Colorado River Fishing License: Prices, Permits, and Bag Limits

A current Arizona fishing license is all you need to fish the Colorado River along Arizona’s borders with California and Nevada, including Lake Mead, Lake Mohave, and Lake Havasu. Residents pay $37 and nonresidents pay $55 for a full year, and both prices include trout privileges and the border-water authority that used to require separate Colorado River stamps.¹

What an Arizona License Covers on the River

Since 2014, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission has folded the old Colorado River stamp privileges into every standard fishing license. If you hold a current Arizona license, you already have the authority those separate stamps used to provide for both the California and Nevada border waters, whether you’re casting from shore or from a boat.¹

The license is valid the full length of the river forming Arizona’s boundary with California and Nevada, including the impounded reservoirs. It covers all fish species, allows two-pole fishing, and includes trout.²

License Types and Prices

Arizona sells several options. All of them include Colorado River privileges and trout authority.¹

General Fishing: $37 resident, $55 nonresident. Valid one year from the purchase date.
Combination Hunt and Fish: $57 resident, $160 nonresident. Adds small game, furbearers, predatory animals, and upland game birds.
Youth Combination Hunt and Fish, ages 10 through 17: $5 for residents and nonresidents alike, with the same privileges as the adult combination.
Short-Term Combination Hunt and Fish: $15 per day resident, $20 per day nonresident. You pick the days at purchase and they don’t have to be consecutive.

For a weekend visitor to Lake Havasu or the lower river, the short-term license is usually the better math. Two nonresident days run $40 against $55 for a full year you may never use again.

Who Needs a License

Anyone 10 or older needs a valid Arizona fishing license. Children under 10 can fish without one.³ The $5 youth license carries every privilege an adult license does.

Arizona designates one free fishing day each year during National Fishing and Boating Week. In 2026 it falls on June 6.⁴ On the Colorado River there’s a limit worth knowing: on border waters shared with California, Nevada, or Utah, Free Fishing Day only applies to shoreline fishing unless the neighboring state also waives its license requirement that day.⁵

Fishing From a Boat and the Special Use Permit

Arizona law has a special statutory framework for the Colorado River because it forms the border between multiple states. Under the statute, anyone fishing from a boat or other floating device on those waters must carry either an Arizona or California fishing license, plus a Colorado River special use permit capped at four dollars on top of the state license.⁶

In practice this reads differently than it works. Because the commission bundled the stamp privileges into every standard fishing license in 2014, an Arizona license holder should already be covered for boat fishing on both the California and Nevada border stretches. There is nothing extra to buy.¹

The exception is coming in with only a California license. The statute technically requires California license holders to obtain an Arizona-Colorado River special use permit before fishing from a boat on the shared water.⁶ If that’s your situation, contact the Arizona Game and Fish Department to confirm what’s currently required.

The special use permit has never applied to shoreline fishing. Stay on the shore of the state that issued your license, keep out of a boat, and your regular state license is enough.⁶

Using a Nevada License Instead

Lake Mead, Lake Mohave, and the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada operate under a reciprocal arrangement. You can fish these waters with either an Arizona or Nevada license.³ Nevada requires a license starting at age 12, two years older than Arizona’s threshold.

Nevada still sells its own Colorado River special use stamp at $3, valid from March through the following February.⁷ If you fish on a Nevada license and want to leave the Nevada shore, you’ll need either an Arizona license or that Nevada stamp on top of your Nevada license.

Bag Limits by River Stretch

Bag limits change along the river. Some stretches are more generous than Arizona’s statewide defaults, and one is stricter.⁸

Glen Canyon Dam to the Paria Riffle at Lees Ferry: two rainbow trout per day, artificial flies and lures only, barbless hooks required. Rainbow trout must be killed and kept or released immediately. No limit on bass, catfish, non-rainbow trout, or walleye.
Paria Riffle to Navajo Bridge, including tributaries: six rainbow trout per day, same kill-or-release rule. No limit on other sport fish.
Navajo Bridge to Separation Canyon through the Grand Canyon: no limit on any sport fish.
Separation Canyon to Hoover Dam, including Lake Mead: five trout per day, twenty striped bass 20 inches or longer with no limit under 20 inches, and fifteen crappie.

Where the river regulations are silent, Arizona statewide limits fill the gap: four trout of any species, six bass (largemouth and smallmouth combined), ten striped bass, and ten catfish. Statewide possession is twice the daily bag unless a specific rule says otherwise.⁸

Protected Species You Must Release

Four native fish in the Colorado River Basin are protected under the Endangered Species Act. If you hook one, release it immediately:⁹

Humpback chub, a small silvery fish with a fleshy hump behind its head, endangered since 1967.
Bonytail, a sleek chub with a very thin tail, endangered since 1980.
Colorado pikeminnow, the largest minnow in North America at over three feet, endangered since 1967.
Razorback sucker, recognizable by the sharp keel along its back, endangered since 1991.

Fishing is also prohibited within half a mile upstream or downstream of the confluence where the Little Colorado River meets the Colorado, which serves as critical habitat.⁵

How to Buy and Carry Your License

The fastest route is the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s online portal at license.azgfd.com, where you can pick your license type and start date.¹⁰ Licenses are also sold at authorized retailers, including sporting goods stores near the river.

The Arizona E-Tag app stores your license on your phone for field verification, and game wardens accept the digital display. If you opt in to electronic tags through your AZGFD portal account, you’re required to use the app and to keep your device charged in the field.¹¹

Penalties for Fishing Without a License

Fishing without a valid license in Arizona is a class 2 misdemeanor and can bring up to four months in jail. The Arizona Game and Fish Commission can also revoke, suspend, or deny your privilege to take wildlife after a public hearing.¹²

Arizona belongs to the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, which has more than 45 member states. If you get a wildlife citation in Arizona and fail to comply with it, the commission can report you to your home state, and your home state can then suspend your fishing and hunting privileges there.¹² A $37 license is a better deal than losing your privileges across the country.

1
eRegulations. License and Fee Structure – Arizona Fishing
2
Legal Information Institute. Arizona Administrative Code R12-4-207 – General Fishing License; Exemption
3
National Park Service. Fishing – Lake Mead National Recreation Area
4
Arizona Game and Fish Department. Arizona’s Free Fishing Day
5
eRegulations. 2025 and 2026 Arizona Fishing Regulations
6
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 17-342 – Colorado River Special Use Permit
7
Legal Information Institute. Nevada Administrative Code 502.285 – Fishing in Reciprocal Waters of Colorado River, Lake Mead and Lake Mohave
8
National Park Service. Recreational Fishing Information – Grand Canyon National Park
9
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program – Species
10
Arizona Game and Fish Department. AZGFD License Portal
11
Arizona Game and Fish Department. Arizona E-Tag App
12
Arizona Legislature. Arizona Code 17-340 – Revocation, Suspension and Denial of Privilege of Taking Wildlife