Maryland · Fishing license · Cost
How much is a fishing license in Maryland?
$32 a year if you live here, $55 if you don't. For visitors that $55 is a floor, not a price: Maryland charges the greater of $55 or whatever your own state charges a Maryland resident.
Just passing through? Chesapeake Bay and coastal sport fishing, seven days costs $12 — the annual pays for itself from about 5 of those.
Every license price
| License | Who | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Angler’s licence, non-tidal, annual Covers the fresh, non-tidal waters of the state. | Resident | $32 |
| Angler’s licence, non-tidal, seven days Half the annual price for a week — the annual wins from the second trip. | Resident | $16 |
| Chesapeake Bay and coastal sport fishing, annual A separate licence for the Bay, its tributaries and the Atlantic coastal waters. Cheaper than the freshwater one. | Resident | $15 |
| Chesapeake Bay and coastal sport fishing, seven days The cheapest legal fishing in Maryland. | Resident | $6 |
| Angler’s licence, non-tidal, annual A floor, not a fixed price: the statute sets the fee at the greater of $55 or whatever your home state charges a Maryland resident. Come from an expensive state and you pay that state’s rate. | Visitor | $55 |
| Angler’s licence, non-tidal, seven days Again the greater of $45 or your home state’s reciprocal fee. | Visitor | $45 |
| Angler’s licence, non-tidal, three days The greater of $35 or the reciprocal fee. | Visitor | $35 |
| Chesapeake Bay and coastal sport fishing, annual The Bay licence carries no reciprocity clause — a flat rate for every visitor. | Visitor | $22.50 |
| Chesapeake Bay and coastal sport fishing, seven days The cheapest way for a visitor to fish Maryland water. | Visitor | $12 |
How long your money lasts
Natural Resources Article § 4-604: "Every angler’s license shall be valid for 1 year following the date of issuance." Maryland counts from the day you buy, not to a fixed date.
What we could not pin down
Rather than fill these in from somewhere else, they stay open until Maryland DNR states them plainly.
- dnr.maryland.gov refused every automated request at retrieval — 403 to scripts and to the rendered browser alike, even with an ordinary browser identity, and news.maryland.gov did the same. Prices, ages and exemptions here therefore come from the Annotated Code of Maryland, Natural Resources Article §§ 4-604 and 4-745, which is the schedule the department charges by.
- The non-resident non-tidal fees are a minimum rather than a price. The statute sets them at the greater of the named amount or the fee the visitor’s own state charges a Maryland resident, so what you actually pay depends on where you live.
- Maryland designates its free fishing days by order of the Secretary. The 2026 dates sit on the departmental pages that would not respond, so the rule is published here without dates.
- A trout stamp and a senior consolidated licence are both referred to in the code, but neither fee appears in the two sections read. They are left out rather than published from another source.
