Nebraska fishing rules
License, gear, and the statewide limits NGPC publishes for major species. Water-specific rules replace these numbers. Last checked October 2026.
License
- Who needs one
- Anyone 16 or older needs a Nebraska fishing permit to take or attempt to take sport fish, bullfrogs, snapping turtles, barred salamanders, or mussels from any water in the state. The permit includes the Aquatic Habitat Stamp. Buyers log in as a recreational user at GoOutdoorsNE.com. Anglers who fish from a boat should note that an Aquatic Invasive Species Stamp is included in a Nebraska boat registration. Nonresident boaters need to buy that stamp separately for each year they boat in Nebraska. Paddlefish by snagging or archery need an additional permit.
- Residents
- A resident must have lived in Nebraska continuously for at least 30 days before applying and must intend to become a resident. Residents in school in another state, or stationed outside Nebraska on military assignment, can still qualify if Nebraska remains their legal residence. A new resident should be ready to show a driver’s license, voter registration, or similar papers. The 2026 price list, with the Aquatic Habitat Stamp included, is $41 for an annual resident fishing permit, $12 for one day, and $33 for three days. A $3 issue fee is included on fishing permits except the veteran, senior, and deployed-military permits named on the price page. A resident paddlefish draw permit is $35, and that price includes the $7 application fee.
- Nonresidents
- Anyone who does not meet the resident test needs a nonresident permit. The 2026 price list is $95.50 for the year, $12 for one day, and $40 for three days, with the Aquatic Habitat Stamp included where the price page says it is. A nonresident paddlefish permit is $60, including the $7 application fee. If the successful applicant’s later permit fee differs, the paddlefish section of the 2026 guide lists $28 for residents and $53 for nonresidents as the fee due after the draw. Both figures are printed by the agency; the price page is the permit-price table and the guide is the draw-fee note.
- Free fishing days
- Free Fishing and Park Entry Day in 2026 is May 16, the Saturday before Memorial Day weekend. Anyone may fish that day without a fishing permit, and no vehicle park-entry permit is required at state parks, state recreation areas, or state historical parks. All fishing regulations still apply. Camping, lodging, and other user fees still apply, as do museum fees at state historical parks and the Schramm Education Center entrance fee.
Seasons and closures
Hook-and-line year
Hook-and-line fishing is open year-round except where a water is posted closed. Daily bag is what is harvested from midnight to the next midnight by all legal methods combined. Possession is the total in coolers, freezers, commercial cold storage in the angler’s name, or otherwise under the angler’s control.
Archery, spear, and paddlefish dates
Archery for game fish and underwater spearfishing for game fish run July 1–December 31, with the Box Butte and private-water underwater season starting June 1. Nongame archery and surface spearing are year-round. Paddlefish archery is June 1–30 and snagging is October 1–31, only in the designated Missouri River reach. Bullfrog season east of Highway 81 is August 15–October 31; west of Highway 81 it is year-round. Mussel harvest is year-round and is closed in every river and stream.
Missouri River is a different rule set
For bag limits, inland waters are everything except the Missouri River. Missouri River waters include the border river and the reservoirs, oxbows, sloughs, chutes, backwaters, and marshes that connect to it each year. Black bass, walleye, and channel catfish limits change on that boundary. Nonresident South Dakota permits are not valid from Gavins Point Dam to 0.6 miles downstream.
Legal gear
Hooks and barbless rules
One hook means a single, double, or treble point, and all hooks attached to one lure count as one hook. There is no statewide barbless rule. On ponds, lakes, and reservoirs an angler may use no more than two lines, with a maximum of two hooks on each line. Umbrella and spreader rigs count as multiple lures, so only two of the lures or baits on that rig may have hooks when the two-hook lake rule applies. Rivers and streams, at least one-half mile from an associated lake, pond, or reservoir, allow 15 hooks total, from 15 single-hook lines down to three lines with at most five hooks each. The guide does not print a separate barbless requirement.
Rods per angler
Lakes, ponds, and reservoirs are two lines. Ice fishing is five lines, each with two hooks, and each line must be under direct supervision and within unaided observation. Ice holes on Game and Parks areas and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuges may not exceed 10 inches across. River and stream setlines, bank lines, and limb lines count toward the 15-hook cap, must be fixed rather than free-floating, must be labeled with name, address, and permit or driver-license number, and must be checked every 24 hours and removed when fishing is done. Jug lines, defined as a free-floating line held up only by flotation, are illegal.
Nets
Landing nets of nonmetallic mesh may be used only to land fish caught on hook and line. Baitfish seines must be 1/4-inch nonmetallic square mesh, no more than 20 feet long and 4 feet deep. Dip nets for bait are the same mesh, and neither length nor width may exceed 36 inches. Cast nets for bait are legal only on the waters the guide lists. Seining for baitfish, listed amphibians, or crayfish is allowed on streams on state recreation areas and wildlife management areas unless the stream is closed, and it is unlawful to take baitfish from a public lake, reservoir, or bayou unless the guide says otherwise. Non-baitfish caught while seining must go back immediately.
