Boating

All motorboats used in public waters must be registered. For a copy of Indiana boating laws, write to DNR Division of Law Enforcement, 402 W. Washington St., Room W255D, Indianapolis, IN 46204 or go to www.boat-ed.com/indiana/handbook.

On state-owned, leased or licensed lakes smaller than 300 acres, only electric motors may be used. No more than two 12-volt batteries can be used to power trolling motors on these waters.

Life Preservers

A U.S. Coast Guard approved wearable flotation device (PFD) is required for each person on any boat. Boats 16 feet and longer, except for canoes or kayaks, must also have one USCG-approved throwable PFD on board.

Lake Michigan, the Ohio River, and Indiana-Illinois boundary waters of the Wabash River have special regulations. Call the USCG at (219) 879-8371 for Lake Michigan, (502) 779-5400 for southern Indiana, or see uscgboating.org for a copy of federal boating regulations.

Tagging and Marking

Anyone interested in marking or tagging fish in public water must get approval from the DNR Division of Fish & Wildlife (DFW) before marking or tagging occurs.

An application, available from DFW, must be processed 21 days before the scheduled start date. Call (317) 232-4080 for more information.

Lake Michigan Trout and Salmon

Trout or salmon with a missing adipose fin contain a small micro wire tag in the head of the fish with information important to DNR research. Please save the head from your marked (adipose fin-clipped) trout and salmon and call the Division of Fish & Wildlife at (219) 874-6824 for instruction on drop-off locations.

Only trout and salmon with a missing adipose fin have micro tags. The adipose fin is along the fish’s spine between the dorsal fin and caudal (tail) fin.

Illegal Devices

It is illegal to use the following devices to take fish from public waters: a weir, electric current, dynamite or other explosive, a firearm, hands alone, or any substance that may weaken or poison fish.

Sorting Fish

Anglers are responsible for maintaining fish in a healthy condition if they wish to return fish to the water. Dead and dying fish already kept cannot be released back into the water. At no time may anglers have more than a bag limit in their possession while engaged in a day’s fishing. However, sorting of fish may be allowed within the bag limit if fish are in healthy condition at the time of release. For example, if you catch five largemouth bass (daily bag limit is five) and catch a bigger largemouth bass later that day, it is legal to release any of the other fish in good condition in order to keep the larger one. Fish must be released into the water from which they were taken and be able to swim away normally. All fish in possession must meet legal size limits.

Minnows, Crayfish

Minnows and crayfish may be collected any time through the year if you have a valid sport fishing license. Minnows and crayfish collected from public waters cannot be sold.

“Minnow” is defined as a species of the minnow family Cyprinidae, except for exotic species identified in 312 IAC 9-6-7 and endangered species identified in 312 IAC 9-6-9, as well as sucker, brook stickleback (Culaea inconstans), gizzard shad, threadfin shad, and alewife. Live gizzard shad, threadfin shad, and alewife may only be collected, used, possessed, and disposed of in accordance with 312 IAC 9-6-8.

You must have a bait dealer’s license to sell minnows and crayfish or possess more than 500 minnows or crayfish. You cannot transport more than 100 crayfish across the state boundary in a 24-hour period unless you are commercially raising crayfish. You may use artificial lighting to take crayfish.

If you plan to catch your own minnows or crayfish, the following rules apply. (See Ohio River for special minnow and crayfish collecting regulations on the Ohio River.)

• Seines cannot be larger than 12 feet in length and 4 feet deep with mesh no longer than ½ inch stretch. (Stretch is the distance between two opposite knots of a net mesh when the net is stretched tight.)
• Minnow dip nets cannot exceed 3 feet square, without sides or walls, and may not have mesh larger than ½ inch stretch.
• Minnow traps cannot exceed 24 inches in length, with the opening of the trap no larger than 1 inch in diameter.
• Cast nets may be used, provided the net is no larger than 20 feet in diameter and the mesh stretch is no larger than ¾ inch.

Minnows should not be released into the water after you finish fishing. Emptying bait buckets can contaminate a body of water with undesirable fish. In addition, bait and bait buckets exposed to lake or stream water could get contaminated with zebra mussel larvae, fish pathogens, or other aquatic invasive species. Anglers are encouraged to dispense of baitfish in the trash after each outing and buy new bait for the next outing. Fishing worms should be discarded in trash containers.

Wild fish may be used as live bait as long as the fish was caught legally and meets any size, catch, or possession limits established for that species. Goldfish may be used as live bait.

Carp cannot be used as live bait at any location.

Live alewives may be collected, possessed and used on Lake Michigan only, and may not be transported away from Lake Michigan. Any unused alewives must be killed. You must immediately kill alewives collected from waters other than Lake Michigan.

Gizzard Shad, Threadfin Shad

Gizzard shad and threadfin shad can be collected and used as live bait on the following waters but may not be transported live away from the location where collected:

• Brookville Reservoir
• Cecil M. Harden Reservoir
• Monroe Reservoir
• Patoka Reservoir
• Lake Freeman
• Lake Shafer
• Hardy Lake
• Ohio River mainstream, excluding all embayments

Cast nets with a maximum mesh size of 2 inches stretch can be used to collect live gizzard shad and threadfin shad at these bodies of water.

Live gizzard shad or threadfin shad collected at other water bodies must be killed immediately upon capture and cannot be possessed live.

Channel Catfish Bag Limits

There is no bag limit on catfish taken from streams and no bag limit on channel catfish taken from Turtle Creek Reservoir (Sullivan County). In all other lakes and reservoirs, the bag limit is 10 fish for any combination of flathead, blue or channel catfish.

Walleye Size Limits

Walleye and hybrid walleye (saugeye) taken from all waters in Indiana must be 14 inches in length or longer, except for:

• The Ohio River, where there is no minimum size limit.
• The St. Joseph River (Elkhart and St. Joseph counties), where a 15-inch minimum size limit has been established in cooperation with the State of Michigan.
• Wall Lake in LaGrange County, where the minimum size is 16 inches with a daily bag limit of two.