Mississippi fishing rules
License, gear, and the statewide limits MDWFP publishes for major species. Water-specific rules replace these numbers. Last checked October 2026.
License
- Who needs one
- MDWFP says each Mississippi resident age 16 through 64 who fishes fresh or marine waters, including lakes and reservoirs, must buy a fishing license. Private ponds and streams are excluded. A person 65 or older, or anyone else exempt from a freshwater license, must carry the documentation described in the exemptions while fishing. Nonresidents need a license except minors under 16. Saltwater and freshwater are not interchangeable everywhere: a saltwater license is required south of U.S. Highway 90, either a freshwater or saltwater license is valid between I-10 and U.S. Highway 90, and a saltwater license is not valid north of I-10. Marine recreational licenses are also described by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.
- Residents
- The MDWFP price table lists a resident Sportsman’s License at $45, which does not include saltwater fishing, an All Game Hunting/Freshwater Fishing license at $25, a Small Game Hunting/Freshwater Fishing license at $10, and a 3-day freshwater fishing license at $3. Each of those also shows a $1 agent fee and a $2.49 process fee. A resident saltwater fishing license is $10 plus the same agent and process fees. Residents 65 and older are exempt from the freshwater license if they carry proof, and they must buy a senior lifetime recreational saltwater license. The price table lists that lifetime saltwater license at $5 plus a $1 agent fee and a $2.49 process fee. MDMR’s licensing page describes the same lifetime purchase as $8.49. An older MDWFP requirements sentence says $7.29 including fees. The price table is the fee schedule used here.
- Nonresidents
- All nonresident anglers except minors under 16 need a license in fresh or marine waters. The price table lists nonresident freshwater fishing at $68, a 3-day freshwater license at $30, and a 1-day freshwater license at $10, plus agent and process fees shown on that table. Nonresident saltwater fishing is $30, a 3-day saltwater license is $15, and the Louisiana-resident saltwater license is listed separately at $60. MDMR says persons under 16 are exempt from the saltwater license and that recreational fishing licenses expire one year from purchase.
- Free fishing days
- MDWFP’s state-lake rule sets a free-fishing weekend on state fishing lakes and state park lakes on the first weekend of National Fishing and Boating Week in June. On those days, residents do not need a state fishing license or a lake fishing permit. The rule text does not print a 2026 calendar date for that weekend. MDWFP news dated 2024 also called June 1–2 free fishing days, with lake permits waived, and called July 4 a statewide free fishing day for residents, with lake permits still required on July 4. Those 2024 notices are not a 2026 calendar. The pages checked in October 2026 do not list a dated statewide free-fishing day for 2026 beyond the June weekend formula in the lake rule. MDMR’s recreational fishing page links to free fishing days, and that linked page was not retrieved with a 2026 date.
Seasons and closures
Freshwater seasons
The MDWFP creel rule sets daily limits and does not print a closed season for black bass, crappie, bream, walleye, or sauger. Closures that do appear are species bans on named waters, including sturgeon statewide, walleye on the listed Tombigbee waters, paddlefish on the Tenn-Tom system, and alligator gar on Bee Lake. Length-limit fish must be released immediately and may not be possessed on the designated water. Where a length or slot limit applies, freshwater game fish must stay intact, with head, tail, skin, and scales, while the angler is fishing.
State lakes
State fishing lakes and state park lakes are rod or pole only. Catfish are 10 a day on those lakes. The free-fishing weekend in the lake rule is the first weekend of National Fishing and Boating Week in June, for residents, and it waives both the fishing license and the lake permit on those lakes only.
Marine seasons
MDMR’s catch-limits page tells anglers to check gulfcouncil.org for openings and closings of federally managed fish. The May 22, 2026 red snapper order opened state territorial waters that day and did not, in the order text, print a closing date. Recreational fishermen may possess only one day’s bag of the named marine species in the marine rule, and they may not sell that catch.
Legal gear
Hooks and barbless rules
MDWFP’s general fishing rules page says game fish may be taken only by hook and line with one or more hooks, including rod and reel with artificial bait, and by trotlines, throwlines, limblines, set hooks, free-floating fishing devices called jugs, and yo-yos. A licensed angler may use no more than 100 hooks. The same page does not state a statewide barbless-hook rule. On Sardis, Grenada, Arkabutla, and Enid lakes, the creel rule limits each licensed or exempt angler to four poles or rods, with two hooks or lures per pole. State fishing lakes and state park lakes allow only rod-and-reel or pole fishing. The creel-rule PDF also contains a marked line that reads “three (3) four (4)” poles; the unmarked sentence in that rule says four.
Rods per angler
There is no statewide rod cap in the general-rules sentence, which allows hook-and-line gear up to 100 hooks per licensed person. The four-pole, two-hook limit applies on Sardis, Grenada, Arkabutla, and Enid. State fishing lakes and state park lakes are rod or pole only, and other gear is not allowed there.
Nets
The general-rules excerpt says game fish are taken by the hook-and-line methods listed above. It also refers to minnow seines for bait and says nets of a size or type not allowed by the regulations may not be used. A full net-size table was not on the pages that loaded completely. MDMR’s marine rules, Title 22 Part 3, regulate nets, traps, and pots for finfish separately from MDWFP freshwater sport fishing. Recreational fishermen may not sell seafood.
