Indiana Fishing License: Cost, Requirements & How to Buy
A Indiana fishing license costs $23 for a resident adult and $60 for a non-resident adult (fees verified 2026-09-11).
Indiana's fishing license is a single annual fee covering the state's reservoirs, rivers and its share of Lake Michigan, with one add-on stamp for anglers specifically targeting trout or salmon.
Add $11 Trout/Salmon Stamp to fish for trout or salmon. $3 online tech fee per license applies.
Fee last verified 2026-09-11.
Heading out for Indiana fishing? Game wardens require carrying physical or digital license proof and valid tags. Equip yourself with a waterproof license and tag pouch, rechargeable wide-beam LED headlamp, and corrosion-resistant multi-tool pliers before your trip.
Once you have the license, check the Indiana fishing regulations: statewide daily bag limits, size limits and seasons by species.
What an Indiana fishing license costs
The resident annual license is $23; non-residents pay $60. Shorter options exist for non-residents: a 1-day license for $9 and a 7-day license for $20. A $3 online tech fee applies per license purchased online (or $1 for purchases made at a DNR property or by mail).
The trout/salmon stamp
Anglers targeting trout or salmon, most relevantly in Indiana's Lake Michigan tributaries, need an $11 Trout/Salmon Stamp in addition to the standard fishing license. It's not required for general lake and reservoir fishing.
License year
Indiana's fishing license year runs April 1 through March 31, matching the hunting license year, so anglers buying in spring get a full season through the following spring's opener.
How to buy your Indiana fishing license
GoOutdoorsIN.com handles online sales, and licenses are also available at more than 500 authorized retailers across the state, by phone, or by mail.
Fishing in Indiana: what to expect
Indiana's reservoir system (Monroe, Patoka and Brookville among the largest) carries the bulk of the state's bass and crappie fishing, and all three support healthy populations within a short drive of most of the state's population. Indiana's slice of Lake Michigan shoreline around Michigan City adds coho and Chinook salmon fishing each fall, a genuinely different experience from the rest of the state's inland lakes. The Ohio River along Indiana's southern border also holds catfish and sauger for anglers willing to fish moving water rather than a reservoir.
Best times to fish in Indiana
Indiana's reservoir bass fishing follows the familiar spring-spawn pattern typical of Midwest impoundments, with the pre-spawn bite in April and May drawing the heaviest tournament traffic to Monroe and Patoka. The Lake Michigan salmon run peaks in September and October as coho and Chinook stage near the Michigan City harbor before heading upstream, giving shore and pier anglers a realistic shot at fish that otherwise require a boat. Crappie fishing on Indiana's reservoirs is best in early spring as fish move shallow to spawn, well before the lake turns over into summer's deeper, more scattered pattern.
Trout stamp, the $3 tech fee and the reservoirs
Resident annual is $23; non-resident is $60. Add an $11 trout/salmon stamp to fish for those species, and expect a $3 online tech fee per license. The stamp is the difference between a legal afternoon on a stocked north-state stream and a ticket. If you will only fish bass and bluegill on Geist or Monroe, skip the stamp and buy the base license.
Lake Michigan salmon out of Michigan City is a stamp water. Inland reservoirs (Monroe, Patoka, Mississinewa) are the bass and crappie draws. A one-day license is sold for visitors. Reciprocal rules with Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Kentucky on boundary rivers are easy to over-read: launch in Indiana, hold Indiana. Do not assume a Michigan license covers a launch at an Indiana ramp on the St. Joseph.
GoOutdoorsIN.com adds the $3 tech fee at checkout; a shop counter may not. If you will fish trout in the north-state streams even once, buy the $11 stamp with the license so you are not adding it later on a phone. Youth exemptions exist for younger anglers; if you are over the cutoff, buy it. Conservation officers at Monroe and on the Lake Michigan piers check on opening weekends. A screenshot of the license in your camera roll is enough when the app will not load on the water. The $11 trout stamp is a separate line; skip it for a pure bass weekend on Monroe, and buy it if a north-state stream is on the drive home. A one-day license remains the visitor default when you will not be back.
How to renew a Indiana fishing license
There is no separate renewal process in Indiana. A fishing license is not extended in place; when it expires you buy a new one for the next license year through the same system you used the first time, and your customer profile, hunter or angler ID and any saved payment details carry over so the second purchase takes a couple of minutes.
The fastest route is the official Indiana online licensing portal, which also lets you print or download the new license and add any stamps, tags or endorsements in one transaction. In-person license agents (sporting goods stores, bait shops and, in many states, county clerks) sell the same license at the same price, so use whichever is closer. Buying before the old license lapses is not required, but it avoids an accidental gap if a season opens before you get round to it.
Planning more than one? See the Indiana hunting license page too, see how much a fishing license costs in every state, compare non-resident fishing fees across states, browse every state, or use the state license finder.