Fishing in New Brunswick: licences, salmon rules and guide-required waters

New Brunswick has more than 2,500 lakes and about 60,000 kilometres of rivers and brooks, and it's best known for one fish: the Atlantic salmon of the Miramichi and the Restigouche. That shapes the rules more than anything else. Salmon water has its own licences, its own hooks, guide requirements for visitors and a strict release rule, and the trout and bass fisheries around it borrow some of those rules. This guide covers who needs a licence and what it costs in 2026, how the salmon rules work, where non-residents need a guide, the bait and hook rules that catch people out, and the federal side of the fishery.

Who needs a licence

Anyone 16 or older needs a provincial angling licence to fish New Brunswick's inland waters. Under 16, you can fish for everything except sea-run Atlantic salmon without a licence and you get your own bag limits. To buy a licence you first need a free New Brunswick Outdoors Card number, available online at GNB.CA/FishWildlife, from licence vendors and at Service New Brunswick centres.

A season licence runs from April 15 to March 31 of the following year, so it covers the winter fishery from January to March too. Licences no longer need a signature, and you can carry one on your phone as a PDF or photo, but you must be able to show it to an officer even if your battery is dead or there's no signal. A paper copy in the truck is cheap insurance.

2026 fees

Prices include the fish stocking fee and the conservation fee for the New Brunswick Wildlife Trust Fund, plus HST. Non-resident 7-day and 3-day licences run for consecutive calendar days, and you can buy as many short salmon licences as you like. You don't need a salmon licence to keep landlocked salmon, which are a separate, freshwater fish. Residents are generally people who have lived in New Brunswick for the six months before buying, with exceptions for transferred workers, students and New Brunswick-born members of the military and RCMP.

Fish NB Days are licence-free: in 2026–27 they fall on June 6–7, 2026 and February 13–15, 2027. Anyone can fish without a licence on those days, and non-residents can fish without a guide, but every other rule, limit and closure still applies, and Crown Reserve waters, angling leases and private water stay off-limits.

Recreational Fishery Areas: where your rules come from

Seasons, bag limits and size limits in New Brunswick are set by Recreational Fishery Area (RFA). There are eight, defined by drainage: Restigouche, Chaleur, Miramichi, Southeast, Inner Bay of Fundy, Lower Saint John, Southwest and Upper Saint John. Find which one your water drains to, then read that section of the province's annual Fish summary, including its table of exceptions, which lists fly-only stretches, closures and special limits water by water. The province also has interactive maps of the rules, lake depths and stocked waters.

As a sense of how it works, trout in rivers and brooks open on April 15 in the Inner Bay of Fundy area but on May 1 in the Chaleur and Miramichi areas, and lakes open two weeks later than rivers in each. The general daily limit is 5 trout, but the details differ: in the Miramichi area only 2 of the 5 can be over 30 cm. Possession limits equal daily limits for every species, counting fish in your freezer at home.

Atlantic salmon: release every one

All sea-run Atlantic salmon and grilse caught in New Brunswick must be released alive. The salmon rules are set federally and printed in the provincial summary:

• Barbless artificial flies only when angling for salmon, and in all fly-fishing-only waters. A fly can be a single or double hook or two single hooks, with no added weight, spinner or bait.
• Daily hook-and-release limits: once you reach yours, you must stop fishing for salmon for the day. In the Miramichi area the limit is 2 bright salmon or 5 spring kelts (spent salmon from the previous fall).
• Seasons are river by river. On the Miramichi the spring kelt fishery generally runs April 15 to May 15 and bright salmon from May 16 into the fall. On the Restigouche system bright salmon generally open June 1. Check the table for your exact river and stretch.
• Warm water protocols on the Miramichi, Restigouche and Nepisiguit can partly or completely close salmon rivers during summer heat waves. Fisheries and Oceans Canada posts the current status, and it changes day to day in July and August.
• Parr and smolts (young salmon) must always be released. They look a lot like brook trout. The summary has a photo guide, and the forked tail and lack of red spots with light rims are the giveaway.

Striped bass in the gulf-side rivers are also managed federally, and their season wasn't set when the 2026 summary went to print. Check Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Gulf Region recreational fisheries page.

Non-residents and guides

This is the rule visitors most often miss. Non-resident anglers need a licensed New Brunswick guide:

• whenever they fish for sea-run Atlantic salmon, anywhere; and
• when angling for any species on Guide Required Waters after the designated date.

