Fishing in Miami: Licenses, Seasons and Biscayne Bay Rules

An angler taking saltwater fish from Biscayne Bay or the ocean off Miami needs a Florida saltwater fishing license unless exempt, and a Florida resident who fishes only from shore can take the no-cost shoreline license instead (FWC licenses).

The Florida resident annual saltwater license is $17.00 and the five-year version is $79.00. Visitors to Miami pay $47.00 for a year, $17.00 for 3 days or $30.00 for 7 days (FWC licenses). The Florida license is needed to land saltwater fish in Miami regardless of whether they were caught in state or federal waters, and a license vendor may add an issuance fee of 50 cents.

The shoreline license is narrower than it sounds. It covers fishing from the Miami shoreline or a structure affixed to shore, and it is not valid when fishing from a vessel or from a shoreline reached by vessel (FWC). A resident who fishes from the Miami shoreline is covered; the same resident who runs a skiff to a Biscayne Bay island and fishes from its shore is not.

Two species around Miami need a permit on top of the license. A snook permit costs $10.00 a year and is required even when snook fishing from shore; a spiny lobster permit costs $5.00 a year (FWC permits). FWC states that permit sales are final, with no refund if the species turns out to be closed.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the FWC website.

Miami waters sit in the FWC snook Southeast Region, where snook season closes December 15 to January 31 and June 1 to August 31, so on October 15, 2026, snook is open in Miami until December 14 (FWC snook rules).

The Southeast Region runs from the Martin and Palm Beach county line south to the Miami-Dade and Monroe county line, and it includes all waters of the Miami Canal (FWC). In open season a Miami angler may keep one snook per person per day, and it must measure at least 28 inches and no more than 32 inches total length. FWC notes that special snook rules apply inside Biscayne National Park.

The spiny lobster regular season, which covers Miami-Dade County waters, runs August 6 through March 31, with a daily bag limit of 6 per person and a carapace that must measure larger than 3 inches in the water (FWC lobster rules). The two-day sport season falls on the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of July; FWC lists it for July 28 to 29, 2027, with a bag of 6 per person in Biscayne National Park and 12 per person in the rest of Florida outside Monroe County. Lobster harvest is never allowed in the Biscayne Bay/Card Sound Lobster Sanctuary or in the five Coral Reef Protection Areas of Biscayne National Park, so a Miami lobster trip has to be planned around those two areas.

The open dates for snook in the Miami table are the calendar left after the two closures FWC publishes, and FWC asks anglers to check the current rule before buying a snook permit (FWC).

Biscayne National Park adds larger minimum sizes, a 10 fish aggregate bag, five reef areas closed to traps and lobster, and a spring bonefish closure (FWC Biscayne National Park rules).

The larger sizes took effect July 1, 2020, and were set to increase the size of targeted fish in the park by 20 percent (FWC). A fish caught legally outside the park that is under the park size can still be carried through Biscayne National Park waters.

Inside the park each person may keep no more than 10 fish in total from a long list of species that includes spotted seatrout, redfish, permit, snappers, grunts, hogfish, great barracuda and snook (FWC). Species limits still apply inside that total. All traps and all lobster harvest are banned in five Coral Reef Protection Areas, among them Fowey Rocks Lighthouse, Alina's Reef and Ball Buoy. Traps are also barred in 0.3 square miles near the park headquarters visitor center and in 1.2 square miles east of Elliott Key at the Legare Anchorage site.

National Park Service rules also apply in Biscayne National Park. Where a state rule and a federal park rule conflict, the federal rule wins (NPS fishing rules). Children under 16 fish the park without a license. Fishing is not allowed in the boat basin at park headquarters at Convoy Point, on the Convoy Point entrance road, on the north side of the Adams Key dock, inside Boca Chita Key Harbor or inside Elliott Key Harbor, though the maintenance dock just south of the main harbor is open to fishing. Cast nets are prohibited along the Convoy Point Jetty and foot bridge.

Three Miami-Dade County marinas give Miami anglers public ramps: Crandon Marina on Key Biscayne and Pelican Harbor Marina both keep boat ramps open 24 hours, and Matheson Hammock Park and Marina has 11 ramp lanes open sunrise to sunset (Miami-Dade Parks).

Crandon Marina, at 4000 Crandon Boulevard on Key Biscayne, lists a bait and tackle shop, charter fishing, power boat rentals, a dive shop and gas and diesel fuel, takes vessels to 80 feet, and its office answers at 305-361-1281 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week (Crandon Marina). Parking in Crandon Park costs $7 plus tax Monday through Thursday and $10 plus tax Friday through Sunday, and launch and retrieve rates are extra.

Matheson Hammock Park and Marina has a bait-and-tackle shop, a fuel dock and pump-out beside its 11 ramp lanes, and a trailered vehicle pays $20 plus tax Monday through Thursday and $30 plus tax Friday through Sunday and on holidays to use the ramp (Matheson Hammock). Pelican Harbor Marina keeps its boat ramps open 24 hours and lists a fish cleaning area along with fuel and pumpout, and it monitors VHF channel 16 (Pelican Harbor Marina).

Crandon Park notes that its seagrass beds are home to mangrove snapper, parrotfish, crabs and shrimp, and the Bear Cut Preserve in the park is a designated natural Environment Study Area (Crandon Park). A gray (mangrove) snapper kept inside Biscayne National Park must reach 12 inches total length under the park rule.

Dock space and launch fees are covered in more depth in the Miami boating guide, and the Miami recreation guide lists the beaches and parks along the same shoreline.

The main 2026 rule change for Miami anglers is a bonefish closure in Biscayne National Park, in force since March 1, 2026 (FWC Biscayne National Park rules).

In that 1.74 square mile Biscayne National Park bonefish pre-spawning area, all fishing and possession of fish is banned from March 1 through May 31 each year.

A boat may still cross the Biscayne National Park bonefish area during the closure if it keeps moving and its fish and gear are properly stowed. The closure applies to recreational and commercial harvesters alike, and FWC posts the four corner coordinates on its park page, so plotting them on a chartplotter before a spring trip is the practical step.

The calendar matters this fall in Miami. Snook closes in the Southeast Region on December 15 and reopens February 1, while lobster regular season stays open through March 31 (FWC snook rules). FWC reports that snook stocks exceed its 40 percent spawning potential ratio goal on both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, and it now reviews snook by region, with a 2025 Southeast Snook Annual Review for the region that takes in Miami-Dade.

Water quality on Biscayne Bay is the other thing to watch. Miami-Dade County has posted a Biscayne Bay Report Card for each year from 2021 through 2026, and its Division of Environmental Resources Management leads the response to fish kills and algae blooms, taking complaints 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (Miami-Dade DERM, Biscayne Bay). DERM is at 701 NW 1st Court in Miami, phone 305-372-6789.