Taking & Possession of Fish

Possession and daily limits

• A person may not have in possession, or intentionally kill or injure, fish other than the sizes specified and allowed for that species on a given water. Any fish in a vehicle used to access a given water counts towards the number and sizes of fish in possession.
• A person may not possess, kill, or unnecessarily injure fish in excess of the daily limit for that species.
• Any fish an angler catches and immediately releases uninjured will not be counted as part of the daily limit for that species.
• A person may continue to fish for a species while in possession of a daily limit for that species provided all fish of that species subsequently caught are immediately returned to the water. See next bullet for special provisions made for largemouth and smallmouth bass.

• A single, uninjured largemouth bass or smallmouth bass that an angler is landing, measuring, or in the process of releasing from a recirculating or aerated livewell is not considered to be part of the daily limit.

Catch and Release

• Catch and Release angling is only permitted during the open season for a particular fish species.
• Measuring, weighing, and photographing the fish are permitted as long as the fish is not removed from the water for an extended period or handled in a manner that could cause harm.
• Fish may not be placed in a bucket, tub, livewell, or on a string or any other holding device.
• Catch and Release angling for endangered or threatened fish species is prohibited.

Closed season restriction

A person may not fish for a species (even if immediately released) during the closed season for that species on a given water. Fish caught during the closed season must be unhooked and released immediately. They may not be handled for any other purpose.

Endangered and threatened fish

It is illegal to fish for, or possess, fish that are officially listed by DEC as endangered or threatened:

• Endangered: silver chub, bluebreast darter, deepwater sculpin, gilt darter, pugnose shiner, round whitefish, shortnose sturgeon, Atlantic sturgeon, and spoonhead sculpin

• Threatened: eastern sand darter, lake chubsucker, lake sturgeon, northern

(longear) sunfish, mooneye, gravel chub,

banded sunfish, longhead darter, swamp darter, spotted darter, and mud sunfish

Any unintentionally caught threatened or endangered fish species must be unhooked and released immediately. They may not be handled for any purpose other than removing the hook and placing them back into the water.

Foul hooking

All foul-hooked trout, lake trout, coho salmon, Chinook salmon, pink salmon, and Atlantic salmon must be released without unnecessary injury to the fish.

Snakehead

Use of gaffs

Use or possession of gaffs or gaff hooks is prohibited when fishing in freshwater, including the Hudson River upstream of the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, except when ice fishing or while bowfishing.

METHODS OF TAKING FISH

Angling

Angling means taking fish by hook and line. This includes bait and fly fishing, casting, trolling, and the use of landing nets to complete the catch.

• Anglers must be in immediate attendance when their lines are in the water.

⊲ The use of set lines, where the angler is not in immediate attendance, is prohibited.

• An angler may operate no more than 3 lines with or without a rod.

⊲ each line is limited to not more than 5 lures or baits or a combination of both.

⊲ in addition, each line shall not exceed 15 hook points in any combination of single, double, or treble hooks.

• Snatching, lifting, hooking, and the use of tip-ups are not angling.

Ice fishing

Ice fishing is permitted unless specifically prohibited in New York, except for Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Warren, and Washington counties where ice fishing is prohibited in waters inhabited by trout, unless specifically permitted.

Ice fishing regulations

• No more than 7 ice fishing lines in any combination of devices may be used, unless otherwise noted in Special Regulations.
• No person shall operate an ice fishing line that has more than 5 lures or baits in total or has more than 15 hook points in total.
• The operator must be in immediate attendance when ice fishing lines are in the water.
• Between May 1 and Nov 14, only hand lines (including rod and reels) may be used while ice fishing.

Ice shanties

Ice shanties must be marked on the outside with the owner’s name and address in letters at least 3 inches high. Shanties must be removed from all waters by Mar 15 to prevent them from falling through the ice and becoming hazards to navigation.

For the purposes of this regulation, portable shelters used and removed from the ice on a daily basis are not considered ice shanties.

Bowfishing

• Carp may be taken by a longbow

(recurve or compound) in any number

or size from May 15–Sept 30 from any

water where fishing and the discharge of a bow is permitted.

• A person must have either a fishing license, a hunting license, or be entitled to fish without a fishing license to take carp with a longbow.
• No other fish may be taken with a bow.
• Taking fish by a crossbow is prohibited at all times.
• The Fish Carcass Disposal Law must be followed.

Snatching

• The taking of fish by snatching or blind snatching is prohibited at all times.

Spearing

• The taking of fish by spear or spear guns is prohibited at all times.
• Use of spearguns is prohibited in the freshwaters of New York.
• Spears may not be possessed on any water in the Adirondack Park or Lake George or within 200 feet of the high water mark of these waters.

Taking baitfish

See Baitfish Regulations.

Use of fish traps

Fish (minnow) traps may only be used to take baitfish. See Baitfish Regulations for minnow trap specifications.

Use of nets

Nets may only be used to take fish as follows:

• The use of a landing net to complete the catch while angling is permitted.
• Personally harvested baitfish may be collected with the various nets.
• Smelt, suckers, alewives, and blueback herring may be collected by dip nets.
• No other use of nets to collect fish is permitted.

Dip nets