Guide Required Waters are rivers fished mainly for salmon, listed by stretch and starting date in the summary. On most of the Miramichi system the date is April 15, on the Restigouche tributaries mostly May 15, and a few rivers start later, such as the Taxis on July 1. After that date a non-resident can't fish for trout there without a guide either. A professional guide can accompany up to three licensed anglers wading or fishing from shore, or one from a boat in guide-required water, and can hook a salmon on a client's behalf. Anyone paid to guide must hold a Class 1 guide licence, on inland and tidal water alike.

A non-resident licence also doesn't give access to Crown Reserve waters or to Crown angling leases and private waters without the lessee's or owner's consent.

Crown Reserve waters

Some of the best salmon and brook trout water in the province is Crown Reserve: a limited-entry fishery where stretches are booked one rod per day. Only people whose principal home is in New Brunswick (and New Brunswick-born RCMP and military members posted elsewhere) can fish them. Regular Crown Reserve water is allocated by draw, which costs $7 to enter and runs in February and March, with daily and live-release Crown Reserve water booked separately. All Crown Reserve water is fly fishing only, every salmon hooked must be released, and no bait or lures are allowed. Many stretches include the use of a camp or a tenting area.

Bait, hooks and lines

New Brunswick's bait rules are stricter than many anglers expect.

• No live fish as bait in inland waters, crayfish included. The exceptions are the Maine boundary waters, where live bait must come from the water being fished, and tidal waters, where it must be caught in New Brunswick.
• Dead fish can be used as bait, except species on the prohibited list: bass, bullhead, sunfish, yellow and white perch, other spiny-rayed fish, pickerel, muskellunge, goldfish and other carp.
• One line during the open-water season, with up to three hooks of up to three points each, except where fly-only or salmon rules require a single barbless fly.
• No angling for sport fish at night, from two hours after sunset until two hours before sunrise.
• No fishing within 23 metres below a fishway, dam or waterfall, or within 100 metres of a fish counting or rearing facility. Gaffs can't be used to land sport fish.

Since April 1, 2026, keeping some invasive fish is a condition of every licence in the areas where they're not yet established. Black crappie must be kept in every area. Smallmouth bass must be kept in the Restigouche, Chaleur, Miramichi and Southeast areas, while in the Saint John system they're a managed sport fish with seasons and limits. Chain pickerel, largemouth bass and muskellunge must be kept in the areas listed in the summary. Never move live fish between waters: it's illegal and it's how these species spread.

Ice fishing

The winter season runs from January 1 to March 31 on designated waters, and your season licence covers it. On designated inland, international and tidal waters you can use up to five set lines in addition to one angling line. Set lines carry a single hook with one point and must stay in view. Other inland waters allow one angling line and no set lines. The province publishes the list of designated winter waters each year in the summary.

Tidal waters, national parks and the federal side

• Tidal waters: no provincial licence is needed. Seasons, limits and gear for marine species, and all shellfish harvesting, are set by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
• National parks: Fundy and Kouchibouguac need a national park fishing licence from Parks Canada. Provincial licences don't apply there, and each park has its own rules.
• Federal regulations: the Maritime Provinces Fishery Regulations underlie the provincial summary, and amendments are expected to be published for comment in 2026.

Zebra mussels and the Saint John River

Zebra mussels are now established in the Saint John River system, and the province's priority is keeping them out of other lakes and rivers. Clean, drain and dry your boat, trailer, canoe and gear, winter gear included, every time you move between waters, and dispose of unused bait on land. Report any sighting outside the Saint John River, along with northern pike, walleye or other invasive fish found away from their known range, to FishNB at 506-453-3826.

Before you go

1. Get an Outdoors Card and the right licence: salmon or general, resident or non-resident.
2. Find your Recreational Fishery Area and read its season table and exceptions in the current summary.
3. Non-resident? Book a guide for salmon, and check whether your river is Guide Required Water.
4. Leave the live minnows at home, and bring barbless flies for salmon water.
5. In summer, check warm-water closures before driving to a salmon river.
6. Find the water on our lakes and rivers directory or the map, and see whether it's on Crown land. If you're camping, read the Crown land camping rules.

Sources

Last reviewed: October 2026. Regulations change; always confirm with the official source before you go.

• Government of New Brunswick – Fish 2026-27 Regulations Summary
• Government of New Brunswick – Available licences and fees
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada – Gulf Region recreational fisheries (salmon, striped bass, warm water protocols)
• Parks Canada – National park fishing