Friday, April 10, 2009

90 Year Old Woman Wants Free Fishing

I recently read a post on the field and stream website that was a rather neat and enjoyable story. It was about 90 year old Irene Long and her move to make fishing free for people 90 years or older. Irene took her case to the Minnesota Senate Committee and proposed the idea of letting people over 90 fish without a license. The YouTube video of Irene Long appealing to the court is funny to watch. The poor lady sits there and just tells them a bunch of her personal fishing stories, not much of a case, but interesting none the less.

If the fact that she is 90 and fishing isn't enough for you, the story only gets better. Irene and 5 of her other elder female friends go fishing with the mailman from their apartment complex. He takes them out fishing and they repay him with homemade fudge. Although, it sounds like a joke, Irene has caught a number of large fish on these trips and she has the pictures to prove it (she shows all these pictures to the Senate Committee).

Last year in Minnesota there were 967 people over 90 who bought fishing licenses. If Irene gets her way that would have the state losing out on $16000 of fishing licenses. In the state of Florida, having a fresh and saltwater license for the year will cost you $25.50. That means if you start buying fishing licenses at the age of 20 and fish tell you are 90 that will put your total amount of money spent on just fishing licenses at a whopping $1785!

So I ask you the question: Should grandmas fish for free?