If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Last year the Pennsylvania legislature unsuccessfully tried to adopt a law requiring kids to buy a fishing license before they can drown a worm. This tax proposal met with opposition and died in session last year. That isn’t deterring those who believe charging a kid five bucks to go fishing, is worth every penny.

According to the Morning Call, the new bill is identical to last year’s.

The proposal being discussed is virtually identical to the bill introduced last year by former Rep. Bruce Smith, R-York. Smith’s bill called for a mandatory $5 fishing license for kids 12-15. The fee would include trout stamp and Lake Erie stamp fishing privileges.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission supports this bill and Douglas Austen, commission director, says five bucks is no big deal.

”The common response we get when we tell people we want to charge kids to fish is, ‘No Way!”’ he said. ”First of all, $5 isn’t an issue for most kids. Five bucks is less than a Happy Meal in most places.”

Most kids? So should we continue the trend of believing it is ok to eliminate some kids from fishing because they couldn’t pay the fee? Even though there are several organizations who say they will provide vouchers to any kid who wants to fish and can’t afford the fee, one has to question the move in the middle of a time when we are all scrambling to figure out how to attract and retain more hunters and fishermen.

But the PA Fish and Boat Commission says that 100% of all money collected will go toward that goal.

Austen said money raised through the sale of youth fishing licenses would be used to hold special youth fishing events, purchase equipment for fishing tackle loaner programs, develop printed and online educational materials and host fishing workshops for teachers who could incorporate fishing and fisheries conservation into lesson plans.

”The whole point of this is to get kids connected with the outdoors and create people who, as adults, are knowledgeable about the value of the natural resource and will take that with them, whether they become biologists or waterways officers or bankers or doctors,” Austen said.

”I’ll be honest with you — if these kids grow up to be adults who vote for conservation and stewardship, and never fish another day in their life, that’s still a success.”

I question whether they will achieve the goals they think they will. While I agree that such programs will educate those willing to get involved, I don’t think it will reach other kids that might get just enough out of fishing to keep them out of trouble but would be deterred from the requirements and attention. There are such kids.

The Commission estimates that they will be able to generate as much as $2.2 million dollars to put toward their program. Taxing kids $5 to fish I don’t believe is in the best interest of fishing. History shows us that once a tax is levied, it is never repealed and it just keeps going up. A tax is a tax and all taxes are an impediment that stifles growth.

If the Fish and Boat Commission, along with Trout Unlimited and other groups and individuals so believe that this program is so valuable, then let’s do it through volunteering and donations. How much of that hoped for $2.2 million will go toward administration costs and how much toward attracting and retaining kids to go fishing?

It may sound good on paper but to me it sounds too much like just another bureaucratic taxation in which to pad the coffers of a fish and game department that doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to staying within its budget.

I would try a different approach.

Tom Remington