The new license year begins March 1st and continues through the last day of February the following year (2025). Here’s some points to consider before wetting a line:
Who needs a fishing license?
New licenses and permits are required annually for everyone except resident and non-resident boys and girls ages 15 and younger, resident landowners, their spouses and dependent children, and tenants, their spouses and dependent children, fishing on lands where they live and work. There is one exception.
On March 29, 2023 a noteworthy change was made when Senate Bill 241 was enacted into law by the Kentucky General Assembly, removing the license and permit exemption for resident owners and tenants who live and work on these lands, if the lands are less than five acres in size.
Fishing license options
Largemouth bass (Photo from Wikimedia Commons)
• An annual fishing license is $23 for residents, $55 for non-residents.
• A joint/spouse annual fishing license is $42 for residents, and not available to non-residents.
• A 1-day fishing license is $7 for residents, and $15 for non-residents.
• A 3-year fishing license is available to residents only, for $55 and must be purchased online.
• A non-resident 7-day fishing license is $35.
• Trout permits are $10 for both residents and non-residents.
• Kentucky residents 65 years of age or older and Kentucky residents that have been certified totally and permanently disabled, may purchase a senior/disable license for $12. This license is not available to non-residents.
Where to Buy Licenses
Kentucky fishing licenses and permits can be purchased online on the secure Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Online License Sales site, or in person throughout the state at about 900 locations, including country stores, some county clerk’s offices, local hunting and fishing businesses, and some chain stores that sell outdoor sporting goods.
To read all the regulations pertaining to fishing consult the 2024-25 Kentucky Fishing & Boating Guide which will be available online and in a paper booklet, at the beginning of the new license year.
Notable Size Limit Changes
There were three recent changes in size limits that not all anglers may be aware of, and need to be know about going into the new fishing season:
• On Kentucky’s muskie reservoirs, Buckhorn Lake, Cave Run Lake, Dewey Lake and Green River Lake, there is now a 40-inch minimum size limit on muskies.
• On three rivers, the Kentucky River above Lock and Dam 14, Barren River upstream of Barren River Lake, and the Cumberland River upstream of Cumberland Falls, there is now a 15-inch minimum size limit on smallmouth bass.
• On 12 lakes and two streams, including Boltz Lake, Corinth Lake and General Butler Lake in northern Kentucky, there is now a 12 to 15-inch protective slot limit on largemouth bass, which means that all bass caught that measure between 12 of 15 inches, must be released.
Find a Place to Fish
Anglers searching for a small lake close to where they live, can find lots of options by accessing the Fishing in Neighborhoods (FINs) page on the KDFWR website.
The FINs program was created in 2006 to provide anglers with quality fishing opportunities close to home.
The program includes 45 lakes statewide.
Lakes are regularly stocked with catfish and rainbow trout throughout the year, and sunfish and bass populations are sampled regularly to ensure natural reproduction is meeting the needs of anglers. Supplemental stockings of sunfish and/or largemouth bass are made if needed.
The FINs program is a cooperative agreement between KDFWR and city/county municipalities.
All 45 lakes in the FINs program have a standard set of regulations that are posted at the lakes. These regulations are more restrictive than the statewide regulations to help spread the fish harvest over a longer period of time.
These FINS regulations include:
• Rainbow Trout, a daily creel limit of five with no minimum size limit. No culling of trout is permitted. Culling is holding a trout in a livewell, fish basket or stringer and later replacing it with another fish.
• Catfish, a daily creel limit of four with no minimum size limit.
• Largemouth Bass, a daily creel limit of one with a 15-inch minimum size limit.
• Bluegill/Other Sunfish, a daily creel limit of 15 with no minimum size limit.
Possession or use of live shad for bait is prohibited at all FINs lakes. All grass carp caught must be immediately released. Grass carp are stocked to control aquatic vegetation. No cast nets allowed to be used on FINs lakes for the taking of live bait.
View stocking schedules to see a list of lakes by county.
Opinionated Anglers
(Photo from Flickr Commons)
What season of the year offers the best fishing?
It depends on who you ask and what their species preferences are. Anglers can’t seem to agree.
A look at the Kentucky state record fish list might provide some insight.
There are more than 60 species of fish on Kentucky’s state record fish list, including about 34 species that are considered sport fish. Note that some species were stocked in years past and are no longer present in Kentucky waters.
The sport fish include: four species of black bass, eight species of sunfish, four species of temperate bass, five species of catfish, four species of perch, four species of trout and five species of pike.
Of these 34 species of sport fish, 12 state record fish were taken in the spring, 16 in the summer, five in the fall and one in the winter.
A complete list of state record fishes and awards is available from the KDFWR.
Go fishing whenever you can, but keep in mind that spring and summer have yielded the most record fish. Why that is, is another question that anglers probably wouldn’t agree about.
