Colorado fishing rules
License, gear, and the statewide limits CPW publishes for major species. Water-specific rules replace these numbers. Last checked October 2026.
License
- Who needs one
- Anyone 16 or older needs a fishing license to fish in Colorado. Youth 15 and under fish without a license and may keep a full bag and possession limit. Annual licenses are valid March 1 through March 31 of the following year, 13 months, and go on sale March 1. A Habitat Stamp is required for people 18–64 who buy or apply for a license, one per person per year. The first two one-day or additional-day licenses are exempt from the Habitat Stamp; a third purchase of that type is not. Colorado residents on active duty who are stationed out of state may fish without a license for up to 30 days a year while home on temporary leave if they carry official leave papers. A Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number is required for hunters 12 and older; the license page states that requirement in the purchase section.
- Residents
- The licenses-and-dates fee table, which says every listed fee includes a $1.25 search-and-rescue fee and a $1.50 Wildlife Education Fund fee, lists an adult annual fishing license (ages 18–63) at $44.87, a senior annual (64 and older) at $12.96, and a youth license (ages 16–17) at $12.96. A one-day license is $18.07 and an additional day is $9.13. A second-rod stamp is $14.24. The annual Habitat Stamp is $12.76. Residents with a total and permanent disability may apply for a Columbine lifetime fishing license. Veterans with a service-connected disability who live in Colorado may apply for a free lifetime fishing license or a lifetime fishing and small-game combination; that combination is valid only while the holder remains a Colorado resident, and those holders are exempt from the yearly Habitat Stamp.
- Nonresidents
- The same fee table lists a nonresident annual fishing license (ages 16 and older) at $124.01, a five-day license at $41.04, a one-day license at $21.90, and an additional day at $9.13. The second-rod stamp is $14.24, the same dollar amount as the resident stamp. The page says nonresident youth ages 16 to 18 must buy the nonresident adult annual fishing license. Nonresidents under 16 do not need a license. A nonresident motorboat or sailboat needs a $50 Aquatic Nuisance Species stamp; the resident boat stamp on the same page is $25.
- Free fishing days
- CPW's 2026 Free Fishing Weekend page sets the dates as June 6–7, 2026, from 6:00 a.m. Saturday through 10:00 p.m. Sunday. The fishing license and the Habitat Stamp are waived for resident and nonresident anglers of all ages. The Chapter W-1 manner-of-take text still on the site describes free fishing as the first full weekend of June, without a license or Habitat Stamp. Bag, possession, and water-specific rules still apply. June 6, 2026, was the first Saturday of that weekend.
Seasons and closures
Named waters replace the statewide table
The November 2025 special-regulation chapter says its rules apply in place of or in addition to regulations #101 and #103 through #107. If a lake or stream is named there, that water's bag, gear, and season control. If it is not named, the #107 statewide bags are the default in the chapter file that still prints them. Cutthroat conservation waters statewide in that chapter are flies and lures only, with immediate release of cutthroat trout.
Free weekend and emergency closures
Free fishing without a license or Habitat Stamp was June 6–7, 2026. The director may close waters for up to nine months when conditions meet the emergency criteria in #104, including a daily maximum water temperature over 71 degrees Fahrenheit, very low flow, or dissolved oxygen below 6 parts per million. The fishing hub tells anglers to follow posted closures and says cold-water fish are less likely to recover from catch-and-release at or above 71 degrees.
Legal gear
Hooks and barbless rules
The manner-of-take rule in the Chapter W-1 file that still contains regulation #103 allows one personally attended line, and each line may have no more than three common hooks. There is no statewide barbless rule in that section. Many named waters in the November 2025 special-regulation chapter require artificial flies and lures only, and cutthroat conservation waters require immediate release of all cutthroat trout. Trotline droplines, where trotlines are allowed, may have no more than three barbed hooks on a common hook.
Rods per angler
The default is one personally attended line. A second personally attended line, hand line, or tip-up requires a second-rod stamp. One stamp is allowed per season, it is not transferable, and it does not add a bag limit or let another person fish. Youth under 16 who are not required to have a fishing license still need a second-rod stamp, with their signature on it, to use a second line. A second-rod stamp is not required when the angler is using only trotlines or jugs. Trotlines are limited to one per person, no more than 150 feet, no more than 25 droplines, and only on waters named in regulation #108. Jugs are limited to 10 per person, one single line and one common hook each, and only on waters named in #108.
