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Fishing rules·NY

New York fishing rules

License, gear, and the statewide limits DEC publishes for major species. Water-specific rules replace these numbers. Last checked October 2026.

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License

Who needs one
A freshwater fishing license is required at age 16 and older to fish for freshwater species by angling, spearing, hooking, longbow, and tip-ups, to take frogs by spearing, by hand, or with a club or hook, and to take freshwater baitfish for personal use. The license page says a marine fishing registration is required instead when fishing for migratory fish of the sea and saltwater species. No freshwater license is required on a licensed fishing preserve, on free fishing days, at a free learn-to-fish clinic, for a resident farmer and immediate family fishing on the farm they occupy and cultivate, for a farm fish-pond license holder and immediate family on the licensed waters, for a Native American living and fishing on reservation land, or for a patient at a qualifying veterans hospital in the state. An annual license is valid 365 days from purchase or renewal.
Residents
A resident sporting license requires permanent residency in New York for more than 30 days. Residency is a fixed, permanent home to which the person always intends to return. Owning property in the state does not by itself create residency. Active members of the U.S. Armed Forces stationed in New York, and full-time students at a New York college or university, may buy at the resident fee. The annual resident fee is $25 for ages 16–69 and $5 for ages 70 and older. A 7-day resident license is $12 and a 1-day license is $5. Lifetime freshwater fishing licenses are sold only to residents.
Nonresidents
Anyone who is not a New York resident pays the nonresident fee: $50 for an annual license, $28 for 7 days, and $10 for 1 day. A nonresident student attending a New York college or university full-time is listed among the free or reduced-fee categories and, on the general sporting page, may purchase at the resident fee with a student ID. A freshwater license does not enroll the angler in the marine registry. On the Delaware River and West Branch Delaware along the boundary, a New York license covers the Pennsylvania side. On Greenwood Lake it covers New Jersey waters from a boat or the ice only.
Free fishing days
DEC announced six free freshwater fishing days in 2026: February 14–15, June 27–28, September 26, and November 11. The freshwater license requirement is waived for residents and nonresidents. Every other regulation still applies, including seasons, sizes, and catch limits. Children under 16 can fish without a license on any day.

Seasons and closures

  • How the 2026 book is organized

    Statewide seasons and limits in effect April 1, 2026, apply only when the water and the species are not listed in a special-regulation section. Check, in order, the region pages, Great Lakes and tributaries, Finger Lakes and tributaries, inland trout streams, the Hudson, Lake Champlain, and border waters. Catch-and-release is allowed only during the open season. During a closed season an angler may not fish for that species, and a fish caught anyway must be unhooked and released immediately.

  • Border waters and the Delaware

    A New York fishing license is valid on the Delaware River and West Branch Delaware along the Pennsylvania boundary, and on Greenwood Lake from a boat or the ice. It is not valid for the Ontario portions of Lake Ontario, the Niagara River, or the St. Lawrence, or for the Ontario or Pennsylvania portions of Lake Erie. Lake Champlain has its own reciprocal map. Night angling restrictions and single-hook rules on Great Lakes tributaries run September 1–March 31 on the reaches listed in the special regulations.

Legal gear

  • Hooks and barbless rules

    Each line may have no more than 5 lures or baits, or a combination, and no more than 15 hook points in any mix of single, double, or treble hooks. The same caps apply to an ice-fishing line. There is no statewide barbless rule. Non-offset, in-line circle hooks are required when fishing recreationally for striped bass or when using baitfish, unless the angler is fishing with an artificial lure, whether or not the lure is tipped with bait. The 2026 guide defines an artificial fly as a hook with no more than two points. Great Lakes tributary seasonal areas add a single-hook-point rule, a maximum gap of 1/2 inch, and limits on added weight; those are water-specific, not statewide.

