Texas fishing rules
License, gear, and the statewide limits TPWD publishes for major species. Water-specific rules replace these numbers. Last checked October 2026.
License
- Who needs one
- Anyone who takes or attempts to take fish, mussels, clams, crayfish, or other aquatic life in Texas public water needs a current Texas fishing license with the matching endorsement. A freshwater endorsement is required for inland water. A saltwater endorsement is required for coastal water. The license year in the 2026–27 Outdoor Annual runs September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2027. People 17 and older must carry photo identification while fishing.
- Residents
- A resident has lived continuously in Texas for more than six months immediately before buying the license, is an officially documented member of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas, or is a member of the U.S. Armed Forces on active duty, including dependents. A resident license is required, with these exceptions: under 17; born before January 1, 1931; or a person with an intellectual disability fishing as part of medically approved therapy under the immediate supervision described in the license rules. No license is required on water completely enclosed by private property, or on state-park property and water completely enclosed by a state park. Park entry fees still apply, and man-made structures inside state parks are pole-and-line only, two poles per person.
- Nonresidents
- A nonresident license is required of nonresidents who fish in Texas public water. Nonresidents under 17 do not need one. A Louisiana resident 65 or older who holds a valid Louisiana recreational fishing license, and an Oklahoma resident 65 or older, are also exempt. Youth under 17 who want to keep a red drum over the maximum length, or a spotted seatrout over 28 inches, can buy the exempt-angler tag for that species.
- Free fishing days
- Free Fishing Day is the first Saturday in June. In 2026 that was Saturday, June 6. No fishing license or endorsement is required for recreational fishing in public water that day. Bag, length, and gear rules still apply. State-park fishing without a license is a separate, year-round rule and is not limited to Free Fishing Day.
Seasons and closures
Fresh water is open unless listed
Statewide freshwater limits apply on public fresh water that is not in the exceptions list. The exceptions page is where gear bans, slot limits, and consumption advisories live. For freshwater species with no statewide bag, there is still no license to ignore a water-specific rule or a rule on exotic fish such as tilapia and grass carp.
Flounder closure
Flounder, all species and hybrids, are closed November 1 through December 14. The bag is zero during the closure. Outside the closure the daily bag is 5, the minimum is 15 inches, and there is no maximum. Possession equals the daily bag.
License year and tags
Annual fishing licenses and the red drum and spotted seatrout tags in the saltwater packages follow the September 1–August 31 license year. One red drum over the maximum length may be kept on a Red Drum Tag, and one on a Bonus Red Drum Tag, during the license year. Spotted seatrout over 28 inches use the matching seatrout tags. Those tagged fish are in addition to the daily bag.
Legal gear
Hooks and barbless rules
Texas does not have a statewide barbless-hook rule. Game fish may be taken only by pole and line, which includes rod and reel, except where the Outdoor Annual allows another device. It is unlawful to take, attempt to take, or keep a fish by foul-hooking, snagging, or jerking. A fish hooked anywhere but the mouth is foul-hooked and may not be kept. Some waters add circle hooks for natural bait, artificial-lure-only stretches, or a pole limit. The Guadalupe River trout zone below Canyon Dam is one artificial-lure exception.
Rods per angler
A person may fish with more than one pole or other legal device, except where a water or a state-park structure sets a pole limit. In fresh water it is unlawful to fish with more than 100 hooks on all devices combined. On man-made structures inside state parks, each person is limited to two poles. Trotlines, throwlines, and jug lines have their own hook caps and must carry a valid gear tag.
Nets
Cast nets, dip nets, minnow traps, and seines are legal only for the species and sizes in the devices chapter. In salt water, a cast net may be used for nongame fish for bait only. A minnow trap is legal for nongame fish and other aquatic life, with a size limit and a gear tag. Game fish may not be taken in those nets. Umbrella nets, gill nets, and trammel nets are not recreational game-fish gear.
Snagging
Snagging, jerking, and foul-hooking with a pole and line are unlawful, and a snagged or foul-hooked fish may not be kept. Handfishing, where it is legal, is hands only. Using a gaff, spear, stick, or other device while handfishing is unlawful.
Spearing and bow
In fresh water, a hand-operated device held underwater may not be used to take fish, except that a spear or spear gun may be used to take nongame fish. Lawful archery equipment may be used for bowfishing in most public waters. Any edible fish, including all gar, common carp, and buffalo, taken with archery equipment may not be released. Alligator gar taken by bowfishing still count toward the alligator gar bag and reporting rules. Local ordinances can close archery even where the state rule allows it.
