Fishing License Plates

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Fishing License Plates

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Preface

Personalized license plates became available from the mid-1950s. Both for professional purposes and recreational use. There are tons of those categories available. Let me list them:

All Terrain, Ambulance, Amateur Radio, Apportioned, Boat Ramp, Bus, Camp Trailer to 1957, Camp Trailer 1958-, Camper, Classis Vehicle, Combination 1, Combination 2, Commercial to 1957, Commercial 1958-, Common, Construction, Dealer Motorcycle, Dealer New to 1969, Dealer New 1970-1989, Dealer New 1990-, Dealer Spec. Equip., Dealer Used to 1969, Dealer Used 1970-1989, Dealer Used 1990-, Dismantler, Early American, Error Plates, Exp. Test, Factory, Farm, Fire Apparatus, Fish, Foreign Consul, Gasoline, Handicapped, Hearse, High Mileage Veh., Interstate, Junk, Livery, Marine Trailer, M.F.G., Military, Miscellaneous / Local, Motorcycle, Municipal, M.V. Dept., Official, Parade, Permits, Political-State, Political-US, Postmaster, POW, Prototype, PUC, Repair to 1969, Repair 1970-, Sample, School Bus, Service Bus, Snowmobile, Special Equipment, Sphinx, State, Student Transport, Taxi, Temp. Metal Plates, Temp. Non-Passenger, Temp. Pass., Temp. Reg. Certificate, Toll, Trailer, Trans., Vanpool, Veteran, Volunteer Firefighter, Wrecker. This list is of course very extensive and I am going to show some examples of it here.


All Terrain

Recreational use is off-road. The first license plates were used for motorcycles starting in 1970. Starting with “A …” and then on with “B …”, etc … New Dealer License Plates were marked with “X1 123” or “X2 123 “or” X3 123 “, where the” 123 “is replaced by a 3 digit number.

All Terrain-1All Terrain-2All Terrain-3


Fishing License Plates – Boat Ramp

Were introduced in the 1970s.

Boat Ramp-1Boat Ramp-2


Construction

Only for heavy vehicles that are not allowed on the highway. It was started in the late sixties / early seventies. Originally red was used on yellow, but from 2000 onwards they switched to “fading blue”. The special motorcycles also received such a license plate, but then red on white and then followed by light blue plates.

Construction-1
1970s Miserable shape, but shows the rough life most of these plates have.
Construction-2
1979 Finally, one that’s not too beat-up.
Construction-3
Like most every other type, these received “Replacement Sticker” decals while the new plates were being made in 2000-2002.
Construction-4
The yellow on these plates was slightly lighter than the chrome yellow used on the older plates, but it faded much quicker to an almost lemon yellow.
Construction-5
2004. An old number carried over. These plates just don’t seem the same without the distinctive red on the yellow color scheme. I don’t know why they couldn’t carry the old design over to new plates – after all, the new Trans. plates look pretty much exactly like what an updated version of these should be!


Dismantler

These license plates are used on all kinds of vehicles that are operational in junkyards. It was started in the late 1940s – early 1950s. In 1996 the term “junk” was replaced by “dismantler”. From 2002 these dismantler license plates were preceded by a “0”. The sizes and colors of these number plates had to be the same as those of the second-hand dealer.

Dismantler-1

Dismantler-2
It appears that these are annual plates, good for one year, while other dealer and repair plates are issued for 2 years.


Fishing License Plates – Fish

These plates are used on certain commercial fishing boats. The State DEEP is responsible for the issuance of these plates. These license plates appeared in the late 1970s – early 1980s. 3 colors were used to indicate the type of “fish”, namely “Commercial Fishing”, “Commercial Lobster Pot” and “Commercial Finfish”. These number plates are still in use but there are no recent ones anymore because all new plates are now “dark blue on reflective silver”.

Fish-1
Numbering appears to have started with 00001.
Fish-2
Sometime around 1990, the lead zeroes were dropped from some new plates.
Fish-3
This is an older plate, with different dies for the CT and FISH (and no dot after CT).
Fish-4
Huge jump in numbering for some reason.
Fish-5
The background is now fully-reflectorized.


Handicapped

As you expected, these license plates are only used by disabled people (starting in 1976). A wheelchair logo was also used for a short period of time. The license plate itself ended in “-HP”. I would also like to mention that there are also plates that start with “HP-“, but these are NOT handicapped plates. There are also such plates for motorcyclists that start with 3 digits and an -M & suffix. As soon as “999-M &” was reached, they started with “100-N &”.

Handicapped-1
The mid-1980s used until the general reissue.
Handicapped-2
1991 Originally issued 1987/1988
Handicapped-3
ca. 1990s vanity. Vanities are not too common.
Handicapped-4
ca. late 1980s Handicapped Motorcycle. These plates are very uncommon, so a sample will have to do. Actually, I think the sample plate is even harder to find than the real thing. These are a few of these in a 100-A& format, the one above seems to be a more uncommon variety.


Interstate

Used on livery vehicles such as light buses, for-hire cars, limousines, taxis, etc … These plates are believed to be first used in the 1920s.

Interstate-1
ca. Late 1960s Prototype/Sample
Interstate-2
1967 colors were changed to blue on white 1967.
Interstate-3
1979 Like many bus plates, frequent washings took off most of the blue paint after a while.
Interstate-4
The mid-late 2000s The use of date stickers was discontinued during the 2008 expirations.


Municipal

These number plates are used on vehicles of the municipal city services such as police cars, garbage trucks, municipal maintenance, etc … It was started in the mid-1970s.

Municipal-1
ca. 1970’s (Bridgeport)
Municipal-2
ca. 1970’s Town of Killingly
Municipal-3
ca. 1985 (Cheshire) I don’t know why the letters and numbers are reversed- the usual format is 12-AB as seen in the previous picture.
Municipal-4
Map base Municipal Plate (Hartford) These 3-number, 3-letter plates bear a striking similarity to regular passenger plates of the era- especially since the -HFD passenger series would have been issued around the same time this plate was in use. Map base Municipal Plate (Litchfield)


Toll

Toll-1
Early-issue Wilbur Cross Parkway toll plate. Tolls were installed in 1939. This plate is from sometime between then and the late 1940s. This plate measures 8-3/8″ x 3-3/8″. I have seen black on white, black on grey, and black on orange plates in this style, I believe those predate this one.
Toll-2
1958 Wilbur Cross Parkway – Milford. Nice 50’s color scheme. The caption was changed from “TOLL” to “PKY. TOLL” in 1957. The design of the plate was also changed slightly: the border was now raised, went all the way around the plate, and was painted.
Toll-3
1974 Merritt/Wilbur Cross Parkways – Good for all 3 tolls. I suppose when you have to come up with 6 distinct color schemes each year, you’re bound to end up with some odd color combinations.
Toll-4
1978 Merritt/Wilbur Cross Parkways – Greenwich/Milford The blank this plate was stamped on was originally yellow and black.
Toll-5
1981 Wilbur Cross Parkway – Milford/Wallingford You don’t see low numbers too often for some reason. 
Toll-6
Connecticut Turnpike Toll Plate. This came attached to a license plate that expired in 1979. I am not sure what the ‘N’ decal is for, possibly “Norwalk”?

Fishing License Plates – Finally

Now you will probably say, what does this have to do with recreational fishing? And you are absolutely right, but I challenge anyone to write a full article on personalized fishing license plates. That really doesn’t seem that easy to me. That’s why I gave a little information about other license plates and below you will find the license plates you were looking for … And I always say: images are much more fun to look at! (That’s why I like to read comics too). Have fun watching!


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