Thread: Out of State boat visiting Austin TX area....license needed?

not sure on that one , you do need an out of state freshwater fishing license positive .
and best check the regs on boating closely ,some of tpw guys are pretty strict on following the rules on the water .
you have to carry your registration with you at all times in the boat and they are all about the kill switch hooked up to you when under power .
the rest of the standard stuff is also looked over , lifejackets ,throw cushion, nav. lights , horn or whistle , paddle , etc etc .
do not bring or drink any alcohol in the boat and under i think 13 kids must wear a lifejacket at all times and if i remember right may not navigate power boats as well .
the law enforcement folks here take it pretty serious on the water .
there are also several water bodies here that require some kind of permits to launch .
and of course make sure your fish are legal and you know your species well .
lots of spots have hybrid stripers and folks confuse them with sandbass/aka white bass all the time.
you might contact the TPW in the area you are visiting , they may have temporary permits or something , they might tell you a month is over the limit on temporary (if there is one) as well .
luck to ya on your visit

Thanks for the reply.. Your regs are definitely different than the ones up here in MN. Thanks for the hint about the fish cops being stickler's with the kill switch..The only time i usually use mine is alone in bad weather so that just saved me a ticket I'm sure!

I'll give TPS a call on Monday and see what they say. I was planning on getting the freshwater fishing license package but the answers for the boat itself are elusive.

I'll post the answer they give me.

I'll be north of Austin in the Round Rock area, any hints on crappie lakes? PM me if you don't want it in the open

In this order of probable success.: Walter E. Long aka Decker Lake to the east, Lake LBJ to the west and Lake Austin in the middle. Many others in commuting distance. Crappie heaven in my humble opinion.


Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com

thanks for that....I've been poking around the TX Lake Finder site and LBJ came up with good crappie...The others I have looked at so far had them in the poor ratings. I'll check out the others you mentioned and just around in general.

LBJ looks like a pretty big body of water too so that is nice!

thanks again for all the insight!

So I talked with Texas TPW and they said as long as the boat is currently registered in another state and I have the stickers\papers to prove it then I don't need to get a license for the boat itself for while I'm in Texas.

Boat must meet Texas regs....throwable's, fire extinguisher...all that...the only thing that looks different there is the kill switch...thank you again for the heads up on that.

So that's good news! Thanks for the push to call them directly.

they are typically the ones that know best when you have a question about staying legal on boating laws for sure .