Bait and live transport
Game fish, or any part of a game fish, may not be used as bait. Only goldfish, common carp, native shrimp, crabs, crawfish, and nongame fish may be used as bait, and some counties add a shorter list. Live bait may not be transported away from the water body where it was caught, in or aboard a vessel, in water from that water body. Using live bait in water from that same lake, while fishing from a vessel on that lake, is allowed. Nongame fish taken from the Red River below Lake Texoma in the named counties, from Big Cypress Bayou below Ferrell’s Bridge Dam including Caddo Lake, or from the Sulphur River below Wright Patman may be used as live bait only on the water where they were collected. In Brewster, Crane, Crockett, Culberson, Ector, El Paso, Jeff Davis, Hudspeth, Kinney, Loving, Pecos, Presidio, Reeves, Terrell, Upton, Val Verde, Ward, and Winkler counties, only common carp, fathead minnows, gizzard and threadfin shad, golden shiners, goldfish, Mexican tetra, Rio Grande cichlid, silversides, and sunfish (Lepomis) may be used or possessed as bait.
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
Largemouth, smallmouth, Alabama, Guadalupe, and spotted bass share a daily bag of 5 in combination. Largemouth and smallmouth bass have a 14-inch minimum. Spotted, Guadalupe, and Alabama bass have no statewide minimum length. Many reservoirs replace this rule. Possession is twice the statewide daily bag, including on lakes that allow a larger daily bag.
Striped, white, and yellow bass
Striped bass and hybrid striped bass: 5 in combination, 18-inch minimum. Lake Texoma has a possession exception. White bass: 25 a day, 10-inch minimum. Yellow bass: no statewide bag or length limit. Special regulations apply on listed water bodies.
Catfish
Channel and blue catfish, including their hybrids: 25 a day in combination, and only 10 of those may be 20 inches or longer. No statewide minimum. Flathead catfish: 5 a day, 18-inch minimum. Listed reservoirs change these numbers.
Crappie and sunfish
White and black crappie, including hybrids: 25 a day in combination, 10-inch minimum, except waters with a special rule. Bluegill, redear, green sunfish, warmouth, longear, and other sunfish have no statewide bag or length limit.
Walleye, saugeye, and trout
Walleye: daily bag 5, and only 2 may be shorter than 16 inches. Saugeye is listed separately with the same numbers. Rainbow and brown trout: 5 a day in combination, no statewide minimum. Put-and-take trout waters often add a tighter local rule.
Alligator gar and paddlefish
Alligator gar: daily bag 1, no statewide minimum length. Every alligator gar harvested from public water other than Falcon International Reservoir must be reported within 24 hours in the Texas Hunt & Fish app or the web form. Falcon has a possession exception. Spawning areas can be closed temporarily. Gar taken with archery equipment may not be released. Paddlefish: no harvest.
Saltwater
Landing saltwater fish from state or federal water requires a Texas fishing license with a saltwater endorsement. Limits apply in Texas public water out to 9 nautical miles and to fish caught from 9 to 200 nautical miles that are possessed in state water or landed in Texas. Saltwater finfish caught in fresh or brackish water still follow the saltwater limits. Freshwater finfish caught in salt water follow the freshwater limits.
- Red drum: 3 a day, 20-inch minimum, 28-inch maximum. One oversized fish may be kept on a Red Drum Tag and one on a Bonus Red Drum Tag during the license year, in addition to the daily bag.
- Spotted seatrout: 3 a day, 15-inch minimum, 20-inch maximum. Possession is double the daily bag. One fish over 28 inches may be kept on a Spotted Seatrout Tag and one on a Bonus Spotted Seatrout Tag during the license year.
- Black drum: 5 a day, 14-inch minimum, 30-inch maximum. One black drum over 52 inches may be kept per person per day and counts as part of the bag.
- Flounder: 5 a day, 15-inch minimum, no maximum, and closed November 1–December 14. Fish may not be filleted until the angler has finally landed the catch on the mainland, a peninsula, or a barrier island, not on a jetty or pier, and is not transporting the catch by boat. Swordfish, king mackerel, and sharks have their own carcass rules.
- Saltwater trotlines need a saltwater trotline tag and a gear tag, natural bait, and circle hooks within the size in the devices chapter. Trotlines must come out of coastal water from 1 p.m. Friday through 1 p.m. Sunday, with the weather-advisory exceptions in the Outdoor Annual.