An Official Website of the Commonwealth of Kentucky
Anglers and waterfowl hunters can use their Kentucky resident licenses to fish or hunt a number of waters shared with neighboring states.
Reciprocal fishing agreements include the Ohio River, Mississippi River, Kentucky Lake, Dale Hollow Lake, the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, the Big Sandy River, and the Tug Fork River.
Reciprocal waterfowl hunting agreements include the Big Sandy and Tug Fork rivers bordering West Virginia, and the section of the Ohio River bordering Indiana and Ohio.
Under the agreements:
Kentucky law requires resident hunters and anglers utilizing reciprocal waters to have a Kentucky-issued license.
Signed fishing and hunting reciprocal agreements:
These maps are intended to show the bodies of water affected and to specifically show how the state line crosses them. Click a map to download and print.
Kentucky anglers licensed in Kentucky may fish the entire main stem of the Big Sandy and Tug Fork Rivers from the confluence of the Ohio and Big Sandy Rivers upstream to the Virginia state line. Kentucky anglers can fish from a boat or on West Virginia's bank without buying a West Virginia fishing license.
This does not apply to fishing West Virginia's tributaries or embayments, which are at a straight line between opposite points where the tributary or embayment meets the main stem of the river.
Anglers shall abide by the regulations of the state in which they are licensed unless they are fishing from the bank. Bank anglers, regardless of which state’s license they hold, must abide by the regulations of the state in which they are fishing.
Big Sandy Map
Tug Fork Map
Kentucky anglers licensed in Kentucky may fish all Tennessee waters on the portion of Big South Fork from the Leatherwood Ford Bridge (TN 297) in Tennessee to the KY 92 bridge at Yamacraw, Kentucky, without buying a Tennessee fishing license.
Anglers shall abide by the regulations of the state in which they are licensed unless they are fishing from the bank. Bank anglers, regardless of which state's license they hold, must abide by the regulations of the state in which they are fishing.
Big South Fork Map
Kentucky anglers licensed in Kentucky may fish all Tennessee portions of Wolf River arm of Dale Hollow Lake beginning at a line crossing the Wold River at its mouth where it joins the Obey River and the main part of the lake without buying a Tennessee fishing license.
Anglers must obey the regulations of the state in which they are licensed unless they are fishing from the bank. Bank anglers, regardless of which state's license they hold, must abide by the regulations of the state in which they are fishing.
Dale Hollow Lake Map
Kentucky anglers licensed in Kentucky may fish all Tennessee waters on the portion of Kentucky Lake from Eggner's Ferry Bridge (U.S. 68 and KY 80) in Kentucky south to the Governor Ned McWhorter bridge (U.S. 79 and TN 76) in Tennessee without buying a Tennessee fishing license. This includes all embayments and tributaries on this oprotion of the lake. Tenessee anglers: please note that Blood River is not included in the bordering waters zone and will require a Kentucky non-resident fishing licnese to fish.
Kentucky Lake Map
Kentucky anglers licensed in Kentucky may fish Missouri portions of the Mississippi River bordering Kentucky without buying a Missouri fishing license. The river is defined as the main channel and immediate side or secondary channels and chutes. It does not include oxbow or floodplain lakes or any tributary streams. A tributary is delineated by the straight line between opposite points where the tributary connects with the main body of the Mississippi River. Furthermore, the river does not include backwaters that extend onto the floodplain or tributaries when the river exceeds 33 feet at the gauging station at Cario, Illinois.
Sport fishing license or permit holders may fish from, or attach any device or equipment to land along the river under the jurisdiction of the other state. Landowner permission is required to fish from the bank.
Sport fishing licnese holders shall abide by the regulations of the state in whose waters they are fishing and when fishing in waters they are not licensed to fish, shall comply with the most restrictive of the two state's regulations.
Mississippi River Map
Kentucky Anglers licenses in Kentucky may fish the entire main stem of the Ohio River from a boat, or a bordering state's bank without buying the other state's license (bordering states include Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.)
This does not apply if fishing a bordering state's embayments or tributarites, which begin at a straight line between opposite points where the tributary or embayment connects with the main stem of the river.
Anglers shall abide by the regulations of the state by which they are licensed, except that when fishing from the bank, anglers shall follow the regulations of the state in which they are fishing.
Public Reminder: Snagging is not permited for any fish species on the Indiana side or in any Indiana waters of the Ohio River. In Kentucky, a person may not snap within 200 yards below any dam on the Ohio River.
Ohio Map