As a fishing publisher we’ve had a bit to do with organizations helping to make things easier for disabled anglers.

One thing we noticed was the information on free and discounted licenses for anglers with a disability in all states of the US had never been assembled in one place.

So we sat down to pull all this together in this article here, which contains a table of discounts and exemptions by state and a handy map showing this same info.

Overall, in researching this article we found:

• 27 of the 50 states offer exemptions for anglers with a disability (depending on the extent of the disability)
• 16 of the 50 states offer discounted fishing licenses for anglers with a disability (again, sometimes depends on extent)
• 7 out of 50 states have no published program offering exemptions or discounts for fishing licenses for anglers with a disability.

You can use the map or the table below (click on the relevant state to be taken to the licensing page for further information) to determine the situation in your state.

Please remember we’ve made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this information, but things change and errors can occur, so please contact us if you find any mistakes in this.

And be mindful that to qualify for a free or discounted license, many states have eligibility criteria on the extend of disability required. Some offer free licenses for blind anglers only, others state a certain percentage of incapacity or other requirement.

Going into the details of these requirements for each state is beyond the scope of this article, but we think this serves as a really useful starting point for anglers with a disability to see what the possibilities are and where to find more detailed information.

We sincerely hope this is useful – The Tackle Village team. See also our articles on fishing license exemptions and discounts for veterans and where to buy a fishing license and how much they cost in each state.

Fishing license exemptions and discount by state:

Author: Rick Wallace is a passionate angler and fly fisher whose work has appeared in fishing publications including FlyLife. He is a regular on fly fishing podcasts and appeared in the international fly fishing film Predator.