Two men fish through holes in the ice as weather warms. (Photo by Randy Fath)

Michigan’s new fishing license and regulation season starts April 1 and licenses are available for purchase now. They’re valid through March 31, 2027.

Licenses can be purchased at Michigan.gov/DNRLicenses or by downloading the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app and purchasing through the app.

All anglers ages 17 and older are required to have a fishing license to fish public waters in Michigan.

Licenses are good for all species, though additional reporting requirements apply to some species and methods. Anglers can purchase:

— An annual fishing license at $26 for Michigan residents or $76 for nonresidents (both carry an additional $1 surcharge).

— A senior annual fishing license at $11 for Michigan residents 65 and older or residents who are legally blind (with additional $1 surcharge).

— A daily fishing license at $10 per day for Michigan residents and nonresidents 17 and older (valid for 24 hours).

— An optional youth fishing license, which is available at just $2 for anglers ages 16 and younger.

Michigan’s statewide trout opener and the Lower Peninsula inland walleye and northern pike seasons open Saturday, April 25. In Upper Peninsula waters, the walleye and northern pike seasons open Friday, May 15.

Michigan’s muskellunge possession season opens Saturday, June 6, on all Great Lakes, inland waters, the St. Marys River, Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair and Detroit rivers. Catch-and-release fishing for muskellunge is open all year.

The possession season for bass opens statewide Saturday, May 23, except for Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair and Detroit rivers, which open Saturday, June 20. The catch-and-immediate-release season for largemouth and smallmouth bass is open all year on nearly all waters.

The 2026 Michigan Fishing Regulations are available online at Michigan.gov/Fishing. For fishing license questions, contact DNR licensing staff at MDNR-E-License@Michigan.gov or call 517-284-6057.

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If you’ve got a shanty on the ice, removal dates aren’t far off.

Ice shanties must be removed by midnight March 31 on