Australian Fishing Licences: A State-by-State Guide (2026)

Whether you need a fishing licence in Australia depends on where you are standing. Cross the Murray from Albury into Wodonga and you go from one state's licence to another's. Drive from Brisbane to Byron and you go from no licence at all to $7 for three days.

Most of the old rules of thumb are wrong somewhere. The ACT needs no licence. Tasmania's sea fishing is free with a rod, but its trout water is not. In WA it depends on whether the boat has a motor. This guide covers all eight states and territories, with fees checked against each state's fisheries agency in October 2026, and a finder that works out your own trip.

Pick a state and what you're fishing for. The finder tells you whether you need anything, which licence it is, the cheapest way to cover the length of your trip, and where to buy it. Kids, seniors and pensioners often fish free, but the cards that count are different in every state, so put in your age and card and it will check those too.

Photo: Gustav Schwiering on Unsplash

A licence is half the trip. These are campsites from our Campsite Explorer that sit on good water, eight for each state where we have them. The tabs follow the finder above, so the state you picked there opens here, and each state section below shows three of them.

Victoria licenses everything. One Recreational Fishing Licence covers salt and fresh water, boat and shore, line, spear, bait collecting and yabbies. The law also counts having gear in, on or beside the water as fishing, so a rod rigged on the jetty with nobody holding it still needs a licence.

Through Service Victoria a licence costs $10 for 3 days, $24.70 for 28 days, $40.80 for a year and $111.20 for three years (the year and three-year prices are the online rates; agents charge a little more). Fees are indexed every 1 July.

Who fishes free: under 18s, anyone 70 or over, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, holders of a Victorian Seniors Card or an interstate equivalent, DVA pension card holders, and Pensioner Concession Card holders whose card is coded AGE, DSP or CAR. A Health Care Card doesn't count, and neither do PPS or JobSeeker cards. If you're exempt, carry the card.

Rock lobster needs one more step: register each season and report your catch in the GoFishVic RL app. The free Vic Fishing app has the bag and size limits.

NSW charges the Recreational Fishing Fee for all fishing in fresh and salt water, including spearfishing, trapping, prawn netting and bait gathering. It's $7 for 3 days, $14 for a month, $35 for a year or $85 for three years, from Service NSW online, on 1300 369 365 or at a licence agent.

Who fishes free: under 18s, plus an adult helping them (one rod or scoop net per child); Aboriginal people; the primary holder of a Pensioner Concession Card from Centrelink or DVA; and some DVA Gold Card holders. Seniors Cards and Health Care Cards don't exempt you in NSW, which catches out a lot of retirees who are exempt across the border in Victoria.

Private dams of two hectares or less are exempt, and a half fee applies on the tidal Tweed River and nearby beaches. Fishing without paying is a $200 penalty notice. The free FishSmart NSW app carries the rules.

Photo: Taylor Grote on Unsplash

Queensland has no general recreational fishing licence. Salt water, boats, crabbing, spearfishing, rivers and creeks are all free. Bag limits, size limits and closed seasons apply everywhere, and they're enforced.

The one exception is the Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme. If you're 18 or over and line fishing in one of the 65 stocked dams and weirs in the scheme, you need a SIPS permit: $13.60 for a week or $64.58 for a year, or $46.45 a year with a Queensland Seniors Card, Pensioner Concession Card or Health Care Card. Fees rose 3.4% on 1 July 2026. Buy it online through Australia Post, at any Queensland post office, or in the Qld Fishing 2.0 app. The money goes straight back into restocking those dams with bass, barramundi and golden perch.

South Australia has no recreational fishing licence. You can line fish from shore or boat, crab and spearfish without one, and some of the country's best whiting, snapper and tuna fishing is free.

Three things do need paperwork. The SA Water reservoirs open to fishing (Myponga, Happy Valley, Bundaleer, South Para, Warren, Aroona and Beetaloo) need an SA Water permit. Rock lobster pots must be registered with PIRSA every year, two per person at most. Mesh nets must be registered too, while drop nets and hoop nets only need the right buoy and tag.

