South Dakota fishing rules

Legal gear

• Hooks and barbless rules

  The hook-and-line section does not set a statewide barbless-hook rule. A line is a length of string or cord with a hook or artificial lure. A line may have three hooks year-round, including on South Dakota–Minnesota border waters. Only one end of the line may have hooks. An artificial lure counts as one hook no matter how many gang hooks are on it.

• Rods per angler

  Two lines may be used for open-water fishing, and four lines may be used while fishing through the ice. On South Dakota–Minnesota border waters only two lines may be used year-round. Each line must be under the direct supervision and unaided observation of the legal user. A legal bow and arrow, crossbow, spear, or speargun counts as one line when more than one line is in use.

• Nets

  Landing nets are allowed as a landing aid in the paddlefish snagging and archery seasons, and gaffs are forbidden on the Lake Francis Case and Gavins Point snagging seasons. Trammel nets, gill nets, and electrical or chemical devices may not be used to take fish. Seines, lift nets, cast nets, dip nets, and traps may be used for listed bait species, with no mesh-size limit for noncommercial bait gear. Dip nets may also take rough fish. Game fish or protected species in a trap, net, or seine must be returned immediately. Bait traps must show the user's name and address.

• Snagging

  Snagging, intentionally hooking a fish somewhere other than the mouth by jerking a hook or lure through the water, is illegal except for permitted paddlefish anglers in the established seasons and during the salmon snagging season on Lake Oahe. Lake Oahe salmon snagging runs October 1 through November 30 from Oahe Dam to the North Dakota border, all salmon species, one line with one hook, and every other snagged species must be released immediately. Paddlefish snagging is by lottery permit only.

• Spearing and bow

  A legal spear, speargun, hand-drawn bow and arrow, or crossbow may be used in the seasons in the handbook. Spearing and archery hours for game fish are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. Rough fish, except protected species, may be taken by those methods year-round, day or night, and must be retained. Game-fish spearing seasons differ by region: northern pike and catfish are year-round on most inland waters, while other game fish in eastern and western South Dakota run May 1 through March 31, with paddlefish, muskie, and sturgeon excluded, and trout and salmon also excluded in the Black Hills. Daily and possession limits are the same as, and combined with, hook-and-line limits. Underwater spearfishing is not allowed within 100 yards of designated swimming or waterskiing areas, boat docks, power intakes, or spillways.

• Bait and live transport

  Common carp, goldfish, protected species, freshwater mussels and clams, and game fish may not be used as bait, except that bullheads and sunfish of the genus Lepomis may be used on hook and line, and eyes, gills, entrails, and scales of legally taken game fish may be used. Residents and nonresidents 18 and older need a fishing license to take, possess, or transport bait. Bait may not be transported in water taken from a lake, pond, stream, or river, and bait containers may not be emptied into public waters. Gizzard shad and rainbow smelt must be dead before they are transported away from the water where they were taken. Live fish or fish reproductive products may not be imported without a GFP importation permit, except on border waters or for aquarium use. Fish may not be released into public waters unless they came from those same waters and GFP has given written authorization.

Bag and size limits

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

• Walleye

  The statewide daily limit is 4 walleye, including sauger and saugeye, and only one may be 20 inches or longer. The possession limit is 8. Many lakes and border waters replace that with a shorter bag or a minimum length. High grading of walleye is prohibited statewide, including border waters. While on the water or ice, or while actively fishing, a person may not possess more than one day's limit.

• Northern pike, muskellunge, and bass

  Statewide, northern pike are 6 a day and 12 in possession. Muskellunge and tiger muskie are catch-and-release only. Largemouth and smallmouth bass together are 5 a day and 10 in possession. Border-water tables in the handbook are different, including a Minnesota-border northern pike limit of 6 a day and 6 in possession.

• Trout, salmon, perch, and panfish

  Trout, salmon, and splake in any combination are 5 a day and 10 in possession statewide. Yellow perch, crappie, and sunfish (bluegill, green sunfish, pumpkinseed, redear, and orangespotted in any combination) are each 15 a day and 30 in possession. High grading of trout is prohibited in the Black Hills Fish Management Area. White bass, rock bass, lake herring, lake whitefish, bullhead, and rough fish have no statewide limit.

• Catfish, sturgeon, and smelt

  Catfish in any combination are 10 a day and 20 in possession, and only one flathead catfish 30 inches or longer may be kept in the daily limit. Sturgeon are closed except a catch-and-release season for lake sturgeon on Big Stone Lake from June 16 to April 14. Paddlefish are special-permit only. Rainbow smelt are 5 gallons a day with no possession limit.

Sources

• 2026 South Dakota Fishing Handbook
• GFP fish harvest and length limits
• GFP general license requirements
• GFP license types and costs