A New Hampshire fishing licence bought in December is worth about 4 weeks
New Hampshire Fishing License: $45.00 and When It Expires
Every price New Hampshire Fish and Game Department 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.
$45.00
Resident annual licence
Freshwater Fishing
Calendar year
Which clock it runs on
dies on 31 december whatever day you bought it
30 days
A licence bought 1 December 2026
against 395 in Pennsylvania and 30 in West Virginia
8 / 2 / 2
Prices, free days and stamps here
each one linked to the page it was read from
The answer
What a New Hampshire fishing license costs, and how long it lasts
Calendar yearNew Hampshire Fish and Game Department
New Hampshire dies on 31 December whatever day it was bought, so a licence bought on the first of December is worth about 4 weeks. It stops on December 31st. The ordinary resident annual licence is $45.00, sold as Freshwater Fishing. The same purchase on the same day buys about 13 months in Pennsylvania and about 4 weeks in West Virginia.
A New Hampshire licence runs the calendar year and stops on 31 December whatever day it was bought, so a licence bought in autumn is worth only the weeks left in that year. The one day, three day and seven day licences are the exception.
New Hampshire charges residents $45.00 for Freshwater Fishing. Someone from over the line pays $63.00, which is 1.40 times as much. New Hampshire Fish and Game Department prices 8 licences in all, and every one of them is in the table below with the row it was printed in.
In New Hampshire a licence is needed from 16. That is the commonest threshold in the country, shared by 29 states. There is a senior rate from 68.
New Hampshire publishes 2 days 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. New Hampshire sells 2 further stamps and endorsements on top of it, each covering water or a species the ordinary licence does not.
New Hampshire Fish and Game Department sells licences through its own online counter.
Buy on 1 December in New Hampshire and you get 30 days
New Hampshire dies on 31 December whatever day it was bought, 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.
30 days
What an annual licence bought on 1 December 2026 still has in it, which is about 4 weeks.
Drawn against 395 days, the longest in the country.
When a New Hampshire license expires
A New Hampshire licence runs the calendar year and stops on 31 December whatever day it was bought, so a licence bought in autumn is worth only the weeks left in that year. The one day, three day and seven day licences are the exception.
Licenses run on calendar year (except temporary types), expiring on December 31st.
New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Every price the agency prints
All 8 New Hampshire license prices
A state rarely sells one licence. New Hampshire Fish and Game Department 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.
Recreational Saltwater Fishing
$11.00
Resident annualannual
Recreational Saltwater Fishing: Resident: $11.00, Non Resident: $11.00
License Prices, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Freshwater Fishing
$45.00
Resident annualannual
Freshwater Fishing: Resident: $45.00, Non Resident: $63.00
License Prices, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Freshwater Fishing
$63.00
Nonresident annualannual
Freshwater Fishing: Resident: $45.00, Non Resident: $63.00
License Prices, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
1-day Freshwater Fishing
$10.00
Resident short term1 day
1-day Freshwater Fishing: Resident: $10.00, Non Resident: $15.00
License Prices, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
3-day Freshwater Fishing
$28.00
Nonresident short term3 day
3-day Freshwater Fishing: Resident: N/A, Non Resident: $28.00
License Prices, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
7-day Freshwater Fishing
$35.00
Nonresident short term7 day
7-day Freshwater Fishing: Resident: N/A, Non Resident: $35.00
License Prices, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Senior Freshwater Fishing
$7.00
Seniorannual
Senior Freshwater Fishing: Resident: $7.00, Non Resident: N/A
License Prices, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Hunting/Freshwater Fishing Combination
$56.00
Combination hunting and fishingannual
Hunting/Freshwater Fishing Combination*: Resident: $56.00, Non Resident: $151.00
License Prices, New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Who needs one
A New Hampshire license is needed from age 16
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 New Hampshire
In New Hampshire a licence is needed from 16. That is the commonest threshold in the country, shared by 29 states. There is a senior rate from 68.
Youth under age 16 do not need a license to fish in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, 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
New Hampshire has 2 free fishing days
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.
Saturday, January 17, 2026
residents and nonresidents, any inland water or saltwater, tournament anglers still need a licence
If you've ever wanted to try ice fishing, why not take advantage of New Hampshire's winter free fishing day on Saturday, January 17, 2026. That's a day you can fish without a license in New Hampshire.
Free Fishing Day in New Hampshire Is January 17, 2026, NH Fish and Game Department, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Saturday, June 6
residents and nonresidents, anywhere in New Hampshire, tournament anglers still need a licence
Take advantage of New Hampshire's Free Fishing Day on Saturday, June 6. On Free Fishing Day, you can fish anywhere in New Hampshire without a fishing license. Both state residents and nonresidents may participate.
Free Fishing Day in New Hampshire Is Saturday, June 6, NH Fish and Game Department, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
What the licence does not cover
The 2 New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire Fish and Game Department 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.
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 New Hampshire compares
19 states run a year from purchase, 10 run a calendar year
New Hampshire dies on 31 December whatever day it was 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.
New Hampshire fishing license questions
New Hampshire charges residents $45.00 for Freshwater Fishing. Someone from over the line pays $63.00, which is 1.40 times as much. New Hampshire Fish and Game Department prices 8 licences in all, and every one of them is in the table below with the row it was printed in.
New Hampshire dies on 31 December whatever day it was bought, so a licence bought on the first of December is worth about 4 weeks. It stops on December 31st. The ordinary resident annual licence is $45.00, sold as Freshwater Fishing. The same purchase on the same day buys about 13 months in Pennsylvania and about 4 weeks in West Virginia. New Hampshire Fish and Game Department writes: “Licenses run on calendar year (except temporary types), expiring on December 31st.”
In New Hampshire a licence is needed from 16. That is the commonest threshold in the country, shared by 29 states. There is a senior rate from 68. The agency writes: “Youth under age 16 do not need a license to fish in New Hampshire.”
Yes. New Hampshire publishes 2 days 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: “If you've ever wanted to try ice fishing, why not take advantage of New Hampshire's winter free fishing day on Saturday, January 17, 2026. That's a day you can fish without a license in New Hampshire.”
A licence is not always the whole bill. New Hampshire sells 2 further stamps and endorsements on top of it, each covering water or a species the ordinary licence does not. Wildlife Habitat Fee costs $2.50 and covers hunting and hunting fishing combination licences, not a freshwater fishing licence on its own. 44 states sell something like it.
$63.00 for Freshwater Fishing, against $45.00 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.
New Hampshire Fish and Game Department sells licences through its own online counter. Every price and rule here was read off New Hampshire Fish and Game Department'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 New Hampshire 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.
New Hampshire Fish and Game Department 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.
