West Virginia · Fishing license · Cost
How much is a fishing license in West Virginia?
$19 a year if you live here, $37 if you don't. West Virginia sells no fishing licence on its own: with the conservation stamp every licensed angler needs, a resident year comes to $24 and a visitor’s to $50.
Just passing through? One day fishing (Class LL) (conservation stamp extra) costs $3 — the annual pays for itself from about 13 of those.
Every license price
| License | Who | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Fishing (Class B), annual (conservation stamp extra) With the $5 Class CS conservation stamp that this licence requires, $24 in total. | Resident | $19 |
| Five-day fishing (Class L) (conservation stamp extra) The conservation stamp is required with this one too, so $13 all in — the annual is worth it from the second trip. | Resident | $8 |
| Sportsman hunting, fishing and trapping (Class X), ages 18 to 64 Only worth it if you hunt as well. | Resident | $35 |
| Sportsman Plus (Class XP), annual The Sportsman licence with the trout stamp built in — $10 more, which is exactly what the stamp costs separately. | Resident | $45 |
| Sportsman, three years (Class X3) | Resident | $105 |
| Sportsman Plus, three years (Class XP3) Three years including the trout stamp. | Resident | $135 |
| Junior sportsman (Class XJ), ages 15 to 17 The first licence a West Virginian needs — under 15 nobody does. | Resident | $16 |
| Senior hunting, fishing and trapping (Class XS), age 65 and over For residents who reached 65 on or after 1 January 2012. It includes the trout stamp privilege. Residents who turned 65 before that date need no licence at all. | Resident | $25 |
| Fishing (Class F), annual (conservation stamp extra) With the $13 Class CS/LE conservation and law enforcement stamp, $50 in total. | Visitor | $37 |
| One day fishing (Class LL) (conservation stamp extra) The licence is $3, the compulsory stamp $13 — so the first day costs $16 and every further day is free once you hold the stamp for the year. | Visitor | $3 |
| Junior sportsman (Class XXJ), ages 8 to 17 WVDNR notes it is "not required for fishing under age 15". | Visitor | $16 |
| Lifetime fishing (Class F-L) Bought for a child it costs less: $460 under age 1, rising to $1,035 for ages 10 to under 15. | Visitor | $1150 |
What comes on top
These are separate from the base license. Buying the license alone is not always enough.
| Conservation stamp (Class CS), resident Required for anglers holding a Class B or Class L licence. Nobody fishes on the base licence alone. | $5 |
|---|---|
| Conservation and law enforcement stamp (Class CS/LE), nonresident Required with the Class F, LL and XXJ licences. At $13 it costs more than four one-day licences. | $13 |
| Trout fishing stamp (Class O), resident Required of licensed anglers fishing for trout, except holders of the Class XS, XP and XP3 licences, which include it. | $10 |
| Trout fishing stamp (Class OO), nonresident Required of licensed visitors fishing for trout. | $16 |
| National forest stamp (Class I) Required on top of the Class F, LL and F-L licences if you fish in a National Forest. | $2 |
Fees inside the price
West Virginia charges in parts, and the stamp is not optional: a resident year is $19 plus the $5 conservation stamp, so $24. A visitor pays $37 plus $13, so $50 — and a single visitor day is $3 plus that same $13, so $16. On top come the issuing fees: $3 for a first purchase and $1 for later ones at the 160-plus retail agents and designated county clerks, or $2 per transaction online at WVfish.com and by phone.
How long your money lasts
WVDNR: "Fishing and Hunting Licenses are good for the calendar year. You must purchase new licenses at the beginning of each year." Buy in December and it expires days later.
What we could not pin down
Rather than fill these in from somewhere else, they stay open until WVDNR states them plainly.
- WVDNR’s licence pages carry no price table at all; they send you to the sales portal behind a login. Every figure here comes from WVDNR’s own 2026 Fishing Regulations Summary, pages 28 to 30.
- The statute could not be used as a cross-check: code.wvlegislature.gov answered every request — scripts and the rendered browser alike — with a redirect to an unrelated federal website.
- The conservation stamp is required alongside the Class B and Class L licences, but whether it is charged once a year across several licences or again with each is not stated. The totals given here assume once a year.
- The nonresident junior licence carries the note "not required for fishing under age 15", which sits oddly beside its stated age range of 8 to 17. WVDNR does not resolve it.
- West Virginia also sells a wide range of resident and nonresident lifetime licences and stamps priced by the age at purchase. Only the nonresident lifetime fishing licence is reproduced here.
