For just $19, a fishing license provides a full year of fun and recreation in Iowa.

DNR Conservation Officer Jeremy King says the revenue from licenses improves the natural resources of the state, whereas fines from people caught fishing without a license does not. “If you buy a fishing license, all $19 of it goes right back to the DNR to stock, rebuild, and purchase lakes around the state and perform upkeep on all other fishing activities. If you say, ‘I’m not going to buy a license this year’, and you get caught, then that $100 fine doesn’t go to the DNR. It goes into the general fund and Governor Branstad does whatever he needs to do with that money.”

All anglers over the age of 16 must purchase a fishing license, unless they are fishing on their own private pond.