Trout Stamp Cost by State

Every state that sells a trout stamp

Ordered by what a year of trout fishing costs a visiting angler, licence included. Where a state sells more than one trout stamp, the comparison uses the cheaper annual one, because nobody needs both.

“All in” is the state’s annual licence plus this stamp, which is what a year of trout fishing costs before you buy so much as a hook.

Tennessee is not in the table, and the reason is its own: the annual trout supplemental costs $21 but it is for residents, on top of the combination, county or one-day licence. Visitors buy an all-species licence instead. There is no visitor total to publish, so we have not invented one. Every Tennessee fee.

A trout stamp is not a fishing licence

This is the misunderstanding underneath most searches for one. A stamp, permit, validation or endorsement, whichever word the state uses, is something you add to a licence you already hold. On its own it entitles you to nothing at all, and buying it without the licence underneath leaves you unlicensed.

It also explains why searching for a “trout fishing licence” in some states turns up nothing useful: in 26 states there is no such product, because the ordinary licence already covers trout. If you are heading for Colorado, North Carolina, Michigan or New York, there is nothing extra to buy and nothing you have missed.

One state charges nothing and still requires it. New Mexico issues the Gila trout fishing permit at no cost, and you must hold it to fish for that species at all. A requirement with no price on it is the easiest kind to be caught without, because nothing at the till reminds you it exists.

The 26 states with no trout stamp

In every one of these the ordinary fishing licence covers trout. Nothing to add, nothing to forget.

Where the stamp itself costs a visitor more

A licence almost always costs a visitor more. A trout stamp usually does not, which makes the 7 exceptions worth naming.

When you actually need it, which varies more than the price

Three states charge within a few dollars of each other and require the stamp under completely different conditions. This is where a price list stops being useful.

• Delaware — Residents aged 12-15 pay $2.10. Visitors pay $6.20 at any age from 12, and residents 65 and over are exempt.
• Illinois — Required to take trout from inland waters. $0.50 for super seniors.
• Rhode Island — Same price for residents and visitors. $6.50 from a vendor.
• Minnesota — Required to fish designated trout waters or keep trout and salmon.
• Connecticut — Required to keep trout, kokanee or Atlantic salmon anywhere, and to fish the designated trout management areas at all. $3.00 for residents aged 16-17.
• Kentucky — Same price for residents and visitors.
• Wisconsin — For trout in inland waters.
• Iowa — $17.50 for visitors. A lifetime trout fee for residents 65 and over costs $65.00.
• West Virginia — $16.00 for visitors, and included with the Sportsman Plus licence.
• Virginia — Required from 1 October to 15 June in designated stocked trout waters, on top of the base licence. Same price for visitors.
• Indiana — Required to take or possess trout or salmon. Already included in the one-day licence.
• Pennsylvania — Required to fish for or keep trout. Not needed under 16.
• Arkansas — Required to keep trout. $20.00 for visitors.
• Missouri — Required for winter fishing in the trout parks and year-round on Lake Taneycomo above the US 65 bridge. $24.00 for visitors, $6.00 for under-16s.
• Maryland — Required to catch or keep trout in non-tidal water. $30.00 for visitors.
• New Mexico — Free but mandatory to fish for Gila trout.
• Washington — Required to fish for salmon or steelhead in endorsement waters.
• Oregon — $8 for non-residents.
• California — Required to fish for steelhead in anadromous waters.

The states that sell more than one

4 states split the requirement by water, which means the cheaper stamp in the table above is not always the one your trip needs.

How we checked

Every figure comes from the agency that sets it or from the official regulations edition it publishes, read on the date shown below. The total is arithmetic on two of our own verified numbers, the state’s headline annual licence and this stamp, and it assumes an adult buying both new. It does not include the concessions some states offer to seniors, young anglers or veterans, which are on each state’s own page.

One correction came out of building this page, and it was ours. Delaware’s trout stamp was recorded at $4.20 with no separate visitor price, so our data implied a visitor paid the resident rate. The department states plainly that it is “$6.20 for non-residents ages 12 and older”. Corrected before publication and logged on the verification page.

Questions