Recreational Freshwater Fishing Ruels & Regulations 2025

Fishing seasons and limits 2025

**This is for information purpose only! please always check with official ruels and regulations!**

**This is for information purpose only! please always check with official ruels and regulations!**

Striped bass and herring: check with the Division of Marine Fisheries at (617) 626-1520 or mass.gov/marinefisheries.

Possession is illegal for: Sturgeon (all species), American Brook Lamprey, Atlantic (sea-run) Salmon, Bridle Shiner, Burbot, Eastern Silvery Minnow, Lake Chub, Longnose Sucker, and Northern Redbelly Dace. If they are caught, they must be released immediately. This means remove hook or cut line and return fish to water immediately — do not wait to take pictures, use a stringer, put it in a net, or delay in any way the immediate return and release of these rare fish to the water!

1 Minimum length is measured in a straight line (not curved over the body) from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail. The tips of any forked tail may be squeezed together for the final measurement.

2 Trout is defined here as brook, brown, rainbow, and tiger trout (a cross between a female brown and a male brook trout). From Apr. 1 to Sept. 10, no more than 8 of these trout may be taken daily, and only 3 of those trout may be from lakes, ponds, or major rivers3. From Sept. 11 to Mar. 31, no more than 3 of these trout may be taken daily.

3 Major rivers: Childs, Coonamessett, Deerfield, Farmington, Green (Colrain), Green (Great Barrington), Ipswich, Jones, Mashpee, Millers, Nissitissit, North (Colrain), North (West Branch), Parker, Quaboag, Quinapoxet, Quinebaug, Seven Mile, Santuit, Scorton Creek, Shawsheen, Squannacook, Stillwater (Sterling, Princeton), Swift (East Branch), Swift (Winsor Dam to Ware River, except where posted), Tully (East and West Branches), Ware, Ware (East Branch), Westfield (all branches).

4 Mainstem Housatonic only, from the confluence of the East and West Branches to the border between MA and CT, except catch-and-release areas where no trout may be kept.

5 Special brown trout water: South Pond (Quacumquasit), Brookfield. Total daily limit is 3 trout, only 1 may be a brown trout and it must be at least 15 inches.

6 Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs: The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) sets these fishing season dates.

Quabbin Reservoir fishing season generally starts the third Saturday of April and ends after the third Saturday in October. These dates can change due to weather and other factors. Except during this open season, Quabbin Reservoir and its tributary streams within the Quabbin Reservation are closed to fishing. For a Quabbin Fishing Guide, visit mass.gov/dcr/quabbinfish o call (413) 323-7221.

Wachusett/Sudbury/West Waushacum fishing season generally starts the first Saturday in April and ends November 30. These dates can change depending on ice conditions. At Wachusett Reservoir, shoreline fishing only is allowed from Gate 6 on Route 70 to Gate 36 on Route 110. For a Wachusett and Sudbury Reservoir Fishing Guide, visit  mass.gov/dcr/wachusettfish or call (508) 792-7806.

7 American Shad are Catch-and-Release ONLY on all waters except the Connecticut and Merrimack rivers, including their tributaries.

8 Smelt may be taken by hook and line only.

9 Except for the state- and federally-listed species listed in the “Possession is illegal for:” section below the table above.

**This is for information purpose only! please always check with official ruels and regulations!**

Live Bait

It is unlawful to take fish from the inland waters of the state to sell as bait. Anglers who trap fish for personal use as bait may use only one trap.

Licensed anglers may take bait for personal use at any time by any legal method. These methods include a rectangular net not to exceed 36 square feet in net area, a circular or ring net not to exceed six feet in diameter, or a fish trap with openings not to exceed one inch. Nets designed to catch fish through its gills may no be used. For personal use as bait, dead or alive, licensed anglers may only take these species:

Banded killifish
Fallfish
Fathead minnow
Golden shiner
Mummichog
Pumpkinseed
Rainbow smelt*
Yellow perch
White sucker
* Smelt may be taken only by hook and line. Possession or use of smelt as bait in inland waters other than during the smelt season is prohibited.

Frogs (except leopard frogs) 2.5 inches or less snout to vent may be taken by licensed anglers and used as bait; 10 daily, 10 in possession, and they may not be sold.

Herring: check with the Division of Marine Fisheries at (617) 626-1520 or mass.gov/marinefisheries.

**This is for information purpose only! please always check with official ruels and regulations!**

Ice fishing

All anglers are allowed up to five hooks in the ice at one time. A hook is defined as an angling device attached to the line of a tip-up or jig stick that is designed to take one fish. This includes plain hooks, treble hooks, spinners, spoons, bait harnesses, jigs, or plugs. The device is not restricted to a single hook – lures with multiple treble hooks count as one hook in the water. Hooks can be on any combination of tip-ups or jig sticks, but no more than five hooks are allowed in total.

Anglers must be able to tend their own hooks (tip-ups or jig sticks). Adults may assist kids with cutting holes or removing hooks, but kids must be able to tend tip-ups or jig sticks on their own. See tips on ice density and safety.

**This is for information purpose only! please always check with official ruels and regulations!**