Kansas fishing rules

Legal gear

• Hooks and barbless rules

  The statewide rod-and-reel rule does not require barbless hooks. Each line may have no more than two baited hooks, single or treble, or artificial lures. If two artificial lures are used, the line may not exceed six hooks. An umbrella rig, also called an Alabama rig, may have up to five hooks. Paddlefish snagging, where it is open, is limited to not more than two single or treble barbless hooks. A treble hook counts as one hook in the definitions section.

• Rods per angler

  Each angler is limited to two rods. A three-pole permit allows a third rod, and anyone using three poles must have that permit regardless of age. While ice fishing, eight tip-ups may be used in addition to the two rods unless a water is posted otherwise. Each tip-up may have two hooks, and an unattended tip-up must be tagged with name and address. Holes in the ice of public waters may be no more than 12 inches across. In addition to two rods, an angler may set one trotline with no more than 25 hooks, or eight setlines with no more than two hooks each, or eight floatlines with no more than two hooks each. Those lines must be tagged, checked at least every 24 hours, and may not be set within 150 yards of a dam.

• Nets

  Wild-caught bait may be taken by hand, rod and reel, fishing line, seine, fish trap, dip net, or cast net, except that seining is prohibited on department-managed lands and waters. No person may cast a fishing line or throw a net into or over a fish passage, fish ladder, or fishway, or fish inside one. Throw nets are not a legal method for game fish. The summary’s legal-equipment section does not authorize gill nets or trammel nets for recreational fish.

• Snagging

  Snagging is limited to designated waters and seasons and to listed species, including paddlefish and listed rough fish such as carp, drum, gar, buffalo, and shad. A fish that is not on that list, or that is hooked outside the mouth outside those waters and seasons, must be returned immediately. The paddlefish season is March 15 through May 15 on the posted river reaches, including parts of the Neosho and Marais des Cygnes and the Browning Oxbow. The daily creel is two paddlefish and the season limit is six. A paddlefish permit includes six carcass tags. Barbless hooks are required for that snagging. Snagging must stop once the daily paddlefish creel is reached.

• Spearing and bow

  Bowfishing is open on all waters unless posted closed. Legal species include grass carp, common carp, drum, shad, gar, buffalo, carpsuckers, listed suckers and redhorse, goldfish, goldeye, shovelnose sturgeon, and prohibited species. Blue, channel, and flathead catfish may not be taken by bow in rivers and streams, but may be taken by bow in other waters that have no length limit for those species. Arrows must be barbed and attached to the bow by a line. A fishing license is required unless the angler is exempt. Spears, spearguns, and gigs without an explosive charge may be used for the same rough-fish list in waters posted open to scuba and free diving, and for bullfrogs. Handfishing for flathead catfish is a separate permit fishery from June 15 through August 31 on the waters listed in the summary, sunrise to sunset, with no hooks.

• Bait and live transport

  Legal bait includes artificial bait, baitfish, prepared bait, vegetable matter, worms, insects, crayfish, leeches, amphibians within the possession cap, mussels, and legally taken fish or wildlife. Threatened, endangered, SINC, and prohibited species may not be used as bait, and prohibited species may not be possessed alive. The baitfish possession limit is 500. Baitfish other than gizzard shad and prohibited species may not exceed 12 inches. Live baitfish, crayfish, leeches, amphibians, and mussels may be used as live bait only in the drainage where they were taken and may not be moved upstream of a dam or barrier. From designated aquatic invasive species waters, those animals may be used live only on that water and may not be transported alive. Livewells and bilges must be drained and drain plugs removed before a vessel is transported on a public highway. No person may possess live fish when leaving a designated AIS water. Bluegill and green sunfish from non-designated AIS waters may be used as live bait anywhere in the state. Commercial baitfish may not be released alive.

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 creel for largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass is 5, single species or in combination, and the statewide minimum is 15 inches. Individual waters replace those numbers. Possession of all fish is three times the daily creel. After the daily creel is in possession, more fish of that species must be released and may not replace a fish already kept, except black bass tournament anglers who hold a Tournament Black Bass Pass.

• Walleye, sauger, and saugeye

  The statewide daily creel is 5 walleye, sauger, and saugeye, single species or in combination. The statewide minimum is 15 inches for each, and that minimum does not apply in rivers, streams, and tailwaters. Named reservoirs print different minimums, including 18-inch and 21-inch waters, and those listings replace the statewide length.

• Catfish

  The statewide daily creel is 10 channel catfish and 10 blue catfish, with only one blue catfish longer than 30 inches. Flathead catfish are 5 a day. The statewide length list in the summary does not print a minimum for channel or blue catfish. Many impoundments add a 15-inch channel catfish minimum or a smaller creel, and those waters replace the statewide creel. Blue and channel catfish are identified by anal-fin ray counts in the summary.

• Crappie and trout

  The statewide crappie creel is 50. White bass, bullhead, bluegill, and other legal species not given a number have no creel limit. Rainbow and brown trout are 5 a day, single species or in combination. A trout permit is required for anglers 16 and older; the 2026 fee table lists that permit at $20, and a youth trout permit for age 15 and younger at $7. The statewide length list does not print a trout minimum. Wiper are 5 a day, striped bass are 5, and northern pike are 2 with a 30-inch minimum.

• Paddlefish

  The daily creel is 2 and the season limit is 6. On Missouri River boundary waters the minimum is 32 inches. On the Marais des Cygnes the minimum is 34 inches. Length is measured from the front of the eye to the fork of the tail. A kept fish must be tagged on the lower jaw immediately. Catch and release is allowed at Burlington, Chetopa, and Iola until the fish is on a stringer.

Sources

• KDWP 2026 Kansas Fishing Regulations Summary
• KDWP regulations and statutes, including the 2026 fishing summary
• KDWP free fishing days for 2026