Weakfish size and bag limits by state
The East Coast weakfish rulebook, north to south. Managed under the ASMFC interstate plan. Core fishery: New York to North Carolina, with a remnant fishery in northeast Florida. Rules on file here for 12 states, Massachusetts to Florida.
- MAMassachusetts
- Size
- 16" minimum
- Bag
- 1 fish (possession limit)
- Season
- Open year-round
- RIRhode Island
- Size
- 16" minimum
- Bag
- 1 fish per person per day
- Season
- Open year-round (1/1 – 12/31)
- CTConnecticut
- Size
- 16" minimum length
- Bag
- 1 fish per angler per day
- Season
- Open year-round
- NYNew York
- Size
- 16" minimum total length (10" filleted / 12" dressed)
- Bag
- 1 fish (possession limit)
- Season
- Open year-round
- NJNew Jersey
- Size
- 13" minimum total length
- Bag
- 1 fish per person
- Season
- No closed season listed
- DEDelaware
- Size
- 13" minimum
- Bag
- 1 fish per angler per day
- Season
- Open year-round
- MDMaryland
- Size
- 13" minimum
- Bag
- 1 fish per angler per day
- Season
- Open year-round
- VAVirginia
- Size
- 12" minimum total length
- Bag
- 1 fish per person
- Season
- No closed season listed
- NCNorth Carolina
- Size
- 12" minimum total length
- Bag
- 1 fish per person per day
- Season
- No closed season listed
- SCSouth Carolina
- Size
- 12" minimum total length
- Bag
- 1 fish per person per day
- Season
- No closed season listed
- GAGeorgia
- Size
- 13" minimum total length
- Bag
- 1 fish per person per day
- Season
- Open year-round
- FLFlorida (Atlantic)
- Size
- 12" minimum total length (Weakfish Management Zone); no minimum elsewhere in state waters
- Bag
- 1 fish per person per day in the Weakfish Management Zone; 100 pounds per person per day elsewhere in state waters
- Season
- No closed season listed
Status is derived from each row's season dates on Oct 13, 2026. Rules change in season, and the agency page controls. A state missing from this list is one we have not verified yet. It may still have a rule.
The trap on this fish
Every state on file holds weakfish to one fish (Florida only inside its Nassau County management zone), but the minimum size is not uniform: 12 inches in Virginia and the Carolinas, 13 from New Jersey to Maryland and in Georgia, 16 from New York north. A fish that is legal at the Chesapeake mouth can be short on Long Island.
Federal waters
ASMFC Addendum IV requires every state to hold a one-fish recreational limit; ASMFC has listed the stock as depleted since 2003. In federal waters, 50 CFR 697.7 prohibits keeping a weakfish under 12 inches total length and sets no separate federal bag. ASMFC · weakfish ↗
From the news desk
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