A Oregon fishing licence bought in December is worth about 4 weeks
Oregon Fishing License: $50.00 and When It Expires
Every price Oregon Department of Fish and 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.
$50.00
Resident annual licence
Angling
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 / 3 / 4
Prices, free days and stamps here
each one linked to the page it was read from
The answer
What a Oregon fishing license costs, and how long it lasts
Calendar yearOregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Oregon 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 Dec. 31. The ordinary resident annual licence is $50.00, sold as Angling. The same purchase on the same day buys about 13 months in Pennsylvania and about 4 weeks in West Virginia.
An Oregon angling licence runs to the end of December whatever month it was bought in, and next year's can be bought from 1 December.
Oregon charges residents $50.00 for Angling. Someone from over the line pays $138.00, which is 2.76 times as much. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife prices 8 licences in all, and every one of them is in the table below with the row it was printed in.
In Oregon a licence is needed from 12. The commonest threshold in the country is 16, so Oregon is not one of the ordinary ones here. There is a senior rate from 70.
Oregon publishes 3 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. Oregon sells 4 further stamps and endorsements on top of it, each covering water or a species the ordinary licence does not.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife sells licences through its own online counter.
Oregon 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 Oregon license expires
An Oregon angling licence runs to the end of December whatever month it was bought in, and next year's can be bought from 1 December.
Most hunting and fishing licenses are valid from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. You can buy next year's license on Dec. 1 to plan ahead or gift to family and friends. The exceptions are game bird hunting permits and validations that run from July 1 to June 30 each year.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Every price the agency prints
All 8 Oregon license prices
A state rarely sells one licence. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 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.
Angling
$50.00
Resident annualannual
Angling | $50.00 | $138.00
License, Tag and Permit Fees, Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Angling, nonresident
$138.00
Nonresident annualannual
Angling | $50.00 | $138.00
License, Tag and Permit Fees, Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
One Day Angling and Shellfish Combo
$29.00
Resident short termone day
One Day Angling and Shellfish Combo | $29.00
License, Tag and Permit Fees, Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Seven Day Angling
$117.00
Nonresident short termseven day
Seven Day Angling | N/A | $117.00
License, Tag and Permit Fees, Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Senior Angling (70 years old and Oregon resident for at least 5 years)
$34.00
Seniorannual
Senior Angling (70 years old and Oregon resident for at least 5 years) | $34.00 | N/A
License, Tag and Permit Fees, Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Youth License (12-17 years old)
$10.00
Youthannual
Youth License (12-17 years old) (Includes Angling, Hunting, Shellfish, Columbia River Basin Endorsement, and Ocean Endorsement) | $10.00
License, Tag and Permit Fees, Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Combination License - Angling and Hunting
$86.00
Combination hunting and fishingannual
Combination License - Angling and Hunting | $86.00 | N/A
License, Tag and Permit Fees, Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Disabled Veteran Combination
Free
Military or veteranannual
Disabled Veteran Combination (Includes Columbia River Basin Endorsement and Ocean Endorsement) | Free | N/A
License, Tag and Permit Fees, Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Who needs one
A Oregon license is needed from age 12
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 Oregon
In Oregon a licence is needed from 12. The commonest threshold in the country is 16, so Oregon is not one of the ordinary ones here. There is a senior rate from 70.
All anglers 18 and older must purchase a fishing license, and appropriate tags and endorsements. Young anglers from 12-17 years old need a $10 Youth License -- includes fishing, hunting, shellfish licenses and Columbia River Basin Endorsement. Children younger than 12 years do not need a license to fish or shellfish.
Oregon Department of Fish and 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
Oregon has 3 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.
February 14 - 15 (Saturday & Sunday), President's Day Weekend
anyone, no licence, tag, endorsement or validation needed to fish, crab or clam
On Free Fishing Weekends only, you do not need: License to fish, crab or clam anywhere in Oregon. Combined angling tag. Columbia Basin endorsement. Ocean endorsement. Rogue-South Coast Steelhead Validation. Two-Rod Validation.
2026 Free Fishing Days and events, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
June 6 - 7 (Saturday & Sunday)
anyone, no licence, tag, endorsement or validation needed to fish, crab or clam
On Free Fishing Weekends only, you do not need: License to fish, crab or clam anywhere in Oregon. Combined angling tag. Columbia Basin endorsement. Ocean endorsement. Rogue-South Coast Steelhead Validation. Two-Rod Validation.
2026 Free Fishing Days and events, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
November 27-28 (Friday & Saturday), Thanksgiving Weekend
anyone, no licence, tag, endorsement or validation needed to fish, crab or clam
On Free Fishing Weekends only, you do not need: License to fish, crab or clam anywhere in Oregon. Combined angling tag. Columbia Basin endorsement. Ocean endorsement. Rogue-South Coast Steelhead Validation. Two-Rod Validation.
2026 Free Fishing Days and events, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
What the licence does not cover
The 4 Oregon 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 Oregon Department of Fish and 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.
salmon, steelhead or sturgeon, including catch and release
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 Oregon compares
19 states run a year from purchase, 10 run a calendar year
Oregon 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.
Oregon fishing license questions
Oregon charges residents $50.00 for Angling. Someone from over the line pays $138.00, which is 2.76 times as much. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife prices 8 licences in all, and every one of them is in the table below with the row it was printed in.
Oregon 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 Dec. 31. The ordinary resident annual licence is $50.00, sold as Angling. The same purchase on the same day buys about 13 months in Pennsylvania and about 4 weeks in West Virginia. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife writes: “Most hunting and fishing licenses are valid from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. You can buy next year's license on Dec. 1 to plan ahead or gift to family and friends. The exceptions are game bird hunting permits and validations that run from July 1 to June 30 each year.”
In Oregon a licence is needed from 12. The commonest threshold in the country is 16, so Oregon is not one of the ordinary ones here. There is a senior rate from 70. The agency writes: “All anglers 18 and older must purchase a fishing license, and appropriate tags and endorsements. Young anglers from 12-17 years old need a $10 Youth License -- includes fishing, hunting, shellfish licenses and Columbia River Basin Endorsement. Children younger than 12 years do not need a license to fish or shellfish.”
Yes. Oregon publishes 3 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: “On Free Fishing Weekends only, you do not need: License to fish, crab or clam anywhere in Oregon. Combined angling tag. Columbia Basin endorsement. Ocean endorsement. Rogue-South Coast Steelhead Validation. Two-Rod Validation.”
A licence is not always the whole bill. Oregon sells 4 further stamps and endorsements on top of it, each covering water or a species the ordinary licence does not. Columbia River Basin Endorsement (When purchased at same time as angling license) costs $9.75 and covers salmon or steelhead in the Columbia Basin. 44 states sell something like it.
$138.00 for Angling, nonresident, against $50.00 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.
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife sells licences through its own online counter. Every price and rule here was read off Oregon Department of Fish and 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 Oregon 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.
Oregon Department of Fish and 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.
