Missouri has the most theatrical opening day in the Midwest — March 1 at four trout parks, shoulder to shoulder — and a winter season almost nobody uses, on the same water, with flies only and nothing kept.
Every season we have verified in Missouri
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 — The four trout parks, catch-and-keep
Bennett Spring, Montauk, Roaring River and Maramec Spring. March 1 is the opener and it is an event: the parks fill before dawn. A daily trout tag is required on top of a fishing permit — five dollars for adults, three for under-16s — and it is per day, not per season.
- Size
- Brown trout 15 inches; no minimum on rainbow.
- Limit
- 4 a day, 8 in possession.
Trout — The four trout parks, winter catch-and-release
From the second Friday in November to the second Monday in February the same water reopens as a catch-and-release, flies-only fishery, and the annual trout permit replaces the daily tag. That put the 2026 season at November 13 to February 8. Hours vary by park and the crowds do not exist.
- Limit
- Nothing may be kept. Flies only.
Bass — Ozark streams
Black bass in the Ozark streams runs from the Saturday before Memorial Day to the end of February — May 23, 2026 to February 28, 2027. Outside the Ozarks the season is continuous with a twelve-inch minimum, so the same fish in the same state is on two calendars depending on which side of a line you are standing.
- Limit
- 6 a day.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Missouri Department of Conservation. 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 4 of 14 Missouri waters we track on a southern reservoir hybrid 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 14 Missouri waters, each with live flow or tide and today's conditions.
- Lake of the Ozarks — Camden County
- Table Rock Lake — Stone County
- Truman Lake — St. Clair County
- Stockton Lake — Polk County
- Mark Twain Lake — Monroe County
- Smithville Lake — Clay County
- Lake Taneycomo — Taney County
- Bennett Spring — Dallas County
- Pomme de Terre Lake — Hickory County
- Current River — Carter County
The licence is a separate question
An open season is not permission to fish. Missouri requires a licence from age 16, and residents pay from $14.00 against $57.00 for visitors. What a Missouri licence costs and where to buy it →
Questions
When does fishing season open in Missouri?
It depends on the species: trout march 1 to october 31; trout november 13 to february 8; bass may 23 to february 28. Every date on this page was read off MDC on 2026-09-14.
Do I need a licence to fish in Missouri?
Yes. Missouri requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $14.00 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 Missouri 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.