Going Fishing or Hunting in Natural North Florida? Don’t Forget Your License!
If you’re heading out to fish (or hunt) in our Natural North Florida region, you’ll likely need a license. That’s especially true if you’re not a Florida resident. Florida’s rules can be complicated, so here’s a quick look at the basics, thanks to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).
Who needs a recreational hunting or fishing license or permit?
Florida Residents and Visitors need a Florida hunting, freshwater fishing or saltwater fishing license unless they are a member of one of the “exempted” groups of people listed below. Your license is required to be with you when you are engaged the licensed activity. Replacement licenses cost $2.
A fishing license is required to attempt to take fish. If you cast your line, catch nothing, catch and release, or catch and keep and you are not a member of one the groups listed below; you need a license. A saltwater fishing license is also required to attempt to take any native or nonnative marine organisms, such as crabs, lobsters, and marine plants.
How and where do I buy hunting or fishing licenses?
Who does not need a license or permit?
Seniors and children
Food stamp, temporary cash assistance, or Medicaid recipients
The “food stamp” exemption below only applies to Florida residents who are saltwater fishing from the shore or a structure attached to the shore. It does not apply to freshwater fishing or to saltwater fishing from a vessel or when swimming or diving.
Exemptions
You do not need a recreational hunting, freshwater fishing or saltwater fishing license or a *Florida waterfowl, migratory bird, deer, turkey, snook, spiny lobster, archery season, crossbow season, muzzleloading season permit or *management area permit if…
- You are a child under 16 years of age (also exempt from federal duck stamp requirements).
- You are a Florida resident age 65 or older possessing proof of age and residency (a valid Florida Driver License or Florida ID Card meets this requirement) or possessing an optional Resident Senior Citizen Hunting and Fishing Certificate. Residents age 65 or older may obtain, at no cost, complimentary hunting and fishing certificates from some county tax collectors’ offices.
- You hunt or freshwater fish in your county of residence on your homestead or the homestead of your spouse or minor child, or if you are a minor child hunting or freshwater fishing on the homestead of your parent.
- You are a Florida resident certified as totally and permanently disabled and you possess a Florida Resident Disabled Person Hunting and Fishing License (hunter safety and migratory bird permit requirements apply).
- You are a resident who is a member of the Armed Forces of the United States, you are not stationed in this state, and you are home on leave for 30 days or less, upon submission of orders.
- You are hunting wild hog on private land.
- You are observing or filming someone else who is fishing or hunting and you are not assisting (setting decoys, calling birds, etc.) in the take in any way.
- You are a disabled veteran or active or reserve duty military service member and his or her immediate family members and an assistant who are participating in a permitted outdoor recreational event, for which the Commission has issued a Military/Disabled Veteran Event License Exemption Permit to the event organizer.
* These exemptions do not apply for the federal duck stamp.
In addition to the exemptions listed above, you do not need a freshwater fishing license if…
- You have been accepted as a client for developmental disabilities services by the Agency for Persons with Disabilities
. The agency must furnish proof to such clients. - You are fishing in a fish pond of 20 acres or less which is located entirely within the private property of its owner. A fish pond is a man-made pond constructed for the primary purpose of fishing, entirely within the property lines of the owner and with no surface water connection to public waters.
- You are fishing in a fish pond of 20 acres or more, whose owner has purchased a fish pond license
at a fee of $3 per surface acre. - You possess a Resident Freshwater Commercial Fishing License.
- You are fishing in the St. Mary’s River or Lake Seminole (but not including tributary creeks in Florida) and have a valid Georgia fishing license.
- You are freshwater fishing during Free Freshwater Fishing Days.
- You are a resident who is fishing with live or natural bait, using poles or lines that are not equipped with a fishing-line-retrieval mechanism, and you are fishing for noncommercial purposes in your home county. However, you must have a valid fishing license to fish by any method in a fish management area.
Shoreline saltwater fishing license
Residents who are fishing for a saltwater species (other than mullet in fresh water) from land or from a structure fixed to the land are required to have a no-cost saltwater shoreline fishing license unless they have a regular saltwater fishing license or are exempt