Nets
Seines may be used only for the bait and other species allowed in regulation #104(H), for gilled aquatic tiger salamander larvae, for crayfish, or for an authorized emergency salvage. A seine must be one-quarter inch or smaller non-metallic square mesh and may not exceed 20 feet long by 4 feet deep. Hand-held dip nets may be used for bullfrogs, crayfish, and those salamander larvae, and for emergency salvage when the director authorizes it. The manner-of-take section does not authorize a cast net or a gill net for recreational game fish.
Snagging
Snagging may be used only for kokanee salmon, and only where regulation #108 specifically allows it. Any other species that is snagged must be returned immediately. Examples in the November 2025 special-water chapter include Barker Reservoir from October 1 through December 1, Blue Mesa Reservoir from November 1 through December 31, and the Blue River from the Green Mountain Reservoir inlet reach from September 1 through December 31. Dates differ by water, so the named-water rule is the one that controls.
Spearing and bow
Underwater spearfishing, archery, slingbows, and gigs may be used statewide for carp and northern pike, unless a regulation or a land manager prohibits it. East of the Continental Divide, gizzard shad and white or longnose suckers may also be taken that way unless #108 says otherwise. Other game fish may be taken by those methods only where #108 authorizes it for that water. Spear guns that use CO2 or cartridges are prohibited. A spear gun must be loaded and unloaded while submerged, divers must stay within 100 feet of a float with the diver-down symbol, and spears must be attached by a safety line. Archery and slingbows may also be used for kokanee where and when snagging is open. A hand-held bow or slingbow used for fish must have a reel, line, and arrow attached.
Bait and live transport
Any fish released after it is caught must go back alive into the same body of water. Transfer or transport of live fish is prohibited except where Article VII or regulation #104(H) allows it. Bait may be used as an aid in taking, except by chumming, under #104(H). The special-water chapter adds local bait bans, including no live fish for bait at Lake John. Ice-fishing holes may not exceed 10 inches in diameter or 10 inches on a side. Chumming is not a legal way to use bait.
Bag and size limits
These are the statewide or default limits. A named lake, river, or marine area can replace every figure below.
Trout
Regulation #107, in the Chapter W-1 file approved November 2021 that is still the CPW file containing the statewide table, sets a daily bag of 4 and a possession limit of 8, in aggregate, for brook, brown, cutbow, cutthroat, golden, lake, rainbow, splake, and tiger trout, plus Arctic char, salmon other than kokanee, grayling, and mountain whitefish. Brook trout have an additional daily bag and possession limit of 10 fish that are 8 inches or less. The November 2025 special-water chapter replaces #107 on named waters. Cutthroat conservation and recreation waters are artificial flies and lures only, and every cutthroat must be released immediately. Many other waters cut the trout bag to two, require release of all trout, or set a slot. Lake Granby in that 2025 chapter is 12 lake trout, only one of which may be longer than 24 inches, and 4 other trout and kokanee in aggregate.
Kokanee
The #107 table lists kokanee at 10. Special waters change that. Blue Mesa Reservoir in the November 2025 chapter sets a kokanee bag of 5 and a possession limit of 10, and allows snagging from November 1 through December 31. Other kokanee snagging seasons are water-specific and are not a statewide season.
Walleye, saugeye, and sauger
The #107 table lists walleye, saugeye, and sauger at 5 in aggregate. In the Arkansas and South Fork of the Republican River drainages, that aggregate bag and possession limit is 10. Many reservoirs in the November 2025 chapter add a minimum length or a one-fish cap over 21 inches. Examples read in that chapter: Pueblo Reservoir, 5 in aggregate, 18-inch minimum, and no more than one over 21 inches; Aurora Reservoir, walleye minimum 18 inches and no more than one walleye or saugeye over 21 inches; Barr Lake and Bear Creek Reservoir, 15-inch minimum and no more than one over 21 inches. Horsetooth Reservoir in that chapter is two walleye, 21–24 inches.
Bass, catfish, crappie, and sunfish
Largemouth, spotted, and smallmouth bass: 5 in aggregate under #107. West of the Continental Divide, smallmouth bass are unlimited. White bass, striped bass, and wiper: 10 in aggregate, or 20 in the Arkansas and South Fork of the Republican River drainages. Channel, blue, and flathead catfish: 10 in aggregate. White and black crappie: 20 in aggregate. Bluegill, hybrid bluegill, green sunfish, redear, and pumpkinseed: 20 in aggregate. Yellow perch: 20, and unlimited west of the Continental Divide. Tiger muskie: 1, and it must be at least 36 inches. Northern pike and bullhead: unlimited. Game species not listed in #107 have no daily bag or possession limit in that table. Named waters replace these numbers. Elkhead Reservoir, on a 2026 CPW event page, has no bag for northern pike or smallmouth, a largemouth limit of two at 15 inches, and a crappie limit of 10.