Michigan writes its openers as weekdays, not dates: the last Saturday in April, the Saturday before Memorial Day, the first Saturday in June. That is why the dates move every year β and why this page calculates them instead of copying last seasonβs.
Every season we have verified in Michigan
5 rules for 3 species, as Michigan DNR publishes them. The band under each heading is the legal season; the row under it is our own monthly activity curve.
Walleye β Lower Peninsula inland waters
The possession season runs from the last Saturday in April to March 15. The Upper Peninsula is on a different clock, which is the detail that catches anglers driving north for the opener.
Walleye Season in Michigan: the full rules, the sizes and why this state is different β
Walleye β Upper Peninsula inland waters
Three weeks behind the Lower Peninsula, and a fixed date rather than a weekday, so in some years the opener falls midweek. Northern pike follows the same dates in both peninsulas.
Bass β Statewide, except Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair and Detroit rivers
This is a possession season, not a fishing season. Catch-and-immediate-release for largemouth and smallmouth is open all year on nearly every water in the state, so the date below is the day you may start keeping one β not the day you may start casting.
Bass Season in Michigan: the full rules, the sizes and why this state is different β
Bass β Lake St. Clair, the St. Clair River and the Detroit River
The best smallmouth water in the state opens about four weeks after everywhere else, to protect a fishery that gets hit hard. Catch-and-release stays open all year here too.
Trout β Type 1 and 2 streams
The traditional statewide trout opener. Type 3 and 4 streams and several lake types are open all year instead, so βtrout seasonβ in Michigan depends entirely on which water you are standing in. The DNR publishes an interactive map for exactly this reason.
Trout Season in Michigan: the full rules, the sizes and why this state is different β
Read on 2026-09-14 from Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Legal dates were read on the agencyβs own page on the date shown beside each entry. Seasons change: the agency link is always the last word.
What the water is doing while the season is open
This is the part an agency page will not tell you. The temperature row above is the seasonal curve we use for the 10 of 26 Michigan waters we track on a steelhead river profile, and it is why an opening date and a fishable date are not the same thing. On that curve the water is below 50 F in January, February, March, April, November, December and at 70 F or more in July, August; it is an estimate for the water type, not a reading.
Where to fish it
We publish a daily report for 26 Michigan waters, each with live flow or tide and today's conditions.
- Lake St. Clair β Wayne County
- Pere Marquette River β Mason County
- Grand River β Kent County
- Muskegon River β Newaygo County
- Detroit River β Wayne County
- Lake Gogebic β Gogebic County
- St. Clair River β St. Clair County
- Houghton Lake β Roscommon County
- Saginaw Bay β Bay County
- St. Joseph River β Berrien County
The licence is a separate question
An open season is not permission to fish. Michigan requires a licence from age 17, and residents pay from $26.00 against $76.00 for visitors. What a Michigan licence costs and where to buy it β
Questions
When does fishing season open in Michigan?
It depends on the species: walleye april 25 to march 15; walleye may 15 to march 15; bass may 23 to december 31. Every date on this page was read off Michigan DNR on 2026-09-14.
Do I need a licence to fish in Michigan?
Yes. Michigan requires a fishing licence from age 17, from $26.00 for residents.
Are these Michigan dates going to change?
Some of them, and the page says which. Dates written as a rule in the regulations are calculated here for 2026, so they follow the rule rather than going stale. Dates the agency sets each year are shown as exactly that, with no calendar band, because inventing one would be worse than leaving it empty.