Authority: IC 14-10-2-4; IC 14-22-2-6

Affected: IC 14-22

Sec. 2. (a) Except as provided under section 16 of this rule with respect to the Ohio River, this section governs the lawful methods for fishing under this rule.

(b) An individual may take fish with the aid of illumination of any of the following:

1. (1) A spotlight.
2. (2) A searchlight.
3. (3) An artificial light.

(c) An individual may take fish with not more than three (3) poles, hand lines, or tip-ups at a time. Except as provided in subsections (g) and (k), an individual must affix to each line or pole not more than:

1. (1) three (3) hooks;
2. (2) three (3) artificial lures; or
3. (3) a combination of hooks or artificial lures not to exceed a total of three (3).

(d) An individual must not take fish from:

1. (1) waters containing state-owned fish;
2. (2) waters of the state; or
3. (3) boundary waters;

by means of a hook dragged or jerked through the water with the intent to snag fish on contact.

(e) An individual must not take trout or salmon from a water of the state unless the fish is hooked in the mouth.

(f) An individual must not fish with more than ten (10) limb lines or drop lines at a time. Each line:

1. (1) shall have not more than one (1) hook affixed;
2. (2) must bear a legible tag with the name and address of the user or the individual's customer identification number issued by the department; and
3. (3) shall be attended at least once every twenty-four (24) hours.

A limb line or drop line shall not be used within three hundred (300) yards of a dam that wholly or partly crosses a water of the state.

(g) An individual must not ice fish on waters of the state, except as follows:

1. (1) A tip-up (a device that uses a flag to signal when a fish takes the bait from a fishing line) must:

   1. (A) be constantly in sight of the user; and
   2. (B) have affixed a legible tag bearing the name and address of the user or the individual's customer identification number issued by the department.
2. (2) An ice fishing shelter must visibly bear the name and address of the owner or the owner's customer identification number issued by the department in three (3) inch block letters on the outside of the door.
3. (3) An ice fishing shelter that is on the waters between sunset and sunrise must have, on each side of the structure or shelter, at least one (1) red reflector or a three (3) inch by three (3) inch reflective material strip.
4. (4) An ice fishing shelter must be removed from the waters before ice-out.
5. (5) Except from January 1 through February 15, an ice fishing shelter must be removed daily.

(h) An individual must not take fish with more than one (1) trotline, set line, or throw line. A line must have not more than fifty (50) hooks affixed. A trotline must be:

1. (1) anchored to the bottom; or
2. (2) set not less than three (3) feet below the surface of the water.

A legible tag with the name and address of the user or the individual's customer identification number issued by the department must be affixed to each trotline. Each trotline must be attended at least once every twenty-four (24) hours. An individual must not take fish from Lake Michigan with a trotline, set line, or throw line.

(i) An individual must not take fish from a lake with free-float lines or fish from a river or stream with more than five (5) freefloat lines. Not more than one (1) hook shall be affixed to each line. A free-float line:

1. (1) shall bear the name and address of the user or the individual's customer identification number issued by the department; and
2. (2) must not be constructed of glass.

Each free-float line must be in constant attendance by the person fishing.

(j) An individual must not possess a fish spear, gig, gaff, pitchfork, bowfishing equipment, crossbow, grab hook, spear gun, club, snag hook, or underwater spear in, on, or adjacent to any of the following:

1. (1) The Galena River (LaPorte County).
2. (2) Trail Creek (LaPorte County).
3. (3) The East Branch of the Little Calumet River (LaPorte and Porter counties).
4. (4) Salt Creek (Porter County).
5. (5) The West Branch of the Little Calumet River (Lake and Porter counties).
6. (6) Portage Burns Waterway (formerly known as Burns Ditch) (Porter and Lake counties).
7. (7) Deep River downstream from the dam at Camp 133 (Lake County).
8. (8) The tributaries of these waterways.

