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Aside from the fact that all the state hunting and fishing regs in 1931-32 could be printed on side of a sheet of newsprint, what especially caught my eye in these economic times was the cost of licenses.

Thousands of anglers use California's public piers and jetties, where fishing does not require a license. Pier fishing is cheap, fun, and rewarding.

The economy's problems are affecting many things beyond home foreclosures and unemployment. Yacht sales may be down, but across the country fishing licenses are up 11 percent for the first quarter of 2009. In California, in a normal year 1,700,000 C...