Arizona runs statewide bag limits with no statewide season, and then lets individual waters override everything. In a state where the fishing is spread between desert reservoirs and alpine streams, the special regulations are not an afterthought, they are the point.
Every season we have verified in Arizona
One block per rule, because a single species can be on two calendars in the same state depending on the water. The band under each heading is the legal season; the row under it is what our own data says the fish are doing.
Trout — Statewide default
The general bag limits "apply statewide unless site specific Special Regulations apply to that body of water", and a good deal of Arizona trout water does carry its own rules. Several stream sections run seasons of their own — open May 1 through December 31, closed January 1 through April 30 — which is the reverse of the northern pattern and exists because the water is fishable in winter and the fish are not.
- Limit
- 4 in any combination.
Bass — Statewide default
No statewide closed season. Walleye is also six, catfish ten, and crappie has no limit at all. Northern pike is unlimited with a requirement to kill or release immediately, which tells you how Arizona feels about pike in its reservoirs.
- Limit
- 6 largemouth and smallmouth in any combination.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Arizona Game and Fish Department. AZGFD publishes its regulations through eRegulations and its own site blocks automated access, so this is the eRegulations edition of the official Arizona fishing regulations. Legal dates were read on the agency’s own page on the date shown beside each entry. Seasons change: the agency link is always the last word.
What the water is doing while the season is open
This is the part an agency page will not tell you. The temperature row above is the seasonal curve we use for the 10 of 20 Arizona waters we track on a southern reservoir profile, and it is why an opening date and a fishable date are not the same thing. A season that opens while the water is still in the forties is a legal invitation, not a biological one: the fish are there, they are just not eating on your schedule yet. Cross the legal band against the activity row before you book the day off.
Where to fish it
We publish a daily report for 20 Arizona waters, each with live flow or tide and today's conditions.
- Lake Havasu — Mohave County
- Roosevelt Lake — Gila County
- Lake Pleasant — Yavapai County
- Canyon Lake (AZ) — Maricopa County
- Big Lake (White Mountains) — Apache County
- Alamo Lake — La Paz County
- Lower Salt River — Maricopa County
- Bartlett Lake — Maricopa County
- Saguaro Lake — Maricopa County
- Woods Canyon Lake — Coconino County
The licence is a separate question
An open season is not permission to fish. Arizona requires a licence from age 10, and residents pay from $37.00 against $55.00 for visitors. What a Arizona licence costs and where to buy it →
Questions
When does fishing season open in Arizona?
It depends on the species: trout no closed season published; bass no closed season published. Every date on this page was read off AZGFD on 2026-09-14.
Do I need a licence to fish in Arizona?
Yes. Arizona requires a fishing licence from age 10, from $37.00 for residents. A season being open is not permission to fish: the licence is separate and so are the size and bag limits.
Are these Arizona dates going to change?
Some of them, and the page says which. Dates written as a rule in the regulations are calculated here for 2026, so they follow the rule rather than going stale. Dates the agency sets each year are shown as exactly that, with no calendar band, because inventing one would be worse than leaving it empty.