OUPV (Six-Pack) and Master credential paths for charter boats, tour boats, and passenger-for-hire operators in Colorado.
It isn't a state license — it's the same federal USCG Merchant Mariner Credential with an OUPV or Master endorsement, used nationwide.
Colorado is landlocked; OUPV Inland is the typical credential for fishing guide services on the larger reservoirs. Few candidates pursue Master tier.
The nearest USCG Regional Examination Center is St. Louis, MO. Compare centers and appointment rules in the USCG REC locations guide.
Major Colorado charter hubs
Colorado is where four watersheds begin and none of them is navigable yet. Lake Granby sits at the head of the Colorado, Dillon Reservoir on the Blue above it, and Blue Mesa on the Gunnison — all of them hundreds of miles above the first reach any of these rules were written for. 33 CFR Part 80 draws no line in the state, so whatever is navigable water of the United States here is inland water under 83.03(q); this page does not class any of it as Western Rivers under 83.03(n), because that definition reaches the Mississippi system and a headwater reservoir's status is an OCMI determination rather than an inference from where the water eventually goes. Which makes Colorado the clearest case of a pattern worth naming: almost every Colorado applicant's qualifying sea time was earned somewhere else entirely, and a record organised by employer or by season instead of by named water is the one that stalls at REC St. Louis.
33 CFR Part 80 draws no demarcation line in Colorado. Its 106 sections cover the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, the Pacific islands and Alaska; a state with no coast has no section, which is itself the answer.
This decides which rulebook you steer by, not where your credential may operate: the route limit is the 46 CFR Part 7 Boundary Line, and the two lines are not drawn in the same place. How the two lines differ · International Rules · Inland Rules
33 CFR Part 80 and the Part 83 definitions above read from eCFR on 12 Aug 2026. Any specific water is a determination for the cognizant Coast Guard Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection.
Not sure the trip needs a credential at all? The captain's-license trigger guide.
Document your sea service
Pass the medical & drug test
CG-719K and CG-719P — medical certificate guide.
Get a TWIC + CPR / First Aid
Submit your application to the NMC
Pass the exam at REC St. Louis, MO
Or an approved course provider — what it covers and the score you need.
There is no Colorado captain's license to get — you earn a federal USCG credential, in the five steps set out above, and sit the exam at REC St. Louis, MO.
The same — a federal Merchant Mariner Credential endorsement, valid in every state. Colorado licenses the business, the guide and local fishing separately.
The minimum age is federal, not set by Colorado: 18 for OUPV, 19 for most Master endorsements, 21 for higher-tonnage and ocean routes (46 CFR 11.201(e)).
At REC St. Louis, MO once the NMC approves the application, or through an approved course provider that administers the exam itself.
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