Indiana Fishing Licenses

Indiana is home to more than 3,000 rivers and streams, and an enormous variety of fish. You can fish all the way from Patoka Lake, filled with bass and crappies, to Geist Reservoir, where you’ll find lake trout and walleye. If you are interested in fishing from some of Indiana’s waters than I suggest you familiarize yourself with there rules and regulations regarding their licenses, luckily for you that is what we’re sharing here.

Indiana Fishing Regulations

The State of Indiana states:

You may not take any live fish and release it into any other public waters without a stocking permit
You may not fish with more than three poles or lines
You may not have more than three hooks and/or lures on your line – a multi-prong hook, or two or more single-prong hooks used to hold a single bait is considered one hook
Single- or multi-barbed hooks may be used for hand or pole lines, float or jug fishing, limb, drop or trot lines
You may not use nets, gaff hooks, or grab hooks except to land legally caught fish
You may not use more than one snare to take suckers, carp, gar, and bowfin.
You may not use snars between sunset and sunrise
You may use limb lines within the following guidelines:
- A limb line involves suspending a fishing line from a tree limb extending beyond the bank of a body of water
- You may fish with no more than 10 limb lines or drop lines at once
- Each line may have no more than one single- or multi-barbed hook attached to it
- Each line must have a readable tag showing the name and address of the user, or the DNR-issued Customer ID number
- All lines must be checked at least every 24 hours
- You may not use a limb or drop line within 300 yards of a partial or full dam structure located on any stream, river, ditch, canal or reservoir
You may not snag fish from public waters.
You may not keep trout and salmon that are foul-hooked
You may not take fish by trot line, set line, throw line, net, or trap within 300 yards of a dam on an Indiana waterway or boundary water
You may not mutilate and return fish to the water unless the fish is lawfully used as bait
You may not dispose of fish parts in any state waters
You may not take or possess these endangered fish in Indiana:
- Bantam sunfish
- Hoosier cavefish
- Channel darter
- Gilt darter
- Greater redhorse
- Lake sturgeon
- Northern brook lamprey
- Pallid shiner
- Redside dace
- Variegate darter

Fishing License Period

Tennessee fishing licenses are available as:

Daily fishing licenses
Annual fishing licenses
Lifetime fishing licenses

Free or Reduced Fee Indiana Fishing Licenses

The State of Indiana offers free fishing licenses or reduced fishing licenses for :

Fishermen over the age of 63