A Indiana fishing licence bought in December runs about 4 months
Indiana Fishing License: $23 and When It Expires
Every price Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife prints, when the licence stops working, the age it is first needed, the days it is lifted and the stamps that ride on top of it.
$23
Resident annual licence
Annual Fishing
Licence year
Which clock it runs on
runs to a fixed date that is not 31 december
120 days
A licence bought 1 December 2026
against 395 in Pennsylvania and 30 in West Virginia
9 / 1 / 2
Prices, free days and stamps here
each one linked to the page it was read from
The answer
What a Indiana fishing license costs, and how long it lasts
Licence yearIndiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife
Indiana runs to a fixed date on the agency’s own calendar, so a licence bought on the first of December is worth about 4 months. It stops on March 31 of the following year. The ordinary resident annual licence is $23, sold as Annual Fishing. The same purchase on the same day buys about 13 months in Pennsylvania and about 4 weeks in West Virginia.
Indiana runs a fixed 1 April to 31 March licence year, so an annual licence dies on 31 March no matter which month you bought it and one bought in February is worth about six weeks.
Indiana charges residents $23 for Annual Fishing. Someone from over the line pays $60, which is 2.61 times as much. Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife prices 9 licences in all, and every one of them is in the table below with the row it was printed in.
In Indiana a licence is needed from 18. The commonest threshold in the country is 16, so Indiana is not one of the ordinary ones here. There is a senior rate from 64.
Indiana publishes 1 day in the year when the licence requirement is lifted. What is lifted is the licence, not the rules: seasons, limits and size rules run as they always do, and a few states still want a free permit pulled first.
A licence is not always the whole bill. Indiana sells 2 further stamps and endorsements on top of it, each covering water or a species the ordinary licence does not.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife sells licences through its own online counter.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife
Indiana runs to a fixed date on the agency’s own calendar, which means the month a licence is bought in changes what the money buys. The same purchase on the same morning is worth 395 days in Pennsylvania and 30 in West Virginia, a spread of 365 days across the country for what is often the same twenty five dollars.
120 days
What an annual licence bought on 1 December 2026 still has in it, which is about 4 months.
Drawn against 395 days, the longest in the country.
When a Indiana license expires
Indiana runs a fixed 1 April to 31 March licence year, so an annual licence dies on 31 March no matter which month you bought it and one bought in February is worth about six weeks.
All annual licenses and stamp privileges are valid from April 1 of the current year through March 31 of the following year. (Example: A 2026 annual license would be valid from April 1, 2026, through March 31, 2027)
Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Every price the agency prints
All 9 Indiana license prices
A state rarely sells one licence. Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife prices 9 of them, and the duration beside each is the half that decides what the money is actually worth: a short term licence at a third of the annual price is the better buy for a weekend in almost every state in the country, and in 10 states it is the better buy in December for a lot longer than a weekend.
Each price below carries the line it was printed in. Several agencies print a base fee and charge a larger one at the counter once an issuing or transaction fee is added, so the quoted line is the thing to read rather than the number alone.
Annual Fishing
$23
Resident annualannual
Fishing Annual Fishing $23
Fish and Wildlife: License Fees, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Fish and Wildlife: License Fees, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Seven-day Fishing
$35
Nonresident short termSeven-day
Seven-day Fishing $35
Fish and Wildlife: License Fees, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Annual Senior Fishing
$3
Seniorannual
Annual Senior Fishing $3
Fish and Wildlife: License Fees, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Hunting & Fishing
$32
Combination hunting and fishingannual
Combination Licenses Hunting & Fishing $32
Fish and Wildlife: License Fees, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Senior Fish-for-Life
$23
Lifetime or multi yearrest of the holder's life
Senior Fish-for-Life $23
Fish and Wildlife: License Fees, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Disabled American Veterans Hunting & Fishing (does not include deer or turkey)
$2.75
Military or veteranannual
Disabled American Veterans Hunting & Fishing (does not include deer or turkey) $2.75
Fish and Wildlife: License Fees, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Who needs one
A Indiana license is needed from age 18
29 states set the threshold at 16 and the youngest in the country is 9, so this is a number worth checking rather than carrying across a state line. The agency’s own sentence usually carries a condition the number alone does not: who a child has to be with, whose limit their fish count against, and whether the age is measured on the day or across the licence year.
The age rule in Indiana
In Indiana a licence is needed from 18. The commonest threshold in the country is 16, so Indiana is not one of the ordinary ones here. There is a senior rate from 64.
