2026 Trout Season
2026 trout season begins with Opening day celebration, March 1
March 1 was opening day for the 2026 catch-and-keep trout fishing season at Bennett Spring State Park. The season runs through Oct. 31. The daily limit is four trout, and the possession limit is eight for all four parks.
The park store sold 1,919 trout tags March 1, including 1,681 adults and 228 children the first day.
Trout season in Missouri is a cooperative effort between the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Division of State Parks managing the state parks and MDC operating fish hatcheries at Bennett Spring, Montauk, and Roaring River. Trout raising, stocking, and fishing at Maramec Spring Park is a cooperative effort between MDC and The James Foundation.
MDC operates trout hatcheries at all four parks and will stock about 20,000 trout among the four parks for opening day. MDC will continue to stock the trout parks daily during the catch-and-keep season, totaling more than 600,000 trout annually at the four trout parks and about 1 million trout annually statewide.
Due to hatchery construction activities at Bennett Spring, trout were stocked opening day and then three times per week during the season.
Trout anglers need a daily trout tag to fish in Missouri’s trout parks during the catch-and-keep season. The cost of a daily trout tag is $5 for adults and $3 for those 15-years-old and younger. Daily trout tags can only be purchased at each of the four trout parks. MDC encourages trout anglers to have the correct amount of cash for daily tags, if possible.
Missouri residents ages 16-64 and nonresidents ages 16 and older also need a fishing permit in addition to the daily trout tag. A daily fishing permit is $9. MDC encourages trout anglers to buy fishing permits ahead of time from numerous vendors around the state, online at mdc.mo.gov/buypermits, or through MDC’s free MO Fishing app, available for download on the App Store or Google Play.
Thousands of anglers from Missouri and beyond flock to Missouri’s four trout parks each year. While many leave with some trout, they all leave more than $100 million in spending along the way, which supports thousands of jobs and helps local economies, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. Learn more about Missouri’s trout parks online at mdc.mo.gov/fishing/species/trout/trout-parks.