(k) An individual must not fish:

1. (1) the waterways described in subsection (j);
2. (2) the St. Joseph River and its tributary streams from the Twin Branch dam downstream to the Michigan state line (St. Joseph County); or
3. (3) the East Fork White River from Williams Dam to the Huron and Williams Road bridge in Lawrence County from March 15 through April 20;

with more than one (1) single hook per line or one (1) artificial lure. Single hooks, including those on artificial lures, shall not exceed one-half (1/2) inch from point to shank. Double and treble hooks on artificial lures shall not exceed three-eighths (3/8) inch from point to shank.

(l) An individual may take smelt from March 1 through May 30 only from Lake Michigan and only by the use of dip nets, seines, or nets as follows:

1. (1) One (1) dip net not to exceed twelve (12) feet in diameter.

2. (2) One (1) seine or net:

   1. (A) not to exceed twelve (12) feet long and six (6) feet deep; and
   2. (B) having a stretch mesh larger than one and one-half (1 1/2) inches.

Each seine or net shall have affixed a legible tag with the name and address of the user.

(m) An individual may, by means of a fish spear, gig, spear gun, or underwater spear, take only any sucker, carp, Asian carp, gar, bowfin, buffalo, or shad and only from the following rivers:

1. (1) West Fork of the White River from its junction with the East Fork upstream to the dam below the Harding Street generating plant of the Indianapolis Power and Light Company in Marion County.
2. (2) East Fork of the White River from its junction with the West Fork upstream to the dam at the south edge of the city of Columbus in Bartholomew County.
3. (3) White River from its junction with the West Fork of the White River and East Fork of the White River to its junction with the Wabash River in Gibson, Knox, and Pike counties.
4. (4) Wabash River from its junction with the Ohio River upstream to State Road 13 at the south edge of the city of Wabash in Wabash County.
5. (5) Tippecanoe River upstream from its junction with the Wabash River to one-half (1/2) mile below its junction with Big Creek in Carroll County. An individual must not possess a fish spear or fish gig in, on, or adjacent to the Tippecanoe River from one-half (1/2) mile below its junction with Big Creek in Carroll County upstream to the Oakdale Dam that forms Lake Freeman.
6. (6) Maumee River from the Ohio state line upstream to the Anthony Boulevard Bridge in the city of Fort Wayne.
7. (7) Kankakee River from the Illinois state line upstream to State Road 55 bridge south of the city of Shelby in Lake County.
8. (8) St. Joseph River in St. Joseph and Elkhart counties.

(n) In addition to any other lawful method, an individual may take a sucker, carp, Asian carp, gar, bowfin, buffalo, or shad by:

1. (1) bowfishing equipment or crossbow from Lake Michigan; or
2. (2) spear, gig, spear gun, underwater spear, crossbow, or bowfishing equipment from another lake.

(o) An individual may take a sucker, carp, Asian carp, gar, or bowfin with not more than one (1) snare only between sunrise and sunset.

(p) Except as specified at subsection (j), an individual may use bowfishing equipment or a crossbow on rivers and streams to take any sucker, carp, Asian carp, gar, bowfin, buffalo, or shad.

(Natural Resources Commission; 312 IAC 9-7-2; filed May 12, 1997, 10:00 a.m.: 20 IR 2716; filed May 28, 1998, 5:14 p.m.: 21 IR 3719; filed Dec 26, 2001, 2:40 p.m.: 25 IR 1537; errata filed Feb 26, 2002, 6:00 p.m.: 25 IR 2254; readopted filed Jul 28, 2003, 12:00 p.m.: 27 IR 286; filed Sep 23, 2004, 3:00 p.m.: 28 IR 547; filed Feb 27, 2007, 2:25 p.m.: 20070328-IR-312060262FRA; readopted filed Nov 24, 2008, 11:08 a.m.: 20081210-IR-312080672RFA; filed Jul 6, 2010, 1:55 p.m.: 20100804-IR-312090616FRA; filed Mar 15, 2013, 2:33 p.m.: 20130410-IR-312120403FRA; readopted filed May 20, 2014, 9:43 a.m.: 20140618-IR-312140017RFA; filed Jun 15, 2015, 3:43 p.m.: 20150715-IR-312140453FRA; readopted filed Sep 18, 2019, 1:16 p.m.: 20191016-IR-312190325RFA; readopted filed Mar 25, 2025, 9:50 a.m.: 20250423-IR-312240574RFA)