Florida Fishing License: Requirements, Cost, and Age Limits (2026)

Florida residents and visitors generally need the appropriate freshwater or saltwater fishing license when taking or attempting to take fish. The listed age, location, vessel, pier, and free-day exemptions may apply.

Florida sells freshwater and saltwater licenses as separate privileges. The resident combo discounts and bundles both licenses; it is not a third, standalone all-water license.

A nonresident annual license costs $47 for either freshwater or saltwater. Each water type is a separate license.

The resident annual freshwater fishing license costs $17.

The separately sold resident annual saltwater fishing license costs $17.

A resident five-year license costs $79 for either freshwater or saltwater. The two water types remain separate products.

The annual resident freshwater-and-saltwater combination costs $32.50. It bundles the two separate licenses at a discount.

A nonresident three-day license costs $17 and a seven-day license costs $30, for either freshwater or saltwater.

FWC makes recreational licenses available online, by phone, through the Fish|Hunt FL app, and in person through license agents or tax collectors.

Children younger than 16 are exempt from Florida fishing-license requirements.

Florida residents age 65 or older are exempt when carrying proof of age and residency, or may carry the optional no-cost Resident 65+ Hunting and Fishing Certificate. Florida does not provide a parallel senior exemption to nonresidents; the under-16 exemption still applies to visiting children.

Florida residents may obtain a no-cost shoreline saltwater license for fishing from land or a structure fixed to land. It does not cover fishing from a vessel or from a shoreline reached by vessel, and no freshwater shoreline equivalent exists. Florida created it to avoid the federal shoreline-registration requirement scheduled for 2010 and its later fee.

An individual saltwater license is not required when fishing from a pier covered by a valid FWC saltwater pier license.

No freshwater license is required when fishing on your own homestead, your spouse's or minor child's homestead, or—for a minor—the parent's homestead. This is a property-based exemption, separate from the home-county pole rule.

A resident fishing recreationally in the home county with live or natural bait and a pole or line without a retrieval mechanism is exempt. The rule does not apply in a legally established fish management area.

An individual saltwater license is not required aboard a licensed guide, charter, or party boat, or aboard a vessel whose operator holds a valid recreational saltwater vessel license issued in the operator's name.

Snook and spiny-lobster permits normally apply in addition to the saltwater license, but FWC waives both on saltwater License-Free Fishing Days. Tarpon tags have no exemption. The free State Reef Fish Angler Designation and Shore-based Shark Fishing Permit are mandatory for covered activity even when the angler is otherwise license-exempt.

Florida's 2026 freshwater license-free days are April 4–5 and June 13–14. Saltwater license-free days are June 6–7, September 5, and November 28. The license waiver covers residents and nonresidents; other fishing rules still apply. FWC also waives snook and spiny-lobster permits on the saltwater days.

For recreational fishing licenses, a resident has declared Florida as the only state of residence and provides accepted Florida proof, or is an active-duty U.S. military member stationed in Florida. A stationed member's spouse and dependent children living in the household also count as residents.

A valid Georgia fishing license is accepted on the St. Marys River and Lake Seminole, excluding Florida tributary creeks. This is a narrow boundary-water rule, not statewide Florida–Georgia reciprocity.

The initial Level One violation carries a $50 civil penalty plus the cost of the required license or permit. A repeat of the same violation within 36 months carries $250 plus that cost. The underlying violation is a noncriminal infraction; the second-degree-misdemeanor provision applies only if the person refuses the citation, fails to pay, or fails to appear.