Freshwater Fishing Regulations

These are the only types of gear you may use in nontidal waters |
|
Gear |
Rules and Exceptions |
Bait Traps |
|
Hook and line, rod and reel and handlines |
|
Nets (general rules that apply to seines, dip nets and landing nets) |
|
Seines |
|
Dip Nets |
|
Landing Nets |
May only be used to land a fish caught by other means |
Bow, gig, spear and spear gun |
|
Hand and Noodling |
No special rules |
Nontidal Sport Fishing
It Is Illegal
- To cut a hole through the ice measuring more than 10 inches in any direction for the purpose of ice fishing.
- To take bait fish from Put-and-Take Fishing Areas or Special Trout Fisheries Management Areas.
- In Deer and Swan creeks in Harford County:
- For a person to catch or attempt to catch fish other than by hook and line, with line held in hand, attached to a pole or rod held in hand, or attended in a manner that the fish voluntarily takes bait or lure in its mouth.
- For a person to possess or use minnows for bait while fishing.
- For anyone to use a dip net baited by attaching an attractant to the net material or frame.
- To remove the head and tail of trout or any fish that has a size limit while at the fishing location.
- For a person to catch snapping turtles from nontidal waters of the state by hook and line, trotline, bow and arrow, net, seine, trap, fish pot, or other fishing rig, spear, gig or iron or any device capable of piercing any part of the turtle.
- To operate any vehicle on any lands owned or controlled by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources without written permission from the department except on those roads, lanes or areas which are open to automobile traffic or which are specifically marked by the department.
- To camp on lands owned and controlled by the department except on designated sites or with written permission.
- To swim in any State-controlled lake except in designated areas.
- In the Battie Mixon Fishing Hole:
- To fish between one hour after sunset and one hour before sunrise.
- To use boats propelled by gasoline or diesel power.
- To fish any streams or nontidal waters that contain trout between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. (This does not apply to nontidal impoundments of five acres or more.)
- To cull trout.
- Regarding crayfish in the Susquehanna River, Middle Potomac River, Monocacy River and Upper Potomac River basins, it is illegal to:
- Catch or process any species of crayfish unless the head is immediately removed behind the eyes upon capture.
- Use any species of crayfish as bait unless the head is removed behind the eyes.
- Catch and possess a female crayfish with eggs attached to the underside of the abdomen.
- To introduce/stock any aquatic species into any Maryland waterbody, except baitfish on a hook for the purpose of fishing, without first obtaining a pond stocking permit through the department.
- To have in possession while fishing more than 1 quart of cut bait.
Statewide Restrictions
It is Illegal
- To buy, sell, or offer to buy any fish or crab harvested under a recreational license.
- To use waders or boots soled with felt or any natural or synthetic porous material capable of absorbing liquid.
- To disturb, take, destroy or possess the nest or eggs of a terrapin or snapping turtle.
- To use largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, striped bass (or hybrids), muskellunge, tiger muskellunge, walleye, northern pike, pickerel, brown trout, or brook trout as bait
Rules are subject to change
Please check the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Fishing and Boating Services regulations page for possible changes
Información Importante en Español
Bowfishing
Bowfishing at Night?
Please remember...
- Do not shine lights into homes
- Ask permission to shoot when within 100 yards of another person or vessel
- Obey noise ordinances
Legal Equipment
- Compound Bow
- Recurve Bow
- Crossbow
- Gig
Don’t Shoot
- Largemouth Bass
- Smallmouth Bass
- Striped Bass
- Trout
- Walleye
- Northern Pike
- Muskellunge
- Snapping Turtles
- Sturgeon
- Hickory or American Shad
- River Herring
- Sharks
Legally Hunted Fish Include
- Blue Catfish
- Channel Catfish
- Chesapeake Channa
- Common Carp
- Flathead Catfish
- Gizzard Shad
- Goldfish
- Longnose Gar
- Sunfish
Without Permission It’s Illegal to Shoot Within 100 Yards of
- a human being
- an international diving flag
- an occupied duck blind
- another vessel
- a private or public swimming area
Make Sure Your Gear Has a Retrieval Line
(except a gig propelled by hand)
Help Save Maryland's Endangered Hellbenders—
Please Do Not Kill
The hellbender is a large, dark, aquatic salamander that can live for more than 30 years and grow to over two feet long. Hellbenders can bite, and their protective coating of slime makes them difficult to handle. If you catch a hellbender on your fishing line, cut the line as close to the hook as possible and let the animal go.
If you have seen or caught a hellbender, we would like to hear from you. Please call the department's Wildlife and Heritage Service at 410-260-8540.
