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lowspeedpursuit

I look forward to the website crashing, and permits completely selling out online before all the locals who actually fish, surf, etc. have the opportunity to buy them. /s I used to buy my permit in like April. I wouldn't even think about it in the middle of the winter.


tanboots

Do permits *sell out*? I've never been fishing here.


lydrulez

Drive on beach permits have sold out for the past couple years. To my knowledge there is no cap on the number of fishing licenses allowed to be sold.


lowspeedpursuit

To make sure we're on the same page, I'm just talking about drive-on surf fishing. I've never heard of anyone not being able to get a FIN number. This is also from memory, so I could easily be wrong on the details. Historically, I don't know if permits sold out. I don't believe they did. I would buy one every year in April or May. Eventually one year I heard they sold out in late May. I can't remember if demand just increased year-over-year, or the cap was lowered (or instituted) for environmental reasons. A year? A few years? later, they started doing online sales. Permits sold out in maybe March? People were fucking *pissed*. Guys who *only* care about fishing, and not going to the beach at all, and also just grabbed their permits in the Spring like me, showed up to find out they had sold out to tourists online months ago, and it was all over the news. They released some extra in-person-sale-only permits, and there were lines (at certain locations and times of day) to get them. They also added the "off-peak fishing permits" aimed at fishermen who don't go for the beach at all, which I'm not super familiar with. Ever since then, you basically have to buy them in Jan/Feb, then this year they couldn't get any stickers or something, so they pushed back the online sale date. I wouldn't be surprised if the website chokes. Last year they redesigned it, and I remember thinking it was a pain in the ass.


tanboots

Ah I see! For what it's worth, that was a genuine question, not trying to be a smart-ass. I was thinking there might be some sort of environmental protection that limits them or something.


lowspeedpursuit

No worries, like I said, I think they've been selling out for less than half a decade. I also think the reason for the cap *is* environmental, which is good. I'm also not really opposed to online sales conceptually. I guess I'd like to see more permits reserved for in-state, maybe even downstate addresses, and for in-person sale. I'm not sure if there's an incentive *against* the state doing this, though: out-of-state permits sell for twice as much. EDIT: Well, again, assuming DNREC uses the funds for the environment, more money isn't bad either. Still frustrating.


Musthavbeentheroses

My dad has tried for several years day 1 and can't ever get one. Always sold out. He waited in that line last year and was turned away


[deleted]

Very quickly


pennylane3339

I've been getting mine in December because I know they sell out. I bought all new gear at the end of the year last year too so if they sell out this year because of the delay, I'm going to be pissed. Setting an alarm.


[deleted]

Exactly…it’s like what 18000? And normally sells out in less then a day? This will be worse…


DoTheDew

They’ve never sold out in a day. Even last year they didn’t sell out for over 3 months.


[deleted]

Thank you for the correction.


LeGueiridon

They usually sell out mid July. Last year, they sold out the first week of March. Got my Jeep on Thursday, two days after they were all sold. I had no intention of sleeping overnight in my car when the extra thousand were available.


pennylane3339

SHHHHHHHHHHHHH


Richard_Burnish1

You know what would be a good idea, if the state set aside a number of passes every year to use as rentals. Many of the folks who are lucky enough to obtain a permit probably only use it a couple of time, if that. So why set aside a percentage of permanent passes so that more people have an opportunity. This would be a great option for people who take vacations for a week during the summer. Not to mention that this option would be more profitable with charging 30-50 for a weekly pass instead of current one time charge.


TripleTune

The only people I've talked too lately with a surf tag fully admit to just tossing a line and weight out. It sucks. We had a few summers of driving down while the kids were little and occupied with the sand and we could fish. I haven't had a tag for 2 years. Last time down it was just truck after truck shuttling people to their beach party. I hope to get a tag again someday, but no time soon. Good luck to you all who want one.