The GillnetThe Gillnet

Fishing rules·RI

Rhode Island fishing rules

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

Official regulationsBuy a Rhode Island licenseRhode Island news

License

Who needs one
A freshwater fishing license is required at age 15 or older to catch or take fish in any freshwater stream or pond, except the exemptions in the 2026–27 abstract. It is not required under age 15, for a blind person, or for landowners and members of their families fishing from property where they are domiciled. The license must be shown on request and expires on the last day of February. A trout conservation stamp is required to keep or possess a trout, salmon, or charr, and to fish a catch-and-release or fly-fishing-only area. Saltwater finfish are a separate Marine Fisheries license. A freshwater license does not replace it.
Residents
The fee table lists a resident freshwater license, or a license for a current member of the armed forces, at $24 online and $26 at a vendor. A combination hunting and fishing license is $43 online and $45 at a vendor. The resident trout stamp is $6 online and $6.50 at a vendor. A free permanent freshwater license is available to any resident over 65, and to a veteran with a current 100 percent disability rating or any person who is 100 percent permanently disabled. The 2026–27 freshwater abstract and the freshwater fee page do not state how many days a person must live in Rhode Island before buying at the resident price.
Nonresidents
A nonresident freshwater license is $41 online and $43 at a vendor. A nonresident tourist license for three consecutive days is $20 online and $22 at a vendor. The nonresident trout stamp is the same $6 online and $6.50 at a vendor. People over 65, resident or nonresident, do not need a trout stamp. The stamp is also not required for trout taken from a lake or pond that shares a border with a neighboring state, or for privately owned trout caught in a privately owned pond. Rhode Island freshwater licenses are reciprocal with Connecticut only on Beach Pond, Killingly Pond, Hazard Pond, and Peck Pond, and with Massachusetts on Wallum Lake.
Free fishing days
Freshwater free fishing days in 2026 are May 2 and May 3. Residents and nonresidents do not need a freshwater fishing license or a trout conservation stamp on those days. Size and creel limits still apply. Saltwater license-free fishing is a separate Marine Fisheries event, Friday, July 24, through Sunday, July 26, 2026, around Governor’s Bay Day. That waiver is for the saltwater license, not a substitute for the freshwater dates.

Seasons and closures

  • Trout closure

    All species of trout, salmon, and charr are closed from midnight on the last day of February until 6 a.m. on the second Saturday in April. In 2026 that opening is April 11. Designated trout streams and ponds are closed to fishing during that period unless a specific rule says otherwise. Possessing trout, salmon, or charr during the closure is prohibited. After opening day, DEM may stock additional times. Golden rainbow trout stocked for the pin contest are still subject to the creel and size rules; the pin window in 2026 is April 11 through May 4.

  • Border ponds

    Beach Pond opens for trout at 6 a.m. on the second Saturday in April and closes at midnight on the last day of February. Rhode Island rules apply there for trout, charr, black bass, and chain pickerel, and Connecticut’s one-salmon limit and six-line ice rule apply. Killingly Pond and Hazard Pond use Rhode Island rules for black bass and chain pickerel and the Connecticut six-line ice rule. Wallum Lake uses Rhode Island regulations.

Legal gear

  • Hooks and barbless rules

    Unless a water says otherwise, only a rod and reel or another hand-held, hand-operated device may be used, and no more than three hooks may be attached to each device. There is no statewide barbless rule. The Falls River catch-and-release stretch in Exeter allows only artificial lures with a single barbless hook or a single barbed hook that has been crimped. The Beaver River catch-and-release stretch in Richmond allows only artificial lures with a single barbless hook. Striped bass caught in freshwater rivers follow the marine rule: circle hooks are required when fishing with bait. Corn may not be used as bait in any designated trout water, and chumming there is prohibited.

  • Rods per angler

    No person may place, operate, or supervise more than two hand-held devices for catching fish, except the ice-fishing and border-pond exceptions. Through the ice, up to five lines may be used, each with a single hook, personally attended, on a tip-up or similar device. Beach Pond, Killingly Pond, and Hazard Pond follow the Connecticut ice rule of six lines with a single hook each. Fishing poles left unattended are not the legal method.

  • Nets

    Taking fish in fresh water by net, seine, trawl, or a similar device is prohibited, except a dip net used to land a fish already caught on hook and line, and except nets used to take baitfish. Cast nets and gill nets are prohibited. Freshwater minnows, not including the young of any game fish, may be taken with minnow traps, dip nets, and seines no greater than 4 feet deep by 8 feet long, with square mesh no larger than 1/4 inch. That rule does not override minimum sizes or the alewife and blueback herring closure.

  • Snagging

    Snagging fish in any fresh water is prohibited. Game fish must be taken by angling with a hook and line, except carp, suckers, and fallfish, which may be taken by snares, spears, or bow and arrow. A legally caught trout, salmon, or charr must be released immediately or killed at once and counted in the daily creel. Fish may not be held and culled.

  • Spearing and bow

    Suckers, fallfish, and carp may be taken by snares, spears, or bow and arrow. Every other freshwater fish must be taken by angling. The abstract does not authorize spear guns for freshwater game fish. Marine striped bass, red drum, and lobster rules are in the Marine Fisheries pages, not in the freshwater gear list.

