Thanks Topher!
Andy
I used to think the same thing
Im an out of stater and have paddled in PA for some 8 years. I just now got my first sticker. I dont need a permit or registration in WV. I always figured “what the heck Im legal in my state and PA is reciprical with my state”. PA regulations say that if you have valid registration in your home state and that state is reciprical, you dont need anything else. Apparently PA is only resiprical with WV when it comes to registration of powerboats or PWC. In the case of kayaks or canoes, they force you to abandon your home state regs and adopt theirs.
I also thought that I could just not use the ramp and I was safe to paddle state administered waters. If you go to the PA Fish and Boat Commission site, it clearly states that you are not allowed on water that is administered by the PA Fish and Boat Comm. or DNR without stickers of some sort on your boat.
Not stickered…
I live in Berks County Pa and Paddle the Schuylkill River and Blue Marsh Lake, I have been approached by the PFBC on many occasion and they are just checking up on people. I never had a sticker and they never said anything about it. It is my understanding though that if I would like to use their access points I would need the stickers.
From the website.
– Last Updated: Jun-13-06 1:19 AM EST –
Blue Marsh lake is a PA Fish & Boat access area.
Registration-"Unpowered boats are not required to be registered. However, registering an unpowered boat allows it to be used at a Fish & Boat Commission access area or lake, or at Pennsylvania state park lakes...."
PAF&BC permit-"Owners of unpowered boats (canoes, kayaks, rowboats, etc.) can launch their boats at Commission lakes and access areas or Pennsylvania state parks if their boats display a Commission launch permit, boat registration, or PA State Parks launch permit or mooring permit. Pennsylvania State Parks recognizes Commission boat registrations and launch permits. The Commission does NOT recognize launch permits from other states."
I suppose that could be read in such a way that you only need a permit if you launch from their ramp. I read it as you arent allowed to be on their water without a permit.
You Are Correct
– Last Updated: Jun-13-06 3:13 AM EST –
The issue is the use of the ramp NOT the water. I have heard of tickets being issued to non permitted boats that simply stop to rest at the the PAF&B ramps.....but if you do not use their parking area or set foot on their ramps, you are free to use the water without registration.
The PAF&B appears to thrive on misinformation, but I work for the largest paddlesports shop in the state and we have done extensive research on the PA laws and I know this to be true.......If you stay off of PAF&B ramps and DCNR lakes you DO NOT NEED PERMITS.
LongPine Res???
Is this the Adams County Lake you are referring to?
If you use the PAF&B parking lot and launch than you are under their jurisdiction, and need either PAF&B permit or a DCNR permit, however if you launch from the backside of the lake and stay off of their property you can paddle without a permit.
I got tired of worrying…
I got tired of worrying about where I could not, and where I could, put-in my Kayak.
When I got my last Katak, and realized this was the “keeper” I had been trying to find, I just went and got it registered with the PA Fish & Boat. $18.00 for two years is not that much compared to other things I do. The Canoe & Kayak club I belong to is $25.00 a year, and so is the Miata club I belong to. So $9.00 a year to paddle ANYWHERE, and use ANY ramp in PA is a drop in the bucket.
Sure I gripe that I have to pay it, but I gripe on any tax, or fee I pay to the Gov’t. What else can I do?
And yes,… I Hate to drive down a nice back road in my Mazda Miata, and run into a fresh pile of horse $h!t in the road. THAT gripes me far more than $9.00 a year for my Kayak.
Life is a B!tc#, and then you die! 
I have never heard…
CRICK DICKS… That is way too funny!
MDM
At the risk of getting flamed …
I would support low cost use permit fees in NC, if, and only IF, the funds went to creating clean safe access. Here, and in VA and SC, most of the State Parks charge an entry fee in season. That’s fine. It goes to maintaining facilities. I would support more of that, if it meant safe places to access rivers, and clean bathrooms.
Here, things like the Haw River Trail, have been stalled for years, and there’s still very little safe parking, or easy put-in, take-out on many of the area’s best waters.
Right now, using the game lands is free, but what with declining numbers of hunters each year, there are those of us who are willing to pay to play, if it keeps these areas open.
I’ve never really understood folks that carp and gripe about minimal taxes. $10/yr per boat? Yeah, sure, if it helps get the boats on the water safely, that’s a friggin bargain. How much do you spend on gas driving down to the next place to drag the boat 100yds through the woods to slide it down a steep bank to get to the water? Wouldn’t you rather have a gravel parking lot, with a maintained trail to the water?
As for property taxes, I live in a county where folks complain bitterly about the high cost of property taxes. Most of the complainers have never lived in another state that has real taxes. Currently, all my property taxes combined (house, lot, vehicles, boats, etc.) come to less than $100/month. Big deal. Most folks spend more than that each month just on cable TV and a cell phone. If they’d spend the money making county parks, and bike lanes I’d be happy. As it is, I’m not really sure what they do with that $$$. I think that’s what makes folks mad. When they can’t see actual projects being done, they feel like it’s just being wasted, (and it probably is.)
State income taxes are a whole 'nother issue. I KNOW that money is being wasted. Anybody else notice how ridiculously long highway projects take in NC? SC is the opposite. Those folks know how to get a road built.
OK, I’m donning my nomex suit. Flame away.
got piles of horse poop on the road?
… sounds like you really need a Hummer!
(sorry couldn’t resist)
Hard To Evaluate Piece Meal
Two years ago I added up all of the taxes that I paid to the feds, state of NC, and the county that I live in. I then compared that with my income and found that I work until May the 12th for others and only begining on May 13 begin to work for myself. There are way too many taxes in NC that are billed as something other than taxes.
The good ol boy way of conducting government here can not ear mark a particular tax or fee for any particular purpose and have it stick. It, the money, finds its way into the general fund. They are already arguing and threatening additional legislation to get acsess to a portion of the brand new lottery receipts.
I have lived in several other states including CA, FL, VA, and KS and NC is no bargin in terms of taxes paid.
On the other hand, I enjoy what NC has to offer and choose to stay in my corner of the state.
Happy Paddling,
Mark