Two licenses: tidal and nontidal
Maryland splits fishing licenses by water:
- A Nontidal Sport Fishing License covers fresh water above the tide: lakes, reservoirs and
the upper rivers and streams.
- A Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Fishing License covers the Bay, its tidal rivers, the
coastal bays and the ocean.
Short-term versions of both are sold for visitors. Residents past a senior age can buy one
Senior Consolidated license that covers both waters. Where each river turns from tidal to
nontidal is listed on the dividing lines page.
Licenses last a year from the day you buy them.
Trout: trout stamp
To catch, try to catch or keep trout in nontidal water, you also need a trout stamp above a
minimum age. The senior license doesn't include it. You don't need a stamp for trout from private
ponds or licensed fee-fishing ponds.
Free saltwater angler registration
Some people fishing tidal water without their own license still need a free Maryland Saltwater
Angler Registration. That includes:
- passengers on a boat with a Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Sport Boat License;
- anglers at a license-free fishing area on tidal water;
- waterfront owners and their families fishing from their own shore;
- anglers who hold a Virginia saltwater license.
Children under the minimum age, anglers with a guide or on a licensed commercial pier, and anglers
on a free fishing day don't need to register.
Fishing without a license
- License-free areas: more than 20 public piers, parks and bulkheads around the state, from
Baltimore's Canton waterfront to Ocean City's 125th Street pier, need no license or stamp. The
list is by county. In
tidal water, you still need the free registration.
- Charter boats: anglers on a licensed charter boat don't need their own license.
- Waterfront owners and their families can fish from their own shoreline.
- Free fishing days: a few days a year anyone can fish without a license. Every other rule
still applies.
Virginia and the Potomac
- On the nontidal Potomac main stem, a Virginia resident's nontidal license covers the river off
the Virginia shore, and a Maryland nontidal license covers fishing from the Virginia bank.
- In tidal water, a Virginia saltwater license is good in Maryland with the free Maryland
registration, and a Maryland Bay and Coastal license is good in Virginia with Virginia's
registration.
Tuna, sharks and billfish offshore
Keeping tunas, swordfish, billfish or sharks from a boat takes a federal Atlantic HMS Angling
permit from NOAA Fisheries, renewed every year. Sharks need a shark endorsement on the permit.
Discounts and free licenses
Free licenses are available to some Maryland veterans (fully service-connected disabled veterans,
former prisoners of war and veterans judged unemployable by the VA) from a DNR Service Center, and
to blind individuals. Maryland veterans who received a Purple Heart get a discount.
Where to buy
Buy online through MD Outdoors, at a DNR Licensing and Registration Service Center, or from a
license agent such as a tackle shop or outfitter.
Before you eat your catch
The Maryland Department of the Environment tests wild fish for PCBs and mercury and issues
consumption advisories on which fish to eat and how often. They matter most for children and
pregnant women. See the fish consumption guidelines.
