West Virginia · Fishing license · Age
What age do you need a fishing license in West Virginia?
From 15 on, with no upper limit.
The ages that matter
Under 15
No license needed
Children can fish without one. Everything else still applies though — limits, sizes and seasons do not change with age.
15 and up
License required
Carry it with you while fishing.
65 and up
Cheaper, not free
West Virginia split its seniors by a cut-off date. Residents who turned 65 before 1 January 2012 fish without any licence at all. Residents who reached 65 on or after that date buy the Class XS senior licence once for $25, trout stamp included — cheaper than a single ordinary year at $24 plus a $10 trout stamp.
How WVDNR words it
WVDNR lists "nonresidents or residents under 15 years of age" among those for whom a fishing licence is not required, and its first junior licence starts at 15. The senior rule turns on a date rather than an age: residents who turned 65 before 1 January 2012 — that is, born before 1 January 1947 — need no licence and no trout stamp, carrying a West Virginia driving licence or photo ID instead. Everyone who reached 65 since then buys the $25 Class XS senior licence once, which carries the trout stamp privilege with it.
Quoted rather than paraphrased. With rules that carry a fine, the exact wording is the point.
Optional licenses for children
- Junior sportsman (Class XJ), ages 15 to 17 — $16. The first licence a West Virginian needs — under 15 nobody does.
- Junior sportsman (Class XXJ), ages 8 to 17 — $16. WVDNR notes it is "not required for fishing under age 15".
Other ways to be exempt
Age is one route. WVDNR lists these as well.
- Residents who turned 65 before 1 January 2012, those born before 1 January 1947 — a West Virginia driving licence or DMV photo ID must be carried while fishing
- Residents who are totally blind, carrying a physician’s statement — and no trout stamp is needed either
- Residents on active duty in the US armed forces while on military leave, carrying the leave number
- Resident landowners and their resident children, resident parents or bona fide resident tenants, fishing their own land in open season
- Residents honourably discharged with total permanent service-connected disability benefits, former prisoners of war, and resident disabled veterans exempted from motor vehicle registration fees — carrying a card issued by the DNR
- Residents or in-patients of a state mental hospital, health or benevolent institution, under proper supervision and carrying a statement signed by the superintendent
- Developmentally disabled residents, carrying a DDFL card issued by the DNR — no trout stamp needed either