  • Bait and live transport

    Releasing any live fish or invertebrate bait into fresh water is prohibited. Goldfish may not be used as bait in fresh or estuarine waters. Import, sale, or possession of nonnative fish for bait, including goldfish, green sunfish, and fathead minnows, is prohibited in fresh or estuarine waters. Selling live freshwater minnows, or possessing more than 100 live freshwater minnows, requires the appropriate DEM license. Stocking any species into a public or private freshwater stream or pond requires a permit. Felt or other porous soles that can absorb liquid are prohibited on wading footwear in fresh waters, including shared border waters where Rhode Island rules apply. Transport of any plant or plant part into or out of a Rhode Island waterbody on boats, trailers, or fishing gear is prohibited except authorized research.

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

    Trout season opens at 6 a.m. on the second Saturday in April and closes at midnight on the last day of February. DEM’s 2026 stocking announcement sets that opening Saturday as April 11, 2026. Designated trout waters are closed to all fishing during the closure. From the second Saturday in April through November 30 the daily creel and possession limit is 5 trout. From December 1 through the last day of February it is 2. The minimum is 8 inches for wild and stocked trout. A trout stamp is required to keep them or to fish catch-and-release and fly-fishing-only areas. Domestic landlocked Atlantic salmon are 2 a day and 11 inches from April 11 through February 28, and they count in the trout, salmon, and charr limit. No Atlantic salmon may be taken from the Pawcatuck River downstream of Potter Hill Dam. Migratory Atlantic salmon are closed. On Beach Pond the Atlantic salmon limit is 1, following Connecticut.

  • Bass, pike, and pickerel

    Largemouth and smallmouth bass have no closed season. The daily creel and possession limit is 5, singly or in combination, and the minimum is 12 inches. No black bass under 12 inches may be possessed. Northern pike have no closed season, 2 a day, 24-inch minimum. Chain pickerel have no closed season, 5 a day, 14-inch minimum. The Wood River between Route 165 and Barberville Dam is 2 trout or charr a day from the second Saturday in May through the last day of February.

  • Other freshwater fish

    American eel are 25 a day and 9 inches, with no closed season, and a freshwater fishing license is required to take one. River herring, alewives and blueback herring, plus shad and smelt, are closed. All other freshwater fish have no closed season, no creel, and no minimum, aside from the listed exceptions. Striped bass taken in freshwater rivers are still a marine species: 1 fish, slot 28 inches to less than 31 inches, and circle hooks are required when fishing with bait.

  • Catch-and-release trout water

    The Falls River from the Austin Farm Road bridge downstream about 2 miles to the Brook Trail bridge is catch-and-release, artificial lures only, with a single barbless hook or a crimped single hook. Possessing a trout there is treated as evidence the fish was taken illegally. The Beaver River from its confluence with the Pawcatuck upstream to the New London Turnpike is catch-and-release with a single barbless hook on an artificial lure. Possessing trout, salmon, or charr while fishing there is treated the same way.

Saltwater

Marine recreational fishing is administered by DEM’s Division of Marine Fisheries, separate from the Division of Fish and Wildlife freshwater abstract. To fish recreationally for finfish in Rhode Island marine waters, an angler needs a Rhode Island Recreational Saltwater Fishing License, a National Saltwater Angler Registry registration, or a recreational saltwater license from a reciprocal state. Rhode Island honors marine licenses from New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine. Marine waters begin at the inland edge of tidal water and extend three miles seaward. The boundary with fresh water is in section 2.6 of DEM’s freshwater and anadromous fishing regulations. A yearly license is $7 for a Rhode Island resident and $10 for a nonresident. A seven-day license is $5 for either. Residents over 65, and active-duty military stationed in Rhode Island, must still obtain a license, and there is no fee. Yearly licenses expire December 31. The freshwater license does not cover this fishery.

  • The minimum-size page was revised October 1, 2026. Striped bass are a slot of 28 inches to less than 31 inches, 1 fish a day, open all year, and a circle hook is required when fishing recreationally with bait. Summer flounder are 19 inches and 6 a day from April 1 through December 31. At the named shore sites, up to 2 of those fish may be 17 inches or longer, and the rest must be 19 inches or larger.
  • Black sea bass for general recreational anglers are 16 inches, 3 a day, from May 16 through December 31. Party and charter boats are 16 inches, 4 a day from May 16 through August 31 and 6 a day from September 1 through December 31. Bluefish have no minimum, 5 a day for general recreational anglers and 7 a day on party and charter boats, open all year. Cod is prohibited.
  • Tautog are 16 inches, only one fish may be longer than 21 inches, and private boats are capped at 10 fish per vessel. The season is 3 fish from April 1 through May 31, closed June 1 through July 31, 3 fish from August 1 through October 14, and 5 fish from October 15 through December 31. Party and charter tautog use the same personal limits without the 10-fish vessel cap. Scup from shore are 9.5 inches and 30 a day from May 1 through December 31. Private and rental boats are 11 inches and 30. Party and charter boats are 11 inches, 30 through August 31, 40 from September 1 through October 31, and 30 from November 1 through December 31.
  • Winter flounder are 12 inches and 2 a day from March 1 through December 31, and harvest or possession is prohibited in Narragansett Bay north of the Colregs line and in Potter Pond, Point Judith Pond, and the Harbor of Refuge. Weakfish are 16 inches and 1 a day. Recreational blue crabs are residents only, 25 a day, and 5 inches from spike to spike. Egg-bearing blue crabs and egg-bearing lobsters may not be possessed. Recreational lobster harvest is by licensed residents, with a 3-3/8-inch minimum carapace. From July 24 through July 26, 2026, DEM invited the public to fish salt water without a saltwater license. Size and possession limits still apply.

Sources