New York State is waiving the $25 fee for fishing licenses on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2025. It\u2019s the sixth and last free fishing day this year and applies to both residents and nonresidents.<\/p>\n
\u201cFall is a great time of year to fish in New York\u2019s pristine waters while honoring a veteran in your life,\u201d Governor Hochul said. <\/p>\n
The Department of Environmental Conservation also offers free and reduced fee fishing licenses<\/a> for active-duty military members meeting certain criteria, and for resident veterans with a service-related disability.<\/p>\n While no license is required, all other freshwater fishing regulations<\/a> remain in effect.<\/p>\n \u201cFree Fishing Day is more than a tradition, it is an invitation for our Veterans, Service Members, and their families to connect with the healing power of nature, build community, and enjoy the beauty of our great state,\u201d said NYS Department of Veterans Services Commissioner Viviana M. DeCohen.<\/p>\n DEC last weekend hosted its annual \u2018Healing Military Servicemembers and Veterans thru Fly Fishing\u2019 weekend on the Salmon River for veterans and wounded service members. All 12 participants caught fish, including steelhead, coho, and some late-run Chinook salmon. <\/p>\n Spawning Pacific salmon are still migrating up many of NY\u2019s Great Lakes tributaries<\/a>, along with steelhead and brown trout. <\/p>\n Trout fishing is a solid choice, as trout stream regulations<\/a> are now catch and release, with only artificial lures allowed in inland streams through March 31. <\/p>\n The shore bite is hot on Oneida Lake, the state\u2019s top walleye fishery. For up-to-date reports on what\u2019s biting in Western or Central New York, check out the Lake Erie and Western NY Fishing Hotline<\/a> and the Central NY Fishing Hotline<\/a>.<\/p>\n Can\u2019t find a spot near you? Visit DEC\u2019s Places to Fish<\/a> site for popular destinations statewide. Mapping tools to help you find boat launches, stream regulations, and are also available, like DEC\u2019s Locator Interactive Map<\/a> or the Tackle Box feature in the HuntFishNY mobile app<\/a> to find a fishing spot near you with information on parking, boat launches, trout stream regulations, and more.<\/p>\n Send us your free fishing day pics!<\/p>\n If you, or someone you know, catches something\u2014anything\u2014on Free Fishing Day, send us a pic and we\u2019ll make them famous.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York State is waiving the $25 fee for fishing licenses on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2025. It\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2586,19805,9,11,10,49,51,50,19806,19804],"class_list":["post-33053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-dec","tag-free-fishing","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-salmon-river","tag-veterans-weekend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}