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Fishing rules·WI

Wisconsin fishing rules

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

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License

Who needs one
Residents and nonresidents age 16 or older need a fishing license. Children 15 and under may fish without a license every day. People born before 1927 may also fish without a license. An inland trout stamp is required to fish for trout in inland trout waters, and a Great Lakes salmon and trout stamp is required for salmon and trout on Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and Green Bay. Stamps are not required on Free Fishing Weekend. The license pages checked do not define how long a person must live in Wisconsin to count as a resident.
Residents
The license fee table lists a resident annual fishing license at $20, a first-time buyer or welcome-back license at $5, a one-day license at $8, a junior license for ages 16 and 17 at $7, a senior license at age 65 or older at $7, and a spousal license at $31. The inland trout stamp and the Great Lakes salmon and trout stamp are each $10. A two-day Great Lakes fishing license, which includes the salmon and trout stamp, is $14. A two-day inland lake trout license, which includes the inland trout stamp, is $14.
Nonresidents
The same table lists a nonresident annual fishing license at $55, a one-day license at $15, a four-day license at $29, and a 15-day license at $33. A nonresident first-time buyer license is $28.75. A family annual license is $70 for the primary adult and includes children 16 and 17, not grandchildren, and the secondary family license is $0. Nonresident inland trout and Great Lakes salmon and trout stamps are each $10. A two-day Great Lakes fishing license that includes the stamp is $14.
Free fishing days
Free Fishing Weekends are the third full weekend in January and the first full weekend in June. In 2026 those dates are January 17–18 and June 6–7. Residents and nonresidents may fish without a fishing license, trout stamp, or salmon stamp. All other 2026–27 regulations stay in effect, including bag limits, size limits, and species restrictions. The DNR says to check trout regulations or a local biologist for exceptions.

Seasons and closures

  • 2026–27 inland seasons

    The general inland fishing season opens statewide on Saturday, May 2, 2026. Inland trout on streams, springs, and spring ponds are open April 4 through October 15, 2026. Muskellunge on inland waters are open May 2 through December 31, 2026, open water only, and there is no longer a separate northern-zone muskellunge season. A catch-and-release season for lake sturgeon on selected waters runs June 6, 2026, through March 7, 2027. Hook-and-line lake sturgeon harvest on certain waters is September 5 through September 30, 2026, and a sturgeon tag is required to harvest one.

  • Great Lakes and boundary waters

    Great Lakes, Green Bay, and the Michigan and Minnesota boundary waters keep their own season structures. The 2026–27 change notice says the muskellunge seasons for the Great Lakes, Green Bay, and the Michigan and Minnesota boundary waters are unchanged. Outlying waters are listed separately from inland waters on the cisco and whitefish bag. Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and Green Bay salmon and trout fishing needs the Great Lakes stamp, except on Free Fishing Weekend. Minnow harvest is closed on the Great Lakes and on waters connected to them up to the first barrier. The hook-and-line guide, not the statewide total-bag page, is where lake-by-lake Great Lakes limits are printed.

Legal gear

  • Hooks and barbless rules

    The rod-and-bait page does not set a statewide barbless-hook rule. No person may fish with more than three hooks, baits, or lures. Three baits may each have up to three hooks if each bait can catch only one fish. Multiple hooks on one artificial lure count as one lure. Examples the page gives as legal are one pole with two baits and a second pole with one bait, one pole with three baits, or three poles with one bait each.

  • Rods per angler

    The rule is written as a cap of three hooks, baits, or lures, not as a named rod limit. Three poles are allowed only when each has a single bait. More than one bait on a line means fewer than three poles. Motor trolling is legal on all inland waters with either three hooks, baits, or lures per person and no maximum number of lines trolled per boat, or one hook, bait, or lure per person with a maximum of three trolled per boat. Boundary waters can be tighter, and the page says to follow the county where the angler is fishing when a lake crosses a county line.