  • Rods per angler

    An angler may operate no more than 3 lines, with or without a rod, and must be in immediate attendance. Set lines are prohibited. Ice fishing allows no more than 7 ice-fishing lines unless a special regulation says otherwise. Between May 1 and November 14, only hand lines, including rod and reel, may be used while ice fishing. Ice fishing is closed in Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Warren, and Washington counties except where an inland trout-stream rule or a special regulation allows it. Ice shanties must show the owner’s name and address in letters at least 3 inches high and must be off the ice by March 15.

  • Nets

    A landing net may be used to complete a catch while angling. Other nets may be used only for personally harvested baitfish, and dip nets only for smelt, suckers, alewives, and blueback herring in the waters and sizes in the general regulations. No other use of a net to collect fish is allowed without a commercial license. Suckers in the listed lake and Hudson tributaries may be taken in a dip net no larger than 14 inches in diameter, or 13 by 13 inches if square. Smelt dip-net daily limits on the listed Great Lakes and Finger Lakes tributaries are 8 quarts. Minnow traps may be used only for baitfish.

  • Snagging

    Snatching, including snagging, lifting, and single-hook snagging, and blind snatching, is prohibited at all times. Snatching is not angling. All foul-hooked trout, lake trout, and coho, Chinook, pink, and Atlantic salmon must be released without unnecessary injury. On Great Lakes tributaries under the seasonal rules, snatching is prohibited and every foul-hooked fish must be released. Gaffs are prohibited in freshwater, including the Hudson upstream of the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, except while ice fishing or bowfishing.

  • Spearing and bow

    The 2026 freshwater guide prohibits taking fish by spear or spear gun at all times, and it prohibits possessing spears on any water in the Adirondack Park or Lake George or within 200 feet of the high-water mark. The license definition still names spearing as an activity that would require a license; the methods chapter says the take itself is closed. Carp may be taken by longbow or crossbow, in any number and size, from May 15 through September 30, only where fishing and discharge of a bow are allowed. No other fish may be taken with a bow. A fishing license, a hunting license, or a legal exemption is required. Frogs may be taken with a spear, club, hook, or by hand from June 15 through September 30 by someone who holds a hunting or fishing license or is exempt.

  • Bait and live transport

    Certified baitfish bought from a dealer may be transported overland and used where baitfish are legal. Uncertified baitfish may not be moved overland by a motor vehicle except inside a designated overland transportation corridor, and then only for the water named on the receipt or the water where they were collected. Personally harvested baitfish have the same corridor limit. Baitfish taken in the Marine and Coastal District may be transported overland only for use in that district in the named downstate counties. It is illegal to import or transport rusty crayfish for bait, or to move them away from or within a waterbody. Native salamanders and snakes may not be collected or used as bait. No aquatic insect may be taken from trout waters. No more than one quart of eggs from trout, lake trout, or Atlantic salmon may be possessed on the water, and chumming with fish eggs is prohibited. No more than two days’ legal take of nonsalable fish may be transported unless the fish are frozen, processed, and packaged for storage or a regional permit is issued. Round goby must not be moved in bait buckets.

Bag and size limits

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

  • Trout and salmon

    Statewide rules effective April 1, 2026, apply only where a special regulation does not. Brook trout in lakes and ponds: April 1–October 15, no minimum, 5 a day. Brown trout, rainbow trout, and splake in lakes and ponds: all year, 5 a day with only 2 longer than 12 inches. Trout in inland trout streams: April 1–October 15, 5 a day with only 2 longer than 12 inches; October 16–March 31 is catch-and-release and artificial lures only. Lake trout: April 1–October 15, 21 inches, 3 a day. Landlocked Atlantic salmon: all year, 15 inches, 3 a day. Coho and Chinook salmon follow the Great Lakes and tributary rules rather than a single statewide bag.

  • Black bass

    Largemouth and smallmouth bass are open June 15–November 30 with a 12-inch minimum and a daily limit of 5. From December 1 through June 14 the statewide rule is catch-and-release only, artificial lures only. A foul-hooked bass is not given the salmon-and-trout release rule. An angler may keep fishing after the daily limit if later bass are released immediately, and one uninjured bass being measured or released from an aerated livewell does not count toward the limit.

