Iowa · Fishing license · Cost
How much is a fishing license in Iowa?
$22 a year if you live here, $48 if you don't.
Just passing through? Fishing, one day costs $12 — the annual pays for itself from about 4 of those.
Every license price
| License | Who | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Fishing, annual | Resident | $22 |
| Angler’s Special, three years Works out cheaper than three annual licenses. | Resident | $62 |
| Fishing, seven days | Resident | $15.50 |
| Fishing, one day The cheapest legal day of fishing in Iowa for a resident. | Resident | $10.50 |
| Fishing, lifetime, age 65 and over Iowa does not stop charging seniors — it sells them a lifetime license instead. | Resident | $61.50 |
| Outdoor Combo: hunting, fishing and habitat fee Only worth it if you hunt as well. | Resident | $55 |
| Boundary water trotline, annual For the Mississippi and Missouri boundary waters. | Resident | $26 |
| Fishing, annual | Visitor | $48 |
| Fishing, seven days | Visitor | $37.50 |
| Fishing, three days | Visitor | $20.50 |
| Fishing, one day The cheapest legal day of fishing in Iowa for a visitor. | Visitor | $12 |
| Boundary water trotline, annual | Visitor | $49.50 |
What comes on top
These are separate from the base license. Buying the license alone is not always enough.
| Trout fee, resident On top of the fishing license to keep trout. Under-16s fish without a license but still need this fee if they want to keep trout. | $14.50 |
|---|---|
| Trout fee, nonresident Same rule as the resident trout fee. | $17.50 |
| Lifetime trout fee, age 65 and over Residents only, sold alongside the lifetime fishing license. | $65 |
| Bonus line, third fishing line A regular Iowa license covers two lines. This permit adds a third. Residents and nonresidents pay the same. | $14 |
How long your money lasts
Iowa sells licenses by recreation year. The 2026 licenses went on sale on December 15, 2025, and the DNR states that "licenses purchased for 2025 expire on Jan. 10" — so a year’s license runs until January 10 of the year after it.
What we could not pin down
Rather than fill these in from somewhere else, they stay open until Iowa DNR states them plainly.
- A fee rise takes effect on December 15, 2026 for the 2027 recreation year: the DNR proposed the resident fishing license up $1 and the resident trout fee up 50 cents. The prices here are the 2026 ones and are due to be re-read on that date.
- Iowa Administrative Code 571—15.10, the binding fee rule, is printed with a resident annual license at $21 while the DNR’s own live page charges $22, and it carries two amendment stamps (effective June 17, 2026 and December 15, 2026). The DNR’s live page is what a buyer pays and is what stands here; the printed rule was not reconciled with it.
- The free fishing weekend covers residents only. Whether a nonresident already holding a license needs anything further on those days is not addressed on the DNR pages read.
- Iowa lists a lifetime trout fee for ages 65 and over at $65 and a lifetime fishing license at $61.50. Whether the trout fee has to be bought together with the lifetime license is not stated.