There's no Murray cod permit, despite what older guides say. Murray cod are no-take in the River Murray and the Lower Lakes, and can't be targeted at all from 1 August to 31 December. The free SA Fishing app has the limits.

WA licenses activities, not fishing in general. Line fishing, crabbing and spearfishing from the shore are free. You need a licence for:

• Fishing from a powered boat — the Recreational Fishing from Boat Licence, $40 a year. You also need it if you use a powered boat just to reach a shore spot with your gear or catch.

• Freshwater south of 29°S — roughly Geraldton down — the South-West Freshwater Angling Licence, $50.

• Rock lobster, abalone, marron and net fishing — $50 each, even from the shore.

Kayaks and unpowered boats don't need the boat licence, and nor do charter clients or anyone fishing with a licence holder and keeping within that holder's bag limit. Under 16s, Seniors Card holders and eligible pensioners pay half, under 16s don't need the freshwater licence at all, and two or more licence types take 10% off. Interstate licences aren't valid in WA. Buy through DoTDirect; the Recfishwest app has the rules.

Tasmania runs two systems. In the sea, rod-and-line fishing and spearfishing for finfish need no licence. Rock lobster (pot, ring or dive), abalone, scallops, graball, mullet and beach seine nets, and set lines each need a sea fishing licence: $66.85 for the first type and $9.55 for each extra, or $38.20 concession, for the licence year ending 31 October 2026. The new year's fees weren't published when we checked. Buy through NRE Tas or Service Tasmania.

Inland water is a different matter. From age 14 you need an angling licence for every inland water, private farm dams included. For 2026-27 that's $96 for a full season, $29 for 48 hours, $49 for 7 days or $76 for 28 days, with $76 for seniors, $52.50 for pensioners and 18 to 21-year-olds, and $29 for anyone 80 or over. Juniors aged 14 to 17 still need a licence, but it's free. Buy from the Inland Fisheries Service or a tackle shop.

Tassie's wild brown trout are worth the licence — see our Tassie trout guide. The Fishing Tas app covers the sea rules.

Photo: Viktor SOLOMONIK on Unsplash

Northern Territory. No fishing licence and no boat licence. But much of the NT's intertidal zone is Aboriginal land, so in some coastal zones you need a permit from the Northern Land Council. It's free. Popular areas covered by long-term agreements, such as the Daly River, Cox Peninsula and Bynoe Harbour, need nothing. Check the NLC zone map before heading somewhere remote. The NT Fishing & Boating Mate app has the limits.

ACT. No licence for the ACT's public waters, whatever older guides say. Waters are zoned open, trout or prohibited, so check the zone. Spears and gaffs are illegal. Googong Reservoir is managed under NSW law and needs the NSW licence.

Search for a fishing licence and the top results are often resellers. They're not illegal, but some charge heavily for something the state sells for a few dollars. The NSW Government gave the example of $128 charged for two one-month licences that cost $28, and in September 2026 proposed a law to stop it. In WA, a receipt from a third party isn't a valid licence at all.

Buy from the state's own service: Service Victoria, Service NSW, DoTDirect in WA, NRE Tas or the Inland Fisheries Service in Tasmania, or Australia Post for Queensland's SIPS. Most licences are now digital, so keep yours on your phone, along with the card that exempts you if you're relying on one. Fisheries officers do check boat ramps and jetties, and "I left it at home" doesn't get you far.

Five minutes and the price of a pack of hooks sorts most trips, and the money goes back into the fishing: Victoria's trout stocking, Queensland's stocked dams, and NSW fishing platforms and fish aggregating devices.

Sort the licence before you leave, while you still have phone reception. Then put that state's free fishing app on your phone, because the rules that catch people out are the bag and size limits, not the licence.

New to it? Start with our bait fishing guide, find somewhere to go with fishing spots for beginners, or take the kids with how to make their first trip a success. Fishing from a boat? We carry 316 stainless rod holders for rails, decks and gunwales.