Illinois fishing rules

Legal gear

• Hooks and barbless rules

  The 2026 digest does not state a statewide barbless-hook rule. A licensed angler may use pole and line, bank pole, throw line, trotline, buoyed ganging devices, or other legal devices not exceeding 50 hooks in total. Only two untagged sport-fishing devices may be under the angler’s immediate control; extra devices up to that 50-hook total must be tagged with name and mailing address. On waters posted Two Pole and Line Fishing Only, no more than two poles may be used and each pole may have no more than two hooks or lures. Alabama rigs are not allowed on those waters. While trolling, no more than three poles and lines may be used, with no more than two hooks or lures on each, and the two-pole waters drop that to two poles.

• Rods per angler

  The two-device immediate-control rule is the general pole limit, with tagged extra devices allowed up to 50 hooks combined. Ice anglers may use up to three poles or tip-ups, with no more than two hooks on each line, or two poles or tip-ups where a site is limited to two. Ice holes may not exceed 12 inches in diameter. All poles and tip-ups must be constantly attended. Trotlines, throw lines, and similar devices are unlawful on Two Pole and Line waters unless the site rule allows them. Hooks on those devices must be at least 24 inches apart, except on trolley or power lines used in Lake Michigan, and the devices must be checked at least every 24 hours.

• Nets

  Cast nets used for listed bait species may not be larger than 24 feet in diameter or have mesh larger than 1 inch bar measure. Shad scoops may not be larger than 30 inches in diameter, longer than 4 feet, or have mesh larger than 1/2 inch bar measure. Minnow seines may not be longer than 20 feet, deeper than 6 feet, or have mesh larger than 1/2 inch bar measure. Minnow traps may not exceed 24 inches in width or diameter or 36 inches in length, with mesh no larger than 1/2 inch bar measure and entrance holes no larger than 1.5 inches. Unattended traps must be tagged. Dip nets, cast nets, and shad scoops may not be used within 100 feet of the base of a dam. In Lake Michigan, smelt may be taken with a dip net up to 12 feet in diameter. In other waters, common carp, carpsuckers, buffalo, and gizzard shad may be taken with a larger dip net. Those nets may not be used to take game fish. Wire baskets, wire seines, wire nets, and wire trotlines are illegal devices.

• Snagging

  Snagging is limited to one pole and line with no more than two hooks. It is legal only for listed species, including paddlefish, salmon, carp, buffalo, gar, drum, bowfin, suckers, and shad, and only in the places and dates in the digest. Chinook and coho salmon snagging on listed Lake Michigan shoreline areas is October 1 through December 31, and not within 200 feet of a moored boat. Every salmon 10 inches or longer that is snagged must be kept and counted. Once the salmon or paddlefish daily harvest is reached, snagging must stop. On the Mississippi between Illinois and Iowa, the maximum treble hook size for this fishery is 5/0 and gaffs may not be used to land paddlefish.

• Spearing and bow

  Only listed native and non-native species may be taken by pitchfork, underwater spear gun, bow and arrow, spear, or gig, and only on the rivers, streams, and site waters the bowfishing rule opens. A sport fishing license is required. Catfish may be taken by bowfishing only in a shorter list of rivers. Game fish such as bass, crappie, walleye, and trout are not on the bowfishing species list. Bullfrogs may be taken by gig, pitchfork, spear, bow and arrow, hand, landing net, or hook and line during the June 15 through October 15 season. Common snapping turtles may be taken by hand, hook and line, or bow and arrow, with bowfishing for them closed in the southern counties named in the digest.

• Bait and live transport

  Collected live bait fish must be used on the water where they were taken. Bait from a tailwater may not be used, live or dead, in the upstream water. Live injurious species, including bighead carp, silver carp, black carp, round goby, snakehead, and rusty crayfish, may not be used as bait or possessed alive. Dead rusty crayfish may be used as bait. Approved crayfish species caught under a sport fishing license may be used live only on the water where collected. It is illegal to remove natural water in a bait bucket, livewell, or bilge when leaving a water, and to transport live VHS-susceptible fish away from the water where they were caught. Stocking or moving live aquatic life into another water requires Department permission, except for bait bought from a licensed bait shop under the transport rule and releases by a private owner of approved species bought from a licensed dealer into water wholly on that owner’s property.

Bag and size limits

These are the statewide or default limits. A named lake, river, or marine area can replace every figure below.

• Black bass

  The statewide daily harvest is 6 largemouth, smallmouth, or spotted bass, singly or combined, and there is no statewide size limit. In rivers and streams and their tributaries, except the Mississippi, Ohio including Golconda Marina, and Wabash, the daily harvest may include no more than 3 smallmouth bass. In rivers and streams except those rivers plus the Illinois and Calumet system waters named in the digest, all smallmouth bass must be released immediately from April 1 through June 15. Site-specific rules can be tighter and replace these numbers. On the Illinois portion of Lake Michigan, largemouth and smallmouth bass have a 21-inch minimum and a daily harvest of 1.

• Walleye, sauger, and saugeye

  Walleye, sauger, and saugeye must be at least 14 inches, except in the Mississippi and Wabash rivers and except where a site rule differs. The daily harvest is 6, singly or combined. A fish may not be dressed on a water that has a length or harvest limit.

• Muskellunge and northern pike

  Muskellunge and tiger muskie must be at least 36 inches, and no more than 1 may be taken per day, unless a site rule differs. Northern pike must be at least 24 inches, except there is no size limit in the Mississippi River, and no more than 3 may be taken per day unless a site rule differs.

• Trout and salmon

  The statewide daily harvest is 5 trout or salmon, singly or combined. On the Illinois portion of Lake Michigan, trout and salmon other than lake trout have a 10-inch minimum and a daily harvest of 5, singly or combined. Lake trout have a separate daily harvest of 2. Lake whitefish or round whitefish are 12 a day, singly or combined. Yellow perch in Lake Michigan, the Calumet River, and the Chicago River system are 15 a day and are closed May 1 through June 15. Catchable-trout sites are closed to trout harvest from March 15 until 5 a.m. on the first Saturday in April, and from October 1 until 5 a.m. on the third Saturday in October, with an early catch-and-release period at listed sites.

• Crappie, sunfish, and catfish

  White, black, and hybrid crappie have no statewide daily harvest or size limit. Bluegill, redear, and other sunfish have none either. Blue, channel, and flathead catfish have no statewide daily harvest or size limit. Site rules and some boundary-river rules replace those defaults. Paddlefish have a statewide daily harvest of 2, with extra length rules on the Mississippi. Lake sturgeon are protected and may not be possessed. Striped, white, and yellow bass under 17 inches have no statewide daily harvest or minimum; fish 17 inches or longer have a daily limit of 3, singly or combined, with different Mississippi River harvest limits.

Sources

• 2026 Illinois Fishing Information
• IDNR fishing license fees page
• Illinois Free Fishing Days host form, June 19–22, 2026