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St. Francis River

The rule for this water, with the receipt.

Special regulations for St. Francis River, from the Missouri state line to the Payneway Structure, as the state words them

St. Francis County · River · AR

Has its own special rules
How to read this page:Official text quoted regulationParsed fields from the ruleDerived calculated from rulesContext conditions, not a ruleAdvice our suggestion

The rules for this water, verbatimOfficial text

Straight from AR's official regulations. Rules in force today lead; out-of-season rows are dimmed. Nothing is paraphrased. Not legal advice: verify the posted rules at the water.

Whole water
    Out of season today
    • catfishJan. 1-Feb. 15 (out of season today)
      Daily limit 5, of which no more than 2 flathead catfish, and no more than 1 paddlefish

    Statewide base layerParsed

    These defaults apply where the rules above do not modify them.

    Season
    Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
    Gear
    Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
    Bait
    Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
    Poles
    Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations

    Where the verbatim rules above name a species, season, or limit, they replace the rows below. Each row is tagged with the layer it comes from.

    SpeciesDaily limitSize
    Black Bass
    10 combined-Statewide
    Smallmouth Bass
    Varies by water: 12 inches (Ozark Zone)
    4min. 10 inchesStatewide
    Bream
    Varies by water: limit No limit on bream shorter than 4 inches (Statewide)
    50 combined-Statewide
    Catfish
    Varies by water: limit half the daily statewide limit or half the limit of the waters being fished (pages 57-81), whichever is smaller (Bowfishing statewide)
    10 combined-Statewide
    Bullhead catfish
    No limit-Statewide
    Crappie
    30 combined-Statewide
    Alligator Gar
    Varies by water: Over 36 inches (trophy alligator gar), limit 1 for current calendar year (Statewide); over 36 inches, limit one alligator gar over 36 inches per calendar year (Alligator Gar Trophy Tag)
    1min. Under 36 inchesStatewide
    Paddlefish
    2-Statewide
    Rock Bass
    10-Statewide
    Sauger
    6-Statewide
    Saugeye
    6-Statewide
    Shovelnose Sturgeon
    No limitmin. 21 inches or longerStatewide
    Striped Bass and Hybrid Striped Bass
    6 combined-Statewide
    White Bass
    25-Statewide
    Trout
    5-Statewide
    Walleye
    6-Statewide
    aquatic turtles
    6, common snapping turtles and spiny softshell turtles combined-Statewide
    Bullfrogs
    18 per day (from noon to noon); possession limit 36-Statewide
    game fish; catfish; paddlefish
    Half the game fish daily limit may be taken by snagging, or the lesser whole number nearest one-half the limit; a full limit of catfish and paddlefish may be taken-Statewide
    Suckers
    20, possession limit 40-Statewide

    How this answer was assembled

    1. StatewideStatewide river rules are the base layer: default season, gear, bait, and limits.
    2. This waterSpecial rules written for this exact water replace the statewide defaults where they speak.
    3. Emergency orderEmergency orders in effect today override everything else. They sync quietly when the phone has coverage and never lock you out of the app.

    Where this stretch begins and ends

    Loading map…

    The drawn shape is the named water, matched from the official list against OpenStreetMap and accepted only because the name resolved to a single feature in this water's county.

    Different sections of this water can have different rules. The exact section boundaries are not marked on the map yet; each rule above describes in plain words where it starts and ends, and that written description is the authoritative boundary. Map boundaries come water by water, never as a guess.

    Season at a glanceDerived

    J
    F
    M
    A
    M
    J
    J
    A
    S
    O
    N
    D
    opensome stretchesclosedunknown

    Sampled mid-month from the dated rows; short windows can slip between samples. The rows above are authoritative.

    At the water nowContext

    Overnight
    70°F
    Partly Cloudy
    Wind 5 mph · 0% precip
    Thursday
    90°F
    Sunny
    Wind 5 mph · 2% precip
    Thursday Night
    72°F
    Partly Cloudy
    Wind 0 to 5 mph · 1% precip

    Forecast: National Weather Service. Flow: nearest active USGS gauge in this water's area, which may sit on a different reach. Conditions are context, not rules.

    What are you fishing for here?Advice

    Pick from the species named in St. Francis River's rules. Setups are checked against the gear rules in force today, and your picks are remembered on this device only. These are rule-aware suggestions, not a claim about what is biting; advice, not law, and the rules above govern.

    Receipts

    Statewide rules
    Statewide
    Checked against this official source on July 11, 2026.
    Special rules - St. Francis River
    This water
    Checked against this official source on July 11, 2026.

    Local services near St. Francis River

    Tackle shops, guides, and boat launches that serve this water will appear here - a separate lane below the rules, so a local business can reach you without ever getting between you and the regulation.

    Run a shop or guide service on St. Francis River? Get listed.