Kentucky Border-Water Fishing Agreements

Kentucky anglers licensed in Kentucky may fish Missouri portions of the Mississippi River bordering Kentucky without buying a Missouri fishing license. The river is defined as the main channel and immediate side or secondary channels and chutes. It does not include oxbow or floodplain lakes or any tributary streams. A tributary is delineated by the straight line between opposite points where the tributary connects with the main body of the Mississippi River. Furthermore, the river does not include backwaters that extend onto the floodplain or tributaries when the river exceeds 33 feet at the gauging station at Cairo, Illinois. Sport fishing license or permit holders may fish from, or attach any device or equipment to land along the river under the jurisdiction of the other state. Landowner permission is required to fish from the bank. Sport fishing license holders shall abide by the regulations of the state in whose waters they are fishing and when fishing in waters they are not licensed to fish, shall comply with the most restrictive of the two state's regulations.

The guide's border-water section names no reciprocal agreement for Lake Barkley; its Tennessee portion follows Tennessee license rules, while the Kentucky Lake agreement covers only the Eggner's Ferry to Ned McWhorter Bridge stretch of Kentucky Lake.