My 12 year old son was fishing off a boat dock on the California side when a AZ sherriff boat pulled up....
There's yer problem, it wasn't an Arizona Game and Fish Warden or California Fish and Wildlife Warden so he likely had no idea what he was talking about.
Having said that, I found this...(from Calif DFW fishing regs)
LICENSE PROVISIONS Any person who is 16 years of age or older must have a sport fishing license to take any kind of fish, mollusk, invertebrate, amphibian or crustacean in California, except for persons angling from a public pier in ocean or bay waters. A sport fishing license is required to take reptiles, except for rattlesnakes. Anyone 16 years or older fishing anywhere in Lake Tahoe or Topaz Lake must possess either a California sport fishing license or a Nevada sport fishing license (Nevada also requires a trout stamp). Any person fishing from either side of the river or from a boat in the section of the Colorado River that makes up the California-Arizona border must have either a California sport fishing license or an Arizona sport fishing license.
Which, if you take it literally, could be interpreted that a kid needs an AZ license because California doesn't issue one for under 16 but Az does starting at 10 years old.
I'm kind of thinking the
intent is to follow whatever the law is for whatever state you're in if you're fishing from the bank of the river. I would also think, in the case of under 16, that the intent is to follow whatever the law is for the state the individual comes from (or perhaps even the state you're staying in in the case of someone under 16 from, for an example, Iowa, that happens to be camping on the California side of the river).
If an AZ Deputy ticketed an under 16 Californian fishing on the California side I don't see how that would fly in court.
I also found this, on the online license purchase page from AZ Game and Fish regarding "who needs a fishing license"...
Fishing License – A valid Arizona fishing license is required for Arizona resident and non-resident anglers 10 years of age or older fishing any public accessible water in Arizona.
Which to me says under 16 on the California side wouldn't need a license because fishing from the bank on the California side isn't
"public access" in Arizona.
But, again, it's
not clearly stated in either California's reg book or AZ's (I looked there too). It would probably be a good question to ask an AZ Game and Fish Warden AND a California DFW Warden and see if you can get a consensus from them.
Confused yet? Yeah, fish and Game regulations are confusing no matter what state it is, apparently.
Now, to avoid all that hassle the AZ Junior License (combo hunt/fish) is $5 and available online.