Every price Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries 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.
Louisiana runs a full year from the day it is bought, so a licence bought on the first of December is worth a full year. It stops on 365 days later. The ordinary resident annual licence is $17, sold as Basic Fishing (includes all legal recreational freshwater gear). The same purchase on the same day buys about 13 months in Pennsylvania and about 4 weeks in West Virginia.
Buy a licence at Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries The agency page this was read from
Read September 23, 2026.
Louisiana runs a full year from the day it is bought, which means the month a licence is bought in makes no difference at all. 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.
365 days
What an annual licence bought on 1 December 2026 still has in it, which is a full year.
Drawn against 395 days, the longest in the country.
A Louisiana recreational fishing licence runs a year from the day it is bought, and the state will renew it automatically each year if you buy online.
Annual recreational fishing licenses are valid from the date of purchase and one year (365 days) from the date of purchase. If you purchase your license online, you can select an option to have your license renewed automatically every year.Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
A state rarely sells one licence. Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries prices 8 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.
$15
Saltwater (Basic Fishing License required; includes all legal recreational saltwater gear) | $15 | $60 | $15 | $30Recreational Fishing Licenses and Permits, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
$17
Basic Fishing (includes all legal recreational freshwater gear) | $17 | $68 | $17 | $30Recreational Fishing Licenses and Permits, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
$60
Saltwater (Basic Fishing License required; includes all legal recreational saltwater gear) | $15 | $60 | $15 | $30Recreational Fishing Licenses and Permits, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
$68
Basic Fishing (includes all legal recreational freshwater gear) | $17 | $68 | $17 | $30Recreational Fishing Licenses and Permits, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
$5
Hook and Line (cane pole) 1 | $5 | - | $5 | - ... Allows licenseholder to fish using a pole or hook and line without a reel and without artificial bait or any of the following: dip nets, landing nets, minnow traps, crab nets, or crab lines. No other license is required.Recreational Fishing Licenses and Permits, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
$30
Basic Fishing (includes all legal recreational freshwater gear) | $17 | $68 | $17 | $30Recreational Fishing Licenses and Permits, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
$5
Any resident age 60 or older must obtain a Senior Hunting/Fishing License to hunt or fish. This license is in lieu of Basic and Saltwater Fishing Licenses; Basic, Deer, Waterfowl, and Turkey Hunting Licenses; and WMA Access Permit. It also includes all legal gear privileges. This license is free for residents born before June 1, 1940.Recreational Fishing Licenses and Permits, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
$100
Louisiana Sportsman's Paradise License includes Basic and Saltwater Fishing Licenses; Basic, Deer, Waterfowl, and Turkey Hunting Licenses; WMA Access Permit; and all legal gear privileges except for trawls longer than 25 feet. | $100 | $400 | $100 | $120Recreational Fishing Licenses and Permits, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
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.
In Louisiana a licence is needed from 18. The commonest threshold in the country is 16, so Louisiana is not one of the ordinary ones here. There is a senior rate from 60.
If you're age 18 or older, you must have a Basic Fishing License to fish recreationally in Louisiana waters. ... You are not required to have Basic or Saltwater Fishing licenses if you are: A resident or nonresident under age 18 (i.e. age 17 and under)Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
8 states are in the same position: Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada and South Carolina. The other 42 publish 62 days between them, usually a Saturday in June tied to National Fishing and Boating Week, and those are on the hub with the sentence each was read from.
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.
| Stamp or endorsement | Price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Recreational Offshore Landing Permit | Free | anglers keeping tunas, snappers, groupers and other named offshore species |
| Recreational Saltwater Bowfishing Permit | Free | anyone 18 or older taking saltwater fish with bowfishing gear |
Louisiana runs a full year from the day it is bought. 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.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries 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.