Fishing in Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River

The Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River in west Texas is a desert river — wide, shallow in places, deep and canyon-bound in others — running 196 miles along the U. S.

-Mexico border from the Coahuila/Chihuahua state line upstream of Mariscal Canyon downstream to the Terrell/Val Verde County line. This is not a mountain trout stream.

It is a remote, arid stretch of the Rio Grande that passes through three distinct canyons and forms the international boundary for its entire length.

The river is open to fishing year-round, and the only waters open to fishing within the park are the Rio Grande itself. Special ponds and springs are closed to all fishing to protect rare fish species — no exceptions.

Licensing here works differently than most Texas waters. Inside Big Bend National Park, a Texas state fishing license is not required, but you must carry a free NPS fishing permit, available at any visitor center.

On the Wild and Scenic River outside the park boundary, a Texas state license is required. Check with the park for current requirements before you go. Legal methods include pole and line, rod and reel, throw lines, and trot lines.

Trot lines must be attached parallel to the bank and carry a gear tag with your name, address, and date. Jug lines are legal on the Wild and Scenic River outside the park but prohibited inside it.

Seines, nets, traps, spears, electricity, and chumming are all prohibited throughout. Any watercraft placed or operated on the Rio Grande within Big Bend National Park requires a National Park Service backcountry use permit.

Overnight river trips on the Wild and Scenic River downstream from the park also require that permit. Day-use inner tubes are exempt.

Group sizes are capped at 20 people in sections including Boquillas Canyon and the Lower Canyons, and at 30 in other river areas. Commercial operators must hold a Commercial Use Authorization on top of those limits.

Grassy Banks, along the river road, is one accessible put-in and bank fishing spot.

The canyons — Santa Elena, Mariscal, Boquillas, and the Lower Canyons — are the defining features of this stretch, and river trips through them require the full complement of USCG-approved PFDs, with Type I, III, or V required in all four canyon sections.

This is a river that asks something of you before it gives anything back. The logistics are real, the desert is unforgiving, and the fishing is secondary to the place itself for most who come here. But the water is there, and it's open.