MyFishFinder Forum
MFF US Northeast => Massachusetts => Topic started by: SalmonAndStriper Stalker on Oct 16, 2017, 08:37 PM
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I got a old 10ft jon boat for free from a friend and was going to just use a trolling motor on it. does it still need to be registered? i heard that if it doesnt have a motor it doesnt need to be registered. all the dealer logos are worn off so i dont know what brand or year it is to register it.
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if its really old i think it just needs a hull number rubbing. it was a hassle registering my 1950 mirrorcraft to the point i wrote up a bill of sale to my brother in nh and he registered it there
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Anything with a motor needs to be registered, including electric motors. Even if you have a trolling motor attached to a canoe it is supposed to be registered.
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Anything with a motor needs to be registered, including electric motors. Even if you have a trolling motor attached to a canoe it is supposed to be registered.
^Spot on
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it doesnt even have a hull number left on it.
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it doesnt even have a hull number left on it.
"Boats built prior to 1972 or any vessel that does not have a 12 character hull identification number (HIN) must have the state issue one. Boat inspections are performed by the Massachusetts Environmental Police. Call 1-800-632-8075 to arrange an inspection. The inspecting officer will provide the customer with an inspection certificate that must be presented when registering the vessel."
Lot of info here: https://www.mass.gov/service-details/boat-registration-faqs (https://www.mass.gov/service-details/boat-registration-faqs)
I believe the fine is 50$
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Of course the $50 question is : So how many people, unless fishing MAJOR waterways, have ever seen a game warden or EPO on freshwater?
Oh, sure, you may see them on the Q, or along the popular trout waters in western Mass, but on some of the more remote/backwater rivers and ponds they are never seen or heard of.
I fish in a kayak on the Charles and Sudbury rivers, and a number of ponds in the area.
The ONLY time I have been approached by a game warden in the past 15 years was when I was ice fishing on a pond in Westford and Wayland.
The state "requires" registrations but unless you put in where they prefer to patrol, you will rarely ever be checked.
I'm not complaining or bragging but rather stating what I have observed (or didn't observe, depending on how you look at it) while out and about. Most people do it right and follow the rules, but there may be some that don't and they are usually the ones that are breaking more than just the boat registration law....
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Of course the $50 question is : So how many people, unless fishing MAJOR waterways, have ever seen a game warden or EPO on freshwater?
Oh, sure, you may see them on the Q, or along the popular trout waters in western Mass, but on some of the more remote/backwater rivers and ponds they are never seen or heard of.
I fish in a kayak on the Charles and Sudbury rivers, and a number of ponds in the area.
The ONLY time I have been approached by a game warden in the past 15 years was when I was ice fishing on a pond in Westford and Wayland.
The state "requires" registrations but unless you put in where they prefer to patrol, you will rarely ever be checked.
I'm not complaining or bragging but rather stating what I have observed (or didn't observe, depending on how you look at it) while out and about. Most people do it right and follow the rules, but there may be some that don't and they are usually the ones that are breaking more than just the boat registration law....
So do you take that same approach when keeping fish? Oh the warden isn't around so I'm going to keep over my limit. Obviously the EPO is severely understaffed but the fact that there are some should be a deterrent enough to play by the rules regardless of your thoughts on them.
Don't want to be a soap box guy but I don't think that is the mindset people should take with fish and game laws.
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Of course the $50 question is : So how many people, unless fishing MAJOR waterways, have ever seen a game warden or EPO on freshwater?
Oh, sure, you may see them on the Q, or along the popular trout waters in western Mass, but on some of the more remote/backwater rivers and ponds they are never seen or heard of.
I fish in a kayak on the Charles and Sudbury rivers, and a number of ponds in the area.
The ONLY time I have been approached by a game warden in the past 15 years was when I was ice fishing on a pond in Westford and Wayland.
The state "requires" registrations but unless you put in where they prefer to patrol, you will rarely ever be checked.
I'm not complaining or bragging but rather stating what I have observed (or didn't observe, depending on how you look at it) while out and about. Most people do it right and follow the rules, but there may be some that don't and they are usually the ones that are breaking more than just the boat registration law....
have only been checked one time in mass on fresh water, and it was during a derby. with everything i have registered i wish they would just get rid of this law for electric trolling motors but maintain safety inspections for preservers, lights etc. im at the point that i need to make decisions on which boats im using and where each year for registration
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have only been checked one time in mass on fresh water, and it was during a derby. with everything i have registered i wish they would just get rid of this law for electric trolling motors but maintain safety inspections for preservers, lights etc. im at the point that i need to make decisions on which boats im using and where each year for registration
In CT you dont need a boaters license for a craft with just a troller but you do need to have it registered.
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I get checked a couple times a year. Hell i even got checked while out in the ocean fishing fro my kayak. The epo pulled up in their boat and checked my lic and my catch right there on the water.
That being said, the fear of being caught isnt why i follow the rules. I follow the rules because they are there for a reason.
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I guess its more on the lines of paying sales tax in the state. Its required before you register anything, Its easy once you get the thing registered you can just do everything online, Except waiting in line in Worcester, that is just maddening and when you pay and they don't send you the registration that was my experience this year.
Friends of friends with an EPO, the best story from last weekend was a guy shooting 6 pheasants in one day, 4 over limit and reached his season limit in one outing. Doing something because you can doesn't make it right. Is one trout over, one bird over or any amount of fish or game really worth losing the right to have fun. Its easier to just get the stupid thing registered then have this monkey on your back.
