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United States · MS
Mississippi
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (MDWFP)
Rules change by area and can change mid-season. We explain what the rules mean and always link you to the official source — we never copy a limit table and call it current.
Licences — what you need
- • Freshwater and saltwater are separate licences in Mississippi — the freshwater licence does not cover the coast, and the saltwater licence is structured around the I-10 line dividing marine waters.
- • State lakes and state fishing lakes may have daily permits on top of the licence.
How the rules are organized
- • Freshwater rules are mostly statewide with named-lake exceptions (Ross Barnett, the Tenn-Tom Waterway lakes, Grenada/Sardis/Enid crappie lakes are managed individually).
- • Saltwater rules are administered with the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources framework for the Gulf coast.
Good to know — common mistakes
- • The I-10 boundary rule decides whether you need the saltwater licence — fishing brackish water near the coast confuses many visitors.
- • The big flood-control reservoirs are famous crappie fisheries with lake-specific rules that have changed repeatedly in recent years.
- • Hand-grabbing for catfish (noodling) is a legal Mississippi tradition in season, with its own framework.
- • Yo-yos, set hooks and trotlines are regulated with tagging and water restrictions — legal methods vary by lake.
Official links
Fishing locations covered in this guide
This page is a plain-language summary, not the law. Regulations change — including in-season by official notice — and if anything here disagrees with the official source, the official source governs.
AnglerPlan is an information service, not a regulator. If anything here disagrees with an official source, the official source wins — and please tell us so we can fix it.