Frequently Asked Questions

A Bowfishing Permit is a free permit that is required in addition to all other applicable licenses and/or permits for anglers 18 years of age and over, taking or attempting to take saltwater recreational fish with bowfishing gear or engaging in bowfishing activity south of the designated saltwater line (https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/boundaries).

LDWF developed the Bowfishing Permit to help define the universe of anglers participating in bowfishing activity for saltwater species to potentially derive estimates of the proportion of harvest of recreationally important saltwater species from this activity, which occurs mainly at night and outside of our normal creel activity.

No.

Yes.

No. 

No. Register for a Bowfishing Permit only if you are planning to go on a private, recreational bowfishing trip. If you do not bowfish or only go bowfishing on charter boats as a client, please do not register for a Bowfishing Permit.

No. The charter captain is required to have a Charter Bowfishing Permit, which covers all clients onboard.

If any of your paying customers intend to engage in bowfishing activity, then you need to have a Charter Bowfishing Permit. A Charter Bowfishing Permit covers all clients on your boat.

Charter captains who only go on private bowfishing trips (trips on which they are not acting as a captain/guide) should register for a private recreational Bowfishing Permit using their recreational fishing license. No person should have both a private recreational and Charter Bowfishing Permit at the same time. 

You should register for a Charter Bowfishing Permit ONLY.

No person should have both a private recreational and Charter Bowfishing Permit at the same time. 

Go to the account management page on our licensing site. Log in using your social security number or driver's license number to find your LDWF license number.

No.

*Instructions and screenshots are from Google Chrome running on an Android phone with Android 13. Screens and steps are almost identical in Edge and Firefox.

After clicking on the DOB field on the license log-in option page, a calendar should appear (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

To select a year, tap on the year in the upper left-hand corner of the calendar (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Use the list to find and select the year needed (Figure 3).

Figure 3.

After selecting the year, scroll right or left to find the month needed.

Now, tap on the date needed (Figure 4).

Then tap “Set.”

*Screenshots are from Google Chrome running on an 8th Generation iPad with iOS 16.4.1 (a). Edge was not tested.

Using the Apple Safari web browser, you can type in a DOB by tapping the DOB field. Or, you can tap the year and scroll or type in the year needed and then scroll right or left to locate the month and date needed. The steps are identical in Firefox.

Google Chrome does not allow for typing in a DOB, but there are a couple of ways to do that. One way to enter a DOB using Chrome on an Apple device starts with tapping the DOB field. A calendar should appear (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Scroll left or right to locate the month and date needed. Ignore the year for now. Tap on the date needed, then tap on the month and year in the upper left-hand corner of the calendar (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Scroll to locate the year needed. Tap “Done” (Figure 3).

Figure 3.

The expiration date on your Bowfishing Permit is independent of your fishing license. The Bowfishing Permit is valid for 365 days from the date of issuance. Since the Bowfishing Permit and license databases are separate from one another, the Bowfishing Permit does not know when the associated license expires. The expiration date on the Bowfishing Permit concerns only the Bowfishing Permit. It is common to have a valid Bowfishing Permit and an expired license. However, both must be current to fish in Louisiana waters legally. 

Unfortunately, not at this time. Making the Bowfishing Permit available on the LA Wallet app is in the works, but there is currently no timeline for completion.