Utah fishing rules
License, gear, and the statewide limits DWR publishes for major species. Water-specific rules replace these numbers. Last checked October 2026.
License
- Who needs one
- Anyone 12 or older must buy a fishing or combination license before fishing. Anyone under 12 may fish without a license, may use two poles, may use a setline, and may keep a full daily limit. The license must be carried while fishing and may not be altered or given to someone else. A digital copy in the Utah Hunting and Fishing app is valid. Free Fishing Day is the one day a license is not required.
- Residents
- A resident has a domicile, a fixed permanent home, in Utah for six consecutive months immediately before buying a license, and does not claim residency for hunting, fishing, or trapping in any other state or country. Leaving Utah for U.S. armed forces, or for religious or educational purposes, does not end residency if the person does not claim it elsewhere. The 2026 guidebook fee table lists a 365-day resident fishing license at $5 for ages 12–13, $16 for ages 14–17, $40 for ages 18–64, and $31 for age 65 and older. A 3-day license is $19 for residents of any age. A qualifying resident disabled veteran license is $12. A credit or debit card adds a 2.2 percent processing fee.
- Nonresidents
- A nonresident is anyone who does not qualify as a resident. The same guidebook table lists a 365-day nonresident fishing license at $18 for ages 12–13, $44 for ages 14–17, and $120 for age 18 and older, including age 65 and older. A 3-day nonresident license is $44. The guidebook fee table also lists a 7-day nonresident license; that price is not repeated here. Nonresident fees increased beginning in 2025. A setline permit is $48 for nonresidents and still requires a fishing license if the angler is 12 or older.
- Free fishing days
- Free Fishing Day is Saturday, June 6, 2026. Everyone may fish without a license that day. Every other fishing law and rule still applies, including daily limits and water-specific rules. The guidebook describes it as the one day a license is not required.
Seasons and closures
Statewide season
The season for taking fish and crayfish is January 1 through December 31, 24 hours a day. Exceptions are in the Wildlife Board proclamation and the water-by-water section of the guidebook. State waterfowl management areas are closed to fishing except where that proclamation opens them. Emergency changes for drought, construction, or treatments are posted with the guidebook updates.
Spearfishing bass closure and kokanee
Underwater spearfishing for largemouth and smallmouth bass is closed from April 1 through June 27, 2026, the fourth Saturday in June, on the waters listed in the guidebook, including Deer Creek, East Canyon, Echo, Flaming Gorge, and others. Kokanee may not be possessed statewide from September 10 through November 30. Fish Lake spearfishing for all species is limited to 6 a.m. on the first Saturday in June until sunset on September 9.
Legal gear
Hooks and barbless rules
The 2026 guidebook sections checked do not set a statewide barbless-hook rule. No artificial lure may have more than three hooks. No line may have more than three baited hooks, three artificial flies, or three artificial lures. That hook cap also applies while fishing for crayfish. It does not apply to setlines. Some waters in the specific-waters section add artificial-fly or lure-only rules.
Rods per angler
An angler under 12, or anyone with a valid fishing or combination license, may fish with two poles on any water during its open season. A second pole does not add a second daily limit. Extra lines are allowed while fishing for crayfish, while using a setline, and while ice fishing at Flaming Gorge, Porcupine Reservoir, Causey Reservoir, and Pelican Lake. The angler must stay within sight of the gear, and that distance cannot exceed 100 feet, except with a setline permit. A setline permit is $22 for residents and $48 for nonresidents, and the line must be marked with the permit number.
Nets
A handheld dipnet may be used to land game fish that were legally taken by angling. It may not be the primary way to take game fish, except at Bear Lake, where a dipnet may take Bonneville cisco and the opening may not exceed 18 inches. Through the ice at Bear Lake there is no limit on the size of the hole. A handheld dipnet may also take crayfish and nongame fish, except prohibited fish. A gaff may not be used or possessed while fishing, except to land striped bass at Lake Powell.
Snagging
A snagged fish may not be kept and must be released immediately. The exceptions in the guidebook are Bear Lake, where Bonneville cisco may be snagged, and any water with a catch-and-kill rule for the species that was snagged. Chumming is prohibited except at Lake Powell and Flaming Gorge.
Spearing and bow
Archery equipment, firearms, pellet guns, chemicals, explosives, and electricity may not be used to take fish, except the bowfishing and spearfishing rules. Bowfishing is allowed in most waters only for nonprotected nongame fish such as carp, and some waters allow carp only. Night bowfishing with a spotlight is allowed in most areas, with listed exceptions, and local weapon-discharge ordinances still apply. Underwater spearfishing for game fish is limited to the waters named in the guidebook and the rule, from January 1 through December 31 unless a seasonal closure applies. Carp may be speared in any water open to angling. Free shafting is prohibited. Daily and possession limits match the angling limits on those waters.
Bait and live transport
While fishing it is unlawful to use or possess live baitfish, or tiger salamanders live or dead. Live crayfish may be used as bait only on the water where they were captured, and they may not be transported away from that water alive. Corn may be used anywhere bait is allowed. Commercially prepared and chemically treated baitfish, or their parts, may be used where bait is permitted. PowerBait and scented jigs count as bait and are illegal where bait is prohibited. Dead fish, including baitfish, may not be moved from a water the Wildlife Board has declared infested with an aquatic invasive species, or a water under a closure or control plan, for use in any other water. Bait without hooks may be used to catch crayfish even where bait for fish is prohibited.
Bag and size limits
These are the statewide or default limits. A named lake, river, or marine area can replace every figure below.
Trout, kokanee, and grayling
The statewide daily limit for trout, kokanee salmon, and Arctic grayling combined is 4. Kokanee count in that trout limit. Anglers may not possess kokanee at any water statewide from September 10 through November 30. Many reservoirs replace the 4-trout limit with a different bag or a length slot. The possession limit is two daily limits, not counting fish stored at a permanent residence. Only one daily limit may be taken home in a day.
Bass, walleye, and pike
Largemouth and smallmouth bass combined are 6 a day. Walleye are 10 a day, only 1 over 24 inches. Northern pike are 20 a day, only 1 over 36 inches. Wipers are 3. Tiger muskellunge is 1 fish over 40 inches. White bass have no limit. Community fisheries use a 2-fish limit that covers most species, and tiger muskellunge must be released there.
Panfish and other species
Black and white crappie combined are 50. Bluegill and green sunfish combined are 50. Yellow perch are 50. Channel catfish are 8. Bonneville cisco are 30. Bullhead are 24. Whitefish are 10. Sacramento perch are 10. Roundtail chub are 2, and bait or harvest restrictions may apply on specific waters. Striped bass, burbot, crayfish, and nongame species have no statewide daily limit. Every burbot caught must be killed and not released. Prohibited fish must be killed if the guidebook says so, and protected fish must be released alive.
Possession
The possession limit is two daily limits, including fish in a cooler, camper, tent, freezer, or livewell, but not fish stored at the angler's permanent residence. While fishing, it is unlawful to possess filleted fish from that day's catch, or fish with the head or tail removed, except fish being prepared for immediate consumption or fish from a previous day. At Strawberry Reservoir, Scofield Reservoir, Lost Creek Reservoir, and Panguitch Lake, trout and salmon may not be filleted, and the head and tail may not be removed, while in the field or in transit.