Going fishing? Pack your passport

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2008 | by Mimi Hall

Rick Ungar's charter fishing service promises a great time on Lake Erie. But there's a catch -- and it's not freshwater fish. It's the Homeland Security Department's new anti-terrorism rules.

When the 2008 charter season begins next month, U.S. citizens paying to fish on Lake Erie will have to bring either a passport or two other IDs if they plan to cross the northern border's invisible watery line.

When they get back to shore in the USA, they'll have to drive to a local government reporting station and pose for pictures. They won't be posing with their fish, but for Customs officers via a videophone connection.

That's because half of Lake Erie -- as it happens, the half with the deeper and cooler waters that often spawn the best fishing -- is in...