
I fully expect to meet them again this weekend out there while chuggin' along with my outriggers deployed in search of the elusive Dorado.
Our own Grand Pooba probably has a good tale that took place not too long ago out of PP when the local Navy guys arrested a couple of newbees out there without licenses, in a new boat, seized the boat and were towing it in and SANK IT during the tow!
JJ
I'm surprised that they were simply released. The usual scenario is immediate arrest and confiscation of the offending boat.
Anyone can get a Mexican Fishing License online from the Vagabundos Del Mar fishing club at: www.vagabundos.com. It only takes a day or so and a few bucks to be legal. Don't forget that EVERYONE on the boat is required to have a license if there is any fishing equipment on board.
Fishing offshore from Puerto Lobos and up North to Salinas Point is almost a guarantee that you will be stopped and boarded by the Mexican Navy. That section of the Gulf is well known as Drug Smuggling Alley. Trawlers from as far South as Colombia and Panama pose as innocent commercial vessels with their holds filled with tons of coke, meth and weed. They stay offshore twenty miles or more and offload the goods onto pangas also posing as commercial fishing boats. The pangas bring the goods to shore and load it up onto pickups and cold storage trucks that head North.
The LAW always knows your whereabouts as the Mexican Navy flies old submarine chasers out there and the DEA flies Predator drones all the way from Fort Huachuca AZ over that area on a daily basis.
I have been boarded at gunpoint twice out there and it's a sobering experience. First, getting run down by a high speed torpedo boat with a fifty caliber MA DUCE machine gun trained on you, then being ordered to ALTO and be prepared to be boarded by a bullhorn from the PT boat. Once alongside, four or five Mexican Marines come on board with locked and loaded full auto rifles pointed at you. All I can say is that you better have every imaginable document that they might ask for on hand and ready to give to them.
They will search your boat and finally leave with a Muchas Gracias and go on their merry way. They always leave the gift of filthy greasy combat boot prints all over your deck and have no problema with relieving you of a half dozen of your cold cervesas.
I fully expect to meet them again this weekend out there while chuggin' along with my outriggers deployed in search of the elusive Dorado.
Our own Grand Pooba probably has a good tale that took place not too long ago out of PP when the local Navy guys arrested a couple of newbees out there without licenses, in a new boat, seized the boat and were towing it in and SANK IT during the tow!
JJ
Thanks, Jim.
What was surprising in this case was that it involved a panga less than a mile off shore. I knew the big boats like yours needed them, but the word on small boat fishing close to shore was always "don't waste your time, they never check."
After thinking about it, I wonder if it has to do with illegal shrimping. The shallows near Lobos and Desemboque is blue shrimp territory, and officials were said to be turning a blind eye to shore shrimping for the first few days after the season ended, but that grace period has been over for a while. These two federales in a panga were probably looking for illegal shrimping and happened to run across a couple of gringo fishermen.
For me, it was never about the money. Rather it was the inconvenience for someone who seldom ventures farther into Rocky Point than the Circle K to top off the gas tank before heading south again. But once a year isn't that big a deal, and I'll definitely try that web site you provided. Thanks again.
What was surprising in this case was that it involved a panga less than a mile off shore. I knew the big boats like yours needed them, but the word on small boat fishing close to shore was always "don't waste your time, they never check."
After thinking about it, I wonder if it has to do with illegal shrimping. The shallows near Lobos and Desemboque is blue shrimp territory, and officials were said to be turning a blind eye to shore shrimping for the first few days after the season ended, but that grace period has been over for a while. These two federales in a panga were probably looking for illegal shrimping and happened to run across a couple of gringo fishermen.
For me, it was never about the money. Rather it was the inconvenience for someone who seldom ventures farther into Rocky Point than the Circle K to top off the gas tank before heading south again. But once a year isn't that big a deal, and I'll definitely try that web site you provided. Thanks again.
There is another site that is very easy to use WWW.bajasursportfishing.com fill out the form pay for it they then Email it to you print it and you are on your way