District of Columbia Fishing License
District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment, Fisheries and Wildlife Division (DOEE)
Contact
- Address
- 1200 First Street NE, 5th Floor
Washington, DC 20002 - DOEE main office
- 202-535-2600
- Fisheries and Wildlife Division
- 202-535-2260
- Fax
- 202-535-2881
- TTY
- 800-855-1000
- doee.fish@dc.gov
- Hours
- Mon-Fri 9am-5pm ET
- Website
- doee.dc.gov
At a glance
- Licences and permits
- 2
- Of which specialty
- 0
- Cheapest listed licence
- $10.00
- Fees verified
- 4 Sep 2026
Who does not need one
The District DOES require a fishing licence for the Potomac, the Anacostia and all other District waters. Two age exemptions are published on the current DOEE licence page: persons under sixteen (16) years of age and persons sixty-five (65) years of age or older do not need a licence. The 14-day short-term licence that DOEE formerly sold was discontinued in January 2022 and is no longer available.
Every licence and fee 2
| Licence | Residency | Term | Ages | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base licence 2 | ||||
| District of Columbia Fishing License - Resident Any District resident age 16 through 64 fishing in District of Columbia waters, including the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers Sold on a calendar year basis and valid through December 31 of the year of purchase. Purchased online through the DOEE payment portal. All sales final, no refunds. | Resident | annual | 16-64 | $10.00 |
| District of Columbia Fishing License - Non-Resident Any non-resident age 16 through 64 fishing in District of Columbia waters Sold on a calendar year basis and valid through December 31 of the year of purchase. Purchased online through the DOEE payment portal. | Non-resident | annual | 16-64 | $13.00 |
Fees as published by DOEE Fisheries and Wildlife Division and read on 4 September 2026. Agencies change fees without notice and vendors add issuing charges, so confirm the current price at the point of sale. We do not reproduce seasons, limits or gear rules — see the agency's regulations page for those.
Notes on this listing
Resident $10.00 / non-resident $13.00 and the under-16 and 65+ exemptions were read this session from the current DOEE 'Get a Fishing License' page, which also states the 14-day licence has not been sold since January 2022. A 2007 DOEE press release announcing a fee increase to these same amounts is still on the site; the current service page confirms the amounts are unchanged, so no newer fee schedule was found. DOEE lists 202-535-2600 as the department main line and 202-535-2260 for the Fisheries and Wildlife Division. The licence-page contact e-mail is doee.fish@dc.gov (a second address, doeefish@dc.gov, is given for licence-delivery problems). The DOEE payment page at dcwebforms.dc.gov/pay/doee91/ renders its licence-type and amount fields dynamically, so the fee tiers could not be confirmed a second time from the portal itself. DOEE publishes no free fishing day, so free_fishing_days is null. DOEE lists no YouTube channel; it also maintains a Bluesky account at https://bsky.app/profile/doeedc.bsky.social, for which the schema has no field.
About DOEE Fisheries and Wildlife Division
District of Columbia Department of Energy and Environment, Fisheries and Wildlife Division handles recreational fishing licensing for District of Columbia.
Base and combination licences run from $10.00 to $13.00 depending on residency, term and age.
There are no separate stamps or endorsements to buy on top of the base licence.
The fee table below was read from official sources on 4 September 2026. We list what each item is called, who needs it and what it costs, and link out for the rules themselves — seasons, limits and gear regulations live on the agency’s own page and change too often to mirror.