Connecticut · Fishing license · Cost
How much is a fishing license in Connecticut?
$32 a year if you live here, $63 if you don't.
Just passing through? Marine Waters, three days costs $8 — the annual pays for itself from about 8 of those.
Every license price
| License | Who | Price |
|---|---|---|
| All Waters, ages 18 to 64 Inland and marine in one licence — $4 more than inland alone, and it saves working out which side of the demarcation line you are on. | Resident | $32 |
| All Waters, ages 16 and 17 Residents aged 16 or 17 get 50 percent off any fishing licence. | Resident | $16 |
| Inland Waters only, ages 18 to 64 | Resident | $28 |
| Inland Waters only, ages 16 and 17 | Resident | $14 |
| Inland Waters only, age 65 and over Free for Connecticut residents, but it has to be renewed every year. | Resident | Free |
| Marine Waters only, ages 18 to 64 | Resident | $10 |
| Marine Waters only, ages 16 and 17 | Resident | $5 |
| Marine Waters only, age 65 and over Free, renewed annually. | Resident | Free |
| All Waters, age 16 and over No youth or senior discount applies to visitors. | Visitor | $63 |
| Inland Waters only, age 16 and over | Visitor | $55 |
| Marine Waters only, age 16 and over | Visitor | $15 |
| Inland Waters, three days Visitors only — Connecticut sells no short-term inland licence to its own residents. | Visitor | $22 |
| Marine Waters, three days Visitors only. The cheapest legal saltwater fishing in Connecticut. | Visitor | $8 |
What comes on top
These are separate from the base license. Buying the license alone is not always enough.
| Trout and Salmon Stamp, age 18 and over Required from age 16 to keep any trout or salmon, and to fish a Trout Management Area, Trout Park, Wild Trout Management Area class 1, 2 or 3, or an Atlantic Salmon Management Area — whether or not you keep anything. Visitors pay the same $5. | $5 |
|---|---|
| Trout and Salmon Stamp, ages 16 and 17 Connecticut residents only, same rule at the reduced rate. | $3 |
How long your money lasts
DEEP: licences are "issued on a calendar year basis and expire on December 31st". Buy in November and you have two months, not twelve.
What we could not pin down
Rather than fill these in from somewhere else, they stay open until DEEP states them plainly.
- DEEP’s licence portal page lists a resident one-day marine licence at $5, and $3 for ages 16 and 17. The fee table in DEEP’s own 2026 Fishing Guide shows no resident one-day licence at all and marks the three-day options as available to non-residents only. Two official sources, two different answers — so it is left out of the table until they agree.
- DEEP also sells combination hunting and fishing licences between $20 and $120. They were not itemised at retrieval and are left out rather than published in part.
- Which licence you need on a tidal river depends on the demarcation line between the inland and the marine district, which DEEP lists waterbody by waterbody in the guide. No single rule covers it.
