Missouri · Fishing permit · Cost
How much is a fishing permit in Missouri?
$14 a year if you live here, $57 if you don't.
Just passing through? Daily fishing permit costs $9 — the annual pays for itself from about 7 of those.
Every permit price
| Permit | Who | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Resident fishing permit Covers fish, frogs, mussels, clams, turtles, crayfish and live bait. | Resident | $14 |
| Daily fishing permit Can be bought for several days at once. | Resident | $9 |
| Lifetime permit, bought for ages 0 to 15 Residents only. Carries the same privileges as the resident fishing permit and the trout permit. Ordered on paper, not sold online. | Resident | $320 |
| Lifetime permit, ages 16 to 29 Residents only, ordered on paper. | Resident | $465.50 |
| Lifetime permit, ages 30 to 39 Residents only, ordered on paper. | Resident | $407 |
| Lifetime permit, ages 40 to 59 Residents only, ordered on paper. | Resident | $349 |
| Lifetime permit, ages 60 to 64 Residents only. Worth weighing against the fact that residents 65 and over need no base permit at all. | Resident | $40.50 |
| Nonresident fishing permit | Visitor | $57 |
| Daily fishing permit Same price as for residents. | Visitor | $9 |
What comes on top
These are separate from the base permit. Buying the permit alone is not always enough.
| Trout permit, resident Required to keep trout, except in trout parks where you buy a daily trout tag instead. Also required for all winter fishing in trout parks and year-round on Lake Taneycomo above the U.S. 65 bridge. | $12 |
|---|---|
| Trout permit, nonresident Same rule as the resident trout permit. | $24 |
| Trout permit, ages 0 to 15 Same rule, reduced rate. | $6 |
| Daily trout tag for trout parks, 16 and up Needed from March 1 to October 31 at Bennett Spring, Montauk, Roaring River and Maramec Spring, on top of a fishing permit. | $5 |
| Daily trout tag for trout parks, 15 and under Same rule, reduced rate. | $3 |
Fees inside the price
Ordering by phone on 800-392-4115 adds a $1 surcharge. MDC states no other transaction fee.
How long your money lasts
Annual permits expire at the end of February. Missouri calls these permits rather than licenses.
What we could not pin down
Rather than fill these in from somewhere else, they stay open until MDC states them plainly.
- Whether the $9 daily permit is a flat fee or charged per day when bought for several days is not stated on any MDC page found.
- MDC's page on the 2026 price adjustments returned a 403 at retrieval. Prices here come from the live permit pages, which are labelled as current 2026 pricing.
- MDC also runs single-location free fishing events, such as a women's day at Bennett Spring. Their scope — which fees are waived, and where — was not verifiable, so they are left out rather than presented as statewide free days.