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FYI, follow the rules in NH if you ever fish or hunt there, Know the laws and limits. I can tell you that I see those guys out and about everywhere, the last thing you want is to be on Northwoods Law... LOL.. I get checked at least 2 times a year out there, mainly hunting and fishing in the white mountains. I mean I was in 5 miles on road hiking out from fishing on the remote pond and the boys in green where just rolling by... If you want the real wilderness feeling White mountains are where the 30 brookie days are..
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im thinking of just using oars. im just going to leave it at a buddys house at one of the ponds i fish. if i only use oars do i still need it registered? just going to use it for some crappie fishing in the spring so i dont really need a motor. already have a 12t jon boat with a 9.9 on a trailer for all the heavy work so was just going to leave the 10ft one at the pond.
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If you stick with oars you do not need to register the boat.
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I get checked a couple times a year. Hell i even got checked while out in the ocean fishing fro my kayak. The epo pulled up in their boar and checked my lice and my catch right there on the water.
That being said, the fear of being caught isnt why i follow the rules. I follow the rules because they are there for a reason.
If you paid a little more attention to personal hygiene you wouldn’t have lice, and there would be no reason for a EPO riding a wild pig to check them!
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If you paid a little more attention to personal hygiene you wouldn’t have lice, and there would be no reason for a EPO riding a wild pig to check them!
Thats what i get for posting from my phone lol.
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im thinking of just using oars. im just going to leave it at a buddys house at one of the ponds i fish. if i only use oars do i still need it registered? just going to use it for some crappie fishing in the spring so i dont really need a motor. already have a 12t jon boat with a 9.9 on a trailer for all the heavy work so was just going to leave the 10ft one at the pond.
My understanding is that you don't since it doesn't have a motor.
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Wow, this one went off the tracks a bit into philisophical land. To that end...there was a country once...where you could hunt your own food and sustain yourself. No keep a fish tax or use a boat with a motor tax. Now that country is full of people who get off on their morals being better than the next guy. Not to say I dont follow the rules, but I've been doing this long enough to know they exist for revenue purposes nothing else. Have to pay all those Mass EPO's while they manipulate the system to do overtime details during a normal weekday. Read about it. I guess Will found the few that were not making time and a half on a regular duty day sitting at a public pool. Some of these same EPO's have complained they are understaffed. Well Sir if you didnt blow the budget doing details for overtime at a pool with life guards youd make less but you'd have more friends at work...you can disagree with fishermantim's perspective but he has the foresight to understand the situation in its totality.
Chew on this:
http://www.wcvb.com/article/5-investigates-some-environmental-cops-staying-home-while-on-duty/8280435 (http://www.wcvb.com/article/5-investigates-some-environmental-cops-staying-home-while-on-duty/8280435)
This one is better as it highlights the tax payer waste in more detail:
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/11/10/environmental-police-overtime-pools-shifts/ (http://boston.cbslocal.com/2016/11/10/environmental-police-overtime-pools-shifts/)
No reg needed with just oars...but dont worry, they wont even know you're out there!
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I remember reading about that article when it came out. Sitting in a public pool parking lot, during a rain storm, while it was closed, collecting OT. I believe i read that one officer made more in OT than his regular pay. But if its there and there are no rules against it, people will abuse it. Even those who have sworn to serve and protect.
I like to think thats why we have alot of the regs we have today. Otherwise the few scumbags of the world would take advantage of it. Hell, some do anyway.. All it takes is a few bad apples to spoil it for the rest of us.
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Wow, this one went off the tracks a bit into philisophical land. To that end...there was a country once...where you could hunt your own food and sustain yourself.
But we also had market hunting where species went extinct or nearly extinct because people were harvesting fish and game to resell. We also had idiots that killed game just to kill it and left it lay.
Or harvesting game with no limits just to use them for fertilizer as in this case bison skulls. It was also a thing to shot bison off of trains to see how many you could kill.
And there's the passenger pigeon that people shot out of the sky and left lay too.
(https://i.imgur.com/B9GgXOCh.jpg)
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Taxid I can appreciate the parralell but the mindset set back then was much different than today. Point being is for fishing and hunting there is excessive overreach (fish NY their EPO's can search you at their discretion because you waive the right by purchasing their license!) , yet in Mass they show that the only concern is the money.
Now follow the lobby trail and you'd probably see a majority of these laws are pushed and lobbied for by special interest groups with lots of dough to toss around.
Champlain has market commerical fishing with no limit yet is one of the most productive fisheries available in the northeast. Im sure you get my drift (pun intended)
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I see your point.
I feel we have the reverse problem in my neck of the woods. CO's and enforcement of game laws is not a priority to our legislators so there aren't enough on the payroll. It's not unusual to wait at least 3 days (my experience) when I call in something egregious. By the time time they get back to me it's too late. On top of that when people get convicted of poaching thy are just slapped on the hand. Our judges probably would rather play golf so why get upset about hunting or fishing violations?
Many of us have tried time after time everytime a rules change proposals come around to get a limit on bluegills as they are fished really hard here. It seemed we finally were getting somewhere this time and it just got inexplicably dropped.
I know people that go through the bluegill beds and will catch and keep every last one. Then they wonder why there aren't so many anymore.
You can now kill deer with just about anything, which was going to include high powered rifles in thickly settled areas but apparently someone saw the lunacy in that and it got stopped.
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Taxid I can appreciate the parralell but the mindset set back then was much different than today.
Different times but game laws and enforcement is better than mass raping of the fish and game.
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Different times but game laws and enforcement is better than mass raping of the fish and game.
Agreed. Assuming the enfocement isn't too busy catching a tan 8)