  • Walleye, pike, and pickerel

    Walleye are open May 1–March 15, 15-inch minimum, 5 a day. Northern pike use the same season, 18 inches, 5 a day. Pickerel are 15 inches and 5 a day in that season. Tiger muskellunge are 30 inches and 1 a day. Muskellunge are 40 inches and 1 a day, May 1–March 15. Crappie are open all year, 10 inches, 25 a day. Yellow perch are 50 a day with no minimum. Sunfish (bluegill, redbreast, and pumpkinseed) are 25 a day with no minimum.

  • Closed and restricted species

    Paddlefish and sauger are closed, including catch-and-release. Lake, Atlantic, and shortnose sturgeon are closed. Fishing for officially endangered or threatened fish is prohibited, and an accidental catch must be unhooked and released immediately. Any snakehead caught while angling must be killed and reported; it may not be released. Striped bass north of the George Washington Bridge are open April 1–November 30, one fish not less than 23 inches and not greater than 28 inches. American shad in other inland waters, including the Delaware River, are 2 a day with no minimum. The daily limit is also the possession limit: an angler may not possess, kill, or unnecessarily injure fish over the daily limit.

Saltwater

Saltwater fishing is a separate DEC program. The freshwater license page states that a marine fishing registration is required to fish for migratory fish of the sea and saltwater species. Anglers 16 and older must enroll in the Recreational Marine Fishing Registry to fish for saltwater species in the Marine and Coastal District, and to fish for migratory fish of the sea in the tidal Hudson and its tributaries or in the Delaware or Mohawk. The saltwater fishing page describes that registry as no-fee. Registration lasts 365 days. A $1 print fee may be charged at a license agent, and a $2 fee applies if a phone or online transaction is printed and mailed. The registry is not required on a licensed party or charter boat, for a New York party or charter owner, for a Connecticut or Rhode Island resident who holds that state’s marine license, or for crabs, lobsters, clams, mussels, scallops, or oysters. A New York registration does not cover New Jersey waters; those anglers must use New Jersey’s saltwater registry.

  • DEC says saltwater limits were last changed May 12, 2026, and can change again. Striped bass in marine waters, from the Hudson south of the George Washington Bridge, and in the Delaware River: slot 28–31 inches, 1 fish, open April 15–December 15. Hudson River striped bass north of the George Washington Bridge: slot 23–28 inches, 1 fish, April 1–November 30. Non-offset inline circle hooks are required when fishing for striped bass with bait, unless the angler is using an artificial lure.
  • Summer flounder: 19 inches and 3 fish from May 4 through August 1, then 19.5 inches and 3 fish from August 2 through October 15. Heads and tails may not be removed until the fish is brought to shore, except a white-side fillet used as bait if the dark-side carcass is kept. Black sea bass, measured without the tail filament: 16 inches, 3 fish from May 16 through August 31 and 6 fish from September 1 through December 31.
  • Scup: shore anglers 9.5 inches, vessel anglers 11 inches, 30 fish from May 1 through December 31. Party and charter boats may keep 40 scup from September 1 through October 31 with a dated fare receipt if the customer has more than 30. Bluefish, including snappers: no size limit, 5 for an individual and 7 aboard a licensed party or charter boat, all year. Winter flounder: 12 inches, 2 fish, April 1–May 30. Weakfish: 16 inches, 1 fish, all year.
  • Tautog in the Long Island Sound region: 16 inches, 2 fish April 1–April 30 and 3 fish October 11–December 9. In the New York Bight region: 16 inches, 2 fish April 1–April 30 and 4 fish October 15–December 22. American eel are 9 inches and 25 a day, or 50 on a licensed party or charter boat, except the Harlem and East rivers and the Hudson north to the Troy Dam, where possession is limited to 9–14 inches and bait use only. Recreational lobster harvest needs a $10 resident permit. Recreational crab harvest is limited to 50 crabs of any species or combination per person per day.

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