Snagging
The MDWFP general-rules page excerpt that loaded does not state a statewide snagging rule. Grabbing, which that page describes as fishing for nongame fish, especially catfish, with hands or rope, is addressed there. This summary does not add a snagging bag or a season the page did not print.
Spearing and bow
The freshwater pages that loaded completely do not state a statewide bowfishing or spearing season. State fishing lakes and state park lakes allow only rod-and-reel or pole fishing, so other gear is closed there. The MDMR catch-limits page that was checked does not list a marine spearfishing bag.
Bait and live transport
The general-rules excerpt allows minnow seines for bait and prohibits taking species by muddying. A complete live-bait transport rule was not in the creel PDF. MDWFP’s creel rule does say no one may transport more than seven daily creel limits for each qualified angler in the vehicle, and a single angler may transport only that angler’s own fish, still capped at seven daily limits. MDMR makes it unlawful to sell seafood taken on a recreational license.
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, crappie, and bream
MDWFP’s statewide creel, per person per day, is 10 black bass in the aggregate of largemouth, spotted, and smallmouth, 30 crappie in the aggregate of black and white, and 100 bream in the aggregate of bluegill, redear, and other sunfish. Many lakes replace those numbers. Ross Barnett Reservoir black bass are a 14-inch minimum and 7 a day. Arkabutla, Enid, Grenada, and Sardis crappie are a 12-inch minimum and 10 a day, and a boat with three or more licensed or exempt anglers is limited to 25 legal crappie. On border waters, the creel for black bass, bream, crappie, striped bass, and striped bass hybrids is the adjacent state’s limit or Mississippi’s, whichever is greater. Species not listed in the statewide table have no daily creel.
Walleye, sauger, and striped bass
Statewide, sauger are 10 a day and walleye are 3 a day. Walleye harvest and possession are prohibited in the Old Tombigbee River and its tributaries north of Highway 278 in Monroe, Itawamba, and Prentiss counties, and the lake table sets walleye creel at zero on Choctaw Lake, Lake Lamar Bruce, and Lake Monroe, and at 1 on Davis Lake. Striped bass and hybrids have a 15-inch minimum and a creel of 6. From Ross Barnett Reservoir dam to the City of Jackson water intake, only one striped bass or hybrid over 24 inches may be kept.
Gar, paddlefish, sturgeon, and catfish
Alligator gar are 2 a day, and harvest is prohibited on Bee Lake in Holmes County. Paddlefish are 2 a day and must be under 30 inches, measured from the front of the eye to the fork of the tail. Harvest is prohibited in the Tenn-Tom Waterway, the Tombigbee River and its tributaries, and Pickwick Lake. All sturgeon species are closed. There is no statewide catfish creel. State fishing lakes and state park lakes are 10 catfish a day. On waters shared with Alabama and Tennessee, no more than 1 catfish over 34 inches may be kept. Choctaw Lake and Lake Okhissa list a 5-catfish creel.
Marine fish set by MDMR
The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, not MDWFP, publishes recreational marine size and bag limits. On the MDMR catch-limits page, spotted seatrout are 15 inches total length and 15 fish, red drum are 18 to 30 inches total length and 3 fish with only one over 30 inches, flounder are 12 inches and 10 fish, and sheepshead are 14 inches and 15 fish. Red snapper are 16 inches total length and 2 fish, and trips and landings must be reported in Tails n’ Scales. A May 22, 2026 MDMR order opened the state recreational red snapper season in Mississippi territorial waters at 12:01 a.m. that day, at that same 2-fish, 16-inch limit. Cobia are 36 inches fork length and 2 fish. Tripletail are 18 inches and 3 fish.
Saltwater
Saltwater recreational size and bag limits are set by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. MDWFP sells the recreational saltwater license and sets where a freshwater license is enough. South of U.S. Highway 90, a saltwater license is required. Between I-10 and U.S. Highway 90, either license works. North of I-10, a saltwater license is not valid. Persons under 16 are exempt. Residents 65 and older buy a lifetime saltwater license rather than using the freshwater exemption.
- MDMR: spotted seatrout 15 inches total length, 15 fish; red drum 18–30 inches total length, 3 fish, only one over 30 inches; flounder 12 inches, 10 fish; cobia 36 inches fork length, 2 fish; king mackerel 24 inches fork length, 3 fish; Spanish mackerel 12 inches fork length, 15 fish.
- Red snapper: 16 inches total length, 2 a day, reporting required through Tails n’ Scales. State waters opened May 22, 2026, at 12:01 a.m. under the executive director’s order. Federal season dates are separate.
- Greater amberjack is 34 inches fork length and 1 fish. Gray triggerfish is 15 inches fork length and 1 fish inside a 20-fish reef-fish aggregate. Gag grouper is 24 inches total length and 2 fish inside a 4-grouper aggregate. Goliath and Nassau grouper are no-take.
- It is illegal to sell any seafood taken with a recreational license. Large coastal and pelagic sharks on the MDMR list are 37 inches total length, 1 per person and up to 3 per vessel. Several shark species are prohibited.