A fishing license and trout/salmon stamp are not required for: ... Residents and nonresidents under age 18.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
A public fishing area ramp with the state’s own board standing where the concrete meets the water. Everything on these pages works the same way: a figure is here because an agency printed it, and the sentence it was printed in travels with it. Fifty agencies were read on one day, and between them they publish 417 separate licences. “Lake Paradise boat ramp, Paradise PFA”, Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0
The days it comes off
Indiana has one free fishing day
What is lifted is the licence and nothing else. Seasons, limits, size rules and closed water all run exactly as they always do, and several states still want a free permit pulled before the day. Nationally 42 states publish 62 of these and 8 publish none at all, so a free day in a neighbouring state does not travel.
May 10, June 6-7, and Sept. 26, 2026
Indiana residents only, licence and trout salmon stamp both waived, all other rules still apply
On Free Fishing Days, Indiana residents do not need a fishing license or a trout/salmon stamp to fish the state's public waters. All other rules such as seasons, bag, and size limits apply.
Fish and Wildlife: Free Fishing Days, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
What the licence does not cover
The 2 Indiana stamps sold on top of a license
A stamp is a separate purchase and a licence alone does not carry it. This is the line most often crossed without anyone meaning to, usually on the first morning of a trip into water the angler does not normally fish. Where a state stocks trout, the hatchery is generally funded out of the stamp rather than out of the licence, which is why the stamp exists at all.
What Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife sells on top of a licence, with the water or the species each one covers. A stamp is a separate purchase: a licence alone does not carry it.
nonresident anglers taking trout or salmon from public waters
The other half of what a licence fee buys. Agencies stock on a calendar, which is part of why so many of them run a licence year that starts somewhere other than January: eight states end theirs on 31 March, five on the last day of February, and two in late summer, after the season they were sold for has finished. “Hatchery truck at Stackhouse (22557766742)”, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region, Public Domain
How Indiana compares
19 states run a year from purchase, 10 run a calendar year
Indiana runs to a fixed date on the agency’s own calendar. Across the country 19 states run a full year from the day of purchase, 16 run to a fixed date on their own calendar, 10 run the calendar year, one sells the same licence on two clocks, and 4 publish no rule at all.
On price, the national middle is $25.00, with Hawaii at $5 at one end and California at $64.54 at the other. A visitor pays anywhere from 1.25 times the resident price in Massachusetts to 5.71 times in Arkansas.
Indiana fishing license questions
Indiana charges residents $23 for Annual Fishing. Someone from over the line pays $60, which is 2.61 times as much. Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife prices 9 licences in all, and every one of them is in the table below with the row it was printed in.
Indiana runs to a fixed date on the agency’s own calendar, so a licence bought on the first of December is worth about 4 months. It stops on March 31 of the following year. The ordinary resident annual licence is $23, sold as Annual Fishing. The same purchase on the same day buys about 13 months in Pennsylvania and about 4 weeks in West Virginia. Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife writes: “All annual licenses and stamp privileges are valid from April 1 of the current year through March 31 of the following year. (Example: A 2026 annual license would be valid from April 1, 2026, through March 31, 2027)”
In Indiana a licence is needed from 18. The commonest threshold in the country is 16, so Indiana is not one of the ordinary ones here. There is a senior rate from 64. The agency writes: “A fishing license and trout/salmon stamp are not required for: ... Residents and nonresidents under age 18.”
Yes. Indiana publishes 1 day in the year when the licence requirement is lifted. What is lifted is the licence, not the rules: seasons, limits and size rules run as they always do, and a few states still want a free permit pulled first. The agency sets the first of them out this way: “On Free Fishing Days, Indiana residents do not need a fishing license or a trout/salmon stamp to fish the state's public waters. All other rules such as seasons, bag, and size limits apply.”
A licence is not always the whole bill. Indiana sells 2 further stamps and endorsements on top of it, each covering water or a species the ordinary licence does not. Trout/Salmon Stamp Privilege costs $11 and covers resident anglers taking trout or salmon from public waters. 44 states sell something like it.
$60 for Annual Fishing, against $23 for a resident. Nonresident annual prices across the country run from $20.00 in Delaware to $174.14 in California, and short term licences are often the better buy for a single trip.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife sells licences through its own online counter. Every price and rule here was read off Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife's own pages on September 23, 2026, and each one is linked beside the sentence it came from.
No. Each state licenses its own water, which is why the prices here are the prices for Indiana alone. It is also why buying in December is a different decision in every state: the same purchase on the same day is worth about 13 months in Pennsylvania and about 4 weeks in West Virginia.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Fish & Wildlife read September 23, 2026, with every price, rule, day and stamp above linked to the page it came from. Fees change by legislation and by rule, usually with effect from the start of a licence year, and the agency page is what governs on the day.
