Arkansas has no closed seasons on its statewide table and some of the best tailwater trout fishing in the South, which is a combination that makes it a genuinely year-round state.
Every season we have verified in Arkansas
3 rules for 3 species, as AGFC publishes them. The band under each heading is the legal season; the row under it is our own monthly activity curve.
Trout β Statewide
The sub-limits inside the limit are the part to read twice: five trout, but the brown, cutthroat and brook components are each capped at two. A trout permit is required to keep trout anywhere in the state from age 16. Individual tailwaters β the White, the Norfork, the Little Red β carry their own slot limits that override the statewide number.
- Limit
- 5 a day, of which no more than 2 brown, 2 cutthroat and 2 brook trout.
Bass β Statewide
A ten-fish black bass limit is among the most generous anywhere, but smallmouth is separately capped at four and carries the only statewide length limit in the group. The Ozark Zone raises that to twelve inches.
- Size
- Smallmouth 10 inches, or 12 inches in the Ozark Zone.
- Limit
- 10 black bass a day combined; smallmouth capped at 4 of those.
Walleye β Statewide
No closed season, though walleye here spawn in the upper White River system in late winter and several stretches carry their own restrictions in that window.
- Limit
- 6 a day.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Legal dates were read on the agencyβs 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 7 of 18 Arkansas waters we track on a southern reservoir profile, and it is why an opening date and a fishable date are not the same thing. On that curve the water is below 50 F in no month and at 70 F or more in May, June, July, August, September, October; it is an estimate for the water type, not a reading.
Where to fish it
We publish a daily report for 17 Arkansas waters, each with live flow or tide and today's conditions.
- Lake Ouachita β Garland County
- Greers Ferry Lake β Cleburne County
- Bull Shoals Lake β Boone County
- White River β Baxter County
- Beaver Lake β Washington County
- Norfork Lake β Baxter County
- DeGray Lake β Clark County
- Little Red River β Cleburne County
- Lake Hamilton β Garland County
- Millwood Lake β Little River County
The licence is a separate question
An open season is not permission to fish. Arkansas requires a licence from age 16, and residents pay from $10.50 against $60.00 for visitors. What a Arkansas licence costs and where to buy it β
Questions
When does fishing season open in Arkansas?
It depends on the species: trout no closed season published; bass no closed season published; walleye no closed season published. Every date on this page was read off AGFC on 2026-09-14.
Do I need a licence to fish in Arkansas?
Yes. Arkansas requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $10.50 for residents.
Are these Arkansas 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.