A Utah fishing licence runs a full year from the day you buy it
Utah Fishing License: $40.00 and When It Expires
Every price Utah Division of Wildlife Resources 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.
$40.00
Resident annual licence
Resident 1-year fishing (age 18-64)
365 day
Which clock it runs on
runs a year from the day you buy it
365 days
A licence bought 1 December 2026
against 395 in Pennsylvania and 30 in West Virginia
9 / 1 / 3
Prices, free days and stamps here
each one linked to the page it was read from
The answer
What a Utah fishing license costs, and how long it lasts
365 dayUtah Division of Wildlife Resources
Utah 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 $40.00, sold as Resident 1-year fishing (age 18-64). The same purchase on the same day buys about 13 months in Pennsylvania and about 4 weeks in West Virginia.
A Utah licence runs 365 days from the day it is bought, and the same page says a multiyear licence simply runs longer, so buying in December costs a buyer nothing.
Utah charges residents $40.00 for Resident 1-year fishing (age 18-64). Someone from over the line pays $120.00, which is 3.00 times as much. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources prices 9 licences in all, and every one of them is in the table below with the row it was printed in.
In Utah a licence is needed from 12. The commonest threshold in the country is 16, so Utah is not one of the ordinary ones here. There is a senior rate from 65.
Utah 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. Utah sells 3 further stamps and endorsements on top of it, each covering water or a species the ordinary licence does not.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources sells licences through its own online counter.
Utah 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.
When a Utah license expires
A Utah licence runs 365 days from the day it is bought, and the same page says a multiyear licence simply runs longer, so buying in December costs a buyer nothing.
Licenses are valid for 365 days from the date of purchase, unless you buy a multiyear license, which will be valid for longer.
A state rarely sells one licence. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources 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.
Resident 1-year fishing (age 18-64)
$40.00
Resident annual1 year
Resident 1-year fishing (age 18-64) - Purchase multiyear licenses at $39 per year (up to five years) | $40.00
Fees, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Nonresident 1-year fishing (age 18 and older)
$120.00
Nonresident annual1 year
Nonresident 1-year fishing (age 18 and older) - Purchase multiyear licenses at $119 per year (up to five years) | $120.00
Fees, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Resident 3-day fishing
$19.00
Resident short term3 day
Resident 3-day fishing | $19.00
Fees, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Nonresident 3-day fishing (all ages)
$44.00
Nonresident short term3 day
Nonresident 3-day fishing (all ages) | $44.00
Fees, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Nonresident 7-day fishing (all ages)
$91.00
Nonresident short term7 day
Nonresident 7-day fishing (all ages) | $91.00
Fees, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Resident-year fishing (age 65 and older)
$31.00
Senior1 year
Resident-year fishing (age 65 and older) - Purchase multiyear licenses at $31 per year (up to five years) | $31.00
Fees, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Resident 1-year fishing (age 12-13)
$5.00
Youth1 year
Resident 1-year fishing (age 12-13) | $5.00
Fees, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Resident 1-year fishing (age 14-17)
$16.00
Youth1 year
Resident 1-year fishing (age 14-17) | $16.00
Fees, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Resident disabled veteran 1-year fishing
$12.00
Military or veteran1 year
The discounted license is $12 in-stead of the $40 full price and the license is good for 365 days from the day you buy it.
2026 Utah Fishing Guidebook, page 9, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
Who needs one
A Utah 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 Utah
In Utah a licence is needed from 12. The commonest threshold in the country is 16, so Utah is not one of the ordinary ones here. There is a senior rate from 65.
If you're under 12 years of age, you do not need a fishing license to fish in Utah. ... If you're 12 years of age or older, you must purchase a fishing license or a combination license to fish in Utah.
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
Utah 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.
Saturday, June 6, 2026
anyone fishing in Utah, all other fishing laws still apply
The one day you don't need a license to fish in Utah is Saturday, June 6, 2026, which is Free Fishing Day. Everyone in Utah can fish for free that day, but please remember that all of the state's other fishing laws and rules still apply.
2026 Utah Fishing Guidebook, page 8, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source
What the licence does not cover
The 3 Utah 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 Utah Division of Wildlife Resources 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 Utah compares
19 states run a year from purchase, 10 run a calendar year
Utah 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.
Utah fishing license questions
Utah charges residents $40.00 for Resident 1-year fishing (age 18-64). Someone from over the line pays $120.00, which is 3.00 times as much. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources prices 9 licences in all, and every one of them is in the table below with the row it was printed in.
Utah 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 $40.00, sold as Resident 1-year fishing (age 18-64). The same purchase on the same day buys about 13 months in Pennsylvania and about 4 weeks in West Virginia. Utah Division of Wildlife Resources writes: “Licenses are valid for 365 days from the date of purchase, unless you buy a multiyear license, which will be valid for longer.”
In Utah a licence is needed from 12. The commonest threshold in the country is 16, so Utah is not one of the ordinary ones here. There is a senior rate from 65. The agency writes: “If you're under 12 years of age, you do not need a fishing license to fish in Utah. ... If you're 12 years of age or older, you must purchase a fishing license or a combination license to fish in Utah.”
Yes. Utah 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: “The one day you don't need a license to fish in Utah is Saturday, June 6, 2026, which is Free Fishing Day. Everyone in Utah can fish for free that day, but please remember that all of the state's other fishing laws and rules still apply.”
A licence is not always the whole bill. Utah sells 3 further stamps and endorsements on top of it, each covering water or a species the ordinary licence does not. Resident setline fishing permit costs $22.00 and covers fishing with a setline, on top of a licence. 44 states sell something like it.
$120.00 for Nonresident 1-year fishing (age 18 and older), against $40.00 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.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources sells licences through its own online counter. Every price and rule here was read off Utah Division of Wildlife Resources'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 Utah 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.
Utah Division of Wildlife Resources 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.