  • Nets

    Mesh sizes for spears, nets, and bait harvest are in the separate 2026–27 spearing, netting, and bait-harvest guide. Personal minnow harvest on waters that are open does not require a wild-bait permit if the minnows are used only on the water where they were collected. It is illegal to use or possess minnow nets or traps on waters closed to minnow harvest, including the Great Lakes and the waters connected to them up to the first barrier impassable to fish.

  • Snagging

    It is illegal to fish by snagging, foul-hooking, or attempting to hook a fish other than in the mouth. The 2026 hook-and-line lake sturgeon reminder states that rule and adds that sturgeon may be targeted only in waters with an open hook-and-line season, even if the fish will be released. The pages checked do not list a general recreational snagging season.

  • Spearing and bow

    Catfish and bullheads may be taken by bow or crossbow during the rough-fish spearing season, and by hand from June 1 through August 31. If the rough-fish spearing season is closed, the bow and crossbow season is closed. Hand fishing may not use snorkel or SCUBA gear, hooks, lines, or gaffs. The general bag on the fact sheet is 5 channel catfish, 1 flathead catfish, and no limit on bullheads, with no size limit, but that sheet's water exceptions are dated 2020, so the current hook-and-line guide controls any newer exception. Rough-fish spearing seasons are in the spearing guide. Winnebago system sturgeon spearing is a separate regulation.

  • Bait and live transport

    Live fish and live fish eggs may not be transported away from any state water. Minnows from a Wisconsin bait dealer may be transported live and used again on the same water, or on another water if no lake or river water and no other fish were added to the container. Minnows collected by the angler may be used only on the water where they were collected and may not be moved away alive. They may be preserved as dead bait. Minnow harvest is closed on VHS-known and suspect waters, including the Winnebago system, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, and the Wisconsin River upstream to the Prairie du Sac Dam, plus connected waters to the first barrier. Suckers may still be harvested there but may not be transported away live. Dead fish, eggs, or parts may be used as bait only under the three exceptions on the bait page, including preserved bait and unpreserved bait used on the water where it was collected or on Lake Michigan or Green Bay. Minnows obtained outside Wisconsin may not be possessed or used, with the Iowa and Minnesota Mississippi River exception and a DATCP import permit exception. All water must be drained from boats and equipment when leaving state waters.

Bag and size limits

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

  • Walleye, sauger, bass, and muskellunge

    The total daily bag is the most an angler may keep in one day from all waters fished, and the daily bag on each water still cannot be exceeded. While on a water, an angler may not possess more than that water's daily limit. Walleye, sauger, and hybrids are 5 in total. Largemouth and smallmouth bass are 5 in total. Muskellunge is 1. Many lakes use a shorter bag or a protected slot. The total-daily-bag page does not print a statewide muskellunge length. Fishing reports on individual waters often cite a 40-inch minimum as the statewide muskellunge rule, but that length is not on the total-daily-bag page itself.

  • Northern pike and panfish

    Northern pike are 5 in total on all waters north of U.S. Highway 10 and 2 in total on all waters south of U.S. Highway 10. Panfish, meaning bluegill, pumpkinseed, yellow perch, and white and black crappie, are 25 in total. Rock bass, white bass, yellow bass, and bullheads have no limit.

  • Catfish, sturgeon, and cisco

    Catfish are 25 in total, and only 1 may be a flathead catfish from the Lake Winnebago system. Lake sturgeon is 1 per season. Shovelnose sturgeon are 3. Cisco, also called lake herring, whitefish, and their hybrids are 10 in total on inland waters and 10 in total on outlying waters. Ruffe, white perch, and gobies are 0, except one of each may be killed and taken immediately to a DNR service center or regional office.

  • Trout

    The total-daily-bag page does not list a statewide trout bag. Trout limits are water-specific. The 2026–27 season change sets the inland trout season on streams, springs, and spring ponds as April 4 through October 15, 2026, but it does not print one bag for every trout water. The trout guide is the place for classified-water limits. Great Lakes trout and salmon use different bags and need the Great Lakes salmon and trout stamp.

Sources