Snagging
Snagging is closed on all waters except the Missouri River paddlefish season. It is unlawful to attempt to snag fish except in a designated season, and an externally foul-hooked fish may not be kept unless it was legally snagged. Paddlefish and nongame fish may be snagged from Gavins Point Dam downstream to the mouth of the Big Sioux River at mile marker 734, from October 1 through October 31. Applicants must be 12 by October 1. A snagged paddlefish may be possessed only on the Missouri River in the open area during the open season.
Spearing and bow
Game fish may be taken by archery statewide from July 1 through December 31, sunrise to sunset, and they still have to meet the length and bag limits for that water. Game fish may not be taken with a surface spear. Nongame fish may be taken by archery or surface spear year-round, 24 hours a day. Only hand-drawn longbows, including compounds, and shoulder-fired crossbows are legal. Arrows need one barbed point and a line to the bow. Surface spears are hand spears only. Crossbows are illegal from Gavins Point Dam downstream to the U.S. Highway 81 bridge and are legal below that bridge. Underwater spearfishing for game fish is July 1–December 31 on listed public waters, and June 1–December 31 at Box Butte Reservoir and private waters. A diver-down flag is required. Platte River State Park, Eugene T. Mahoney State Park, and other posted park areas are closed to this gear year-round.
Bait and live transport
It is unlawful to release any fish into a public water if it did not come from that water, including dumping a bait bucket. Fish and baitfish may not be transported in water taken from a stream, river, pond, or lake. Live baitfish may not be brought to a water in anything other than water from a domestic source. The personal-use bag is 100 baitfish and 25 listed amphibians. Sport fish may be used as bait only if they were caught on hook and line and used on the same water, and the angler must still follow that water’s length and bag limits. Live gizzard shad and alewife may be used only the same day and only in the water where they were caught. Digging and trapping for bait are prohibited on state-owned or controlled areas. Several named waters, including trout waters and posted lakes, ban live baitfish entirely. It is unlawful to possess or transport live white perch, black carp, silver carp, bighead carp, or yellow bass.
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
On inland waters, and at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Snyder Bend, and Lake Yankton, black bass in the aggregate of largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass are 5 a day and 10 in possession, with a 15-inch minimum and only one fish 21 inches or longer. The Missouri River between Nebraska and Iowa or Missouri is a 12-inch minimum, still 5 and 10, with one 21 inches or longer. The Missouri River between Nebraska and South Dakota, including Lewis and Clark Lake, has no minimum, 5 and 10, with one 21 inches or longer. Many city ponds and leased waters are a 21-inch minimum and 1 fish. The guide’s public-fishing-area list is where those exceptions live.
Walleye, sauger, and saugeye
Inland waters are a 15-inch minimum, 4 a day and 8 in possession, and only one fish may be 22 inches or longer. Missouri River waters downstream of Gavins Point Dam have no minimum, still 4 and 8. Upstream of the dam, including Lewis and Clark Lake, the minimum returns to 15 inches at the same bag. Elwood, Harlan County, Merritt, Calamus, and Sherman reservoirs replace the inland slot or bag. The guide prints those reservoir rows separately.
Catfish and temperate bass
Blue catfish are 1 a day and 2 in possession, no minimum, statewide, with catch-and-release on a few named park lakes. Flathead catfish are 5 and 10, only one 30 inches or longer, and Branched Oak Lake is catch-and-release. Channel catfish on standing water are 5 a day and 20 in possession, only one 30 inches or longer. On the flowing waters and canal reservoirs named in the guide, including the listed Platte and Republican reaches, the daily bag is 10 and possession is 20, still only one 30 inches or longer. Missouri River channel catfish are 10 and 20 with no minimum. Striped bass, white bass, and wipers are 15 a day and 30 in possession on inland waters, only one 18 inches or longer. Missouri River waters drop the 18-inch sub-limit and keep 15 and 30.
Trout, pike, and panfish
Brook and cutthroat trout are 2 a day and 4 in possession, only one 12 inches or longer. Brown trout are 5 and 10, only one 16 inches or longer. Rainbow, tiger, and cutbow trout are 5 a day and 12 in possession, only one 16 inches or longer, with a no-minimum exception on the Sutherland Supply Canal and a tag system at Two Rivers SRA Trout Lake of 4 per tag and up to 3 tags a day. Northern pike are 3 a day and 10 in possession, only one 34 inches or longer, and several lakes change that. Muskellunge and tiger muskie are 40 inches, 1 a day and 2 in possession; Merritt Reservoir is 50 inches. Panfish are 15 a day and 30 in possession in the aggregate, with lake-by-lake length rules for bluegill, crappie, and perch.
Paddlefish and closed species
Paddlefish may be taken only from Gavins Point Dam downstream to the Big Sioux River mouth at mile marker 734, by archery June 1–30 or snagging October 1–31, and the limit is 2 with the special tags. Pallid sturgeon, lake sturgeon, bowfin, and American eel may not be harvested. Shovelnose sturgeon are 10 a day and 20 in possession statewide, and harvest is closed on the Missouri River upstream from the Big Sioux. Other game and nongame fish not listed in the tables have no length, bag, or possession limit. Only one daily bag may be possessed while on the water. Culling is not allowed.