Pennsylvania fishing rules

Legal gear

• Hooks and barbless rules

  There is no restriction on the number of hooks on each line in open water, and no statewide barbless rule. All rods, lines, and hooks must be under the angler’s immediate control. Snagging hooks may not be used or possessed while fishing. A snagging hook is weighted or otherwise built to make snagging more likely than a normal hook. In the tidal Delaware Estuary, including tributaries up to the limit of tidal influence, a non-offset inline circle hook is required when fishing with bait for any species. That hook has no more than one point or barb, and the point is turned perpendicularly back toward the shank. On Pymatuning Reservoir, ice-fishing lines may have no more than three hooks. Hooks used to take turtles must be at least 3.5 inches long with at least 1 inch between point and shank.

• Rods per angler

  An angler may use a maximum of three lines, by rod or by hand, for game fish, baitfish, or both. More than three rods at a time on open water is unlawful. While ice fishing, no more than five devices may be used, in any mix of rods, hand lines, and tip-ups. Each device has a single line. Holes in the ice may not exceed 10 inches between the farthest points. Jaw jackers and other self-hooking devices are allowed. On PFBC lakes, shelters must come off the ice when the angler is done for the day.

• Nets

  A gaff or landing net may be used to land a fish caught on a lawful device, with the exception noted in the summary book. Any net, not counting the handle, may be no larger than 4 feet square or 4 feet in diameter. It is unlawful to use a net or seine to catch game fish. Minnow seines and dip nets used for bait are limited to 4 feet, and the mesh must be at least 1/8 inch and no larger than 1/2 inch on a side. Cast nets and throw nets are unlawful except on waters the Commission lists, and those waters require a permit. A minnow trap may have no more than two openings, neither larger than 1 inch, and unattended traps must be labeled with the user’s name, address, and telephone number.

• Snagging

  It is unlawful to take, or to attempt to take, fish by snatch-fishing, foul hooking, or snag fishing, and it is unlawful to keep a fish accidentally caught that way. Handfishing is not permitted. While on the water or immediately leaving it, an angler may not possess more than one daily creel. At home there is no one-day possession cap of that kind, and two days’ limit may be possessed while traveling home from an overnight trip of two or more consecutive days. Fish caught out of season, undersize, or over the creel must be returned immediately unharmed. A fish placed on a stringer, put in a container, or given away counts toward the limit of both the angler and the recipient.

• Spearing and bow

  Spears or gigs may be used only for snakeheads, carp, suckers, and catfish. They may not be mechanically propelled, may not have more than five barbed points, and may not be used in stocked trout waters. A bow, including a compound bow or crossbow, may be used for those same four groups, day or night, except that bowfishing is prohibited in stocked trout waters during the closed season and in special-regulation trout waters. Lights from a boat may not be cast on an occupied building or another boat, and a generator used while bowfishing may not exceed 90 decibels. Burbot may be taken by scuba divers with nonmechanical spears or gigs at a depth of at least 60 feet, under the separate burbot rule in the summary book.

• Bait and live transport

  Baitfish include minnows, suckers, chubs, fallfish, lampreys, gizzard shad 8 inches or less, and darters, killifishes, and stonecats that are not threatened or endangered. Legally taken game fish may be used as bait. Goldfish, comets, koi, and common carp may not be used or possessed as baitfish while fishing. The daily and possession limit for baitfish and fishbait is 50 combined species. Fishbait includes crayfish and the aquatic stages of insects. The head of every crayfish must be removed immediately behind the eyes unless it is used as bait in the water where it was caught. Live baitfish may not be released into any Commonwealth water except when baited on a hook. Baitfish collected in one drainage may not be moved into another drainage where that species does not already occur. Purchased bait, with a receipt, may be possessed for 15 days and does not count toward the 50-fish limit. Stocked trout waters are closed to taking bait from February 16 until opening day of trout season. It is unlawful to stock fish without a Notice of Stocking, and snakeheads, black, bighead, and silver carp, zebra and quagga mussels, European rudd, ruffe, all crayfish, and round and tubenose gobies may not be possessed, imported, transported, or sold.

Bag and size limits

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

• Trout

  The 2026 statewide regular trout season opens April 4 at 8 a.m. and runs through September 7. The minimum is 7 inches. The daily limit is 5 combined species in streams, lakes, and ponds. The extended season on stocked trout waters is January 1 through February 15 and September 8 through December 31, still 7 inches, with a daily limit of 3. On waters not managed as stocked trout waters, that extended period is catch-and-immediate-release only. Stocked trout waters are closed to fishing from February 16 until 8 a.m. on opening day, except waters in the year-round program and certain special regulations. Class A wild trout streams may be fished year-round, with no harvest from the day after Labor Day until opening day, except stream sections that are both Class A and stocked trout waters, which close February 16 until opening morning.

• Bass

  For largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass in lakes, rivers, and streams, January 1 through April 10 and October 1 through December 31 are 15 inches and 4 combined. April 11 through June 12 is no harvest, and the catch-and-release period begins at 12:01 a.m. June 13 through September 30 is 12 inches and 6 combined. It is unlawful to cast repeatedly into a clearly visible bass nest. Power-dam and recreational-dam pools on the Susquehanna, and navigational-dam pools in the Ohio drainage, count as rivers. Tournaments on the North Branch, West Branch, or main stem of the Susquehanna may not allow harvest. Big Bass Program lakes use 15 inches and 4 combined, with the same April 11–June 12 no-harvest window.

• Walleye, pike, and panfish

  Walleye and saugeye are 15 inches and 6 a day from January 1 through March 14 and from May 2 through December 31. Sauger are 12 inches and 6 on those dates. Muskellunge and tiger muskellunge are open year-round, 40 inches, and 1 combined. Northern pike are 24 inches and 2. Pickerel are 18 inches and 4. Striped bass and striped bass–white bass hybrids are 20 inches and 2 combined, open year-round. Sunfish, yellow perch, white perch, crappies, catfish, rock bass, suckers, carp, white bass, bowfin, and other game fish not listed separately are 50 combined, with no minimum, open year-round. Panfish Enhancement waters replace that rule. American eel are 9 inches and 25. American shad are 3 a day with no minimum where they are open, and they are closed in the Susquehanna River and its tributaries.

• River herring and closed species

  River herring, alewife and blueback herring, have a closed year-round season and a zero daily limit on the Susquehanna and its tributaries, the Lehigh and its tributaries, the Schuylkill and its tributaries, the West Branch Delaware, the Delaware River, the Delaware Estuary, Delaware River tributaries up to the tidal limit, and Conowingo Reservoir. Hickory shad are closed year-round. Paddlefish, spotted gar, and other threatened and endangered species are closed. Mussels and clams are closed. Landlocked alewife under 8 inches from inland ponds, lakes, or reservoirs may be kept for bait when taken legally.

Sources

• PFBC fishing regulations
• 2026 Pennsylvania Fishing Summary
• PFBC 2026 fishing license and permit prices
• PFBC fishing licenses and regulations FAQ
• PFBC seasons, sizes, and creel limits, including the Delaware River and Estuary
• HuntFishPA resident definition used at purchase