Fishing season update

You may want to get ready for the opening of several fishing seasons coming this Saturday, April 27!
The statewide trout season; Lower Peninsula inland walleye, northern pike and muskellunge seasons; and the catch-and-immediate release seasons for largemouth and smallmouth bass in the Lower Peninsula all open that day.

It should be noted that in Upper Peninsula waters, the walleye, pike and muskellunge seasons don’t open until May 15 – which is the same date the catch-and-immediate-release season for bass opens in those same waters.

Possession season for bass opens statewide on Saturday, May 25, except for Lake St. Clair, St. Clair River and the Detroit River which open on Saturday, June 15.

The new license season began on April 1, so anglers need to be sure they have purchased a new fishing license for this season. The 2013 fishing licenses remain valid until March 31, 2014. For information on purchasing a license, visitwww.michigan.gov/fishinglicense.

The 2013 Michigan Fishing Guide and Inland Trout & Salmon Maps are available online, visit the DNR website atwww.michigan.gov/fishingguide for more information.

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Walleye daily possession limit for Lake Erie to stay at six
Again this year the daily possession limit for walleye in Michigan’s waters of Lake Erie will be six starting May 1, 2013.

Michigan’s daily creel limit for walleyes on Lake Erie is based on its share of the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for the lake, which is determined by the Lake Erie Committee under the guidance of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. The TAC is based on the overall abundance of walleyes. The committee establishes quotas for each jurisdiction based on the percentage of habitat for adult walleyes in each jurisdiction’s waters of the lake. The daily limit is based on a formula that projects how many walleyes anglers can keep but still remain within the quota.

See the table below for an explanation of the formula used to set the daily creel limit.

The 2013 Total Allowable Catch for Lake Erie is 3.356 million fish, making Michigan’s quota 196,000 fish. This equates to a daily possession limit of six fish.

For 2013, there are no changes to either the fishing season or size limit for walleyes on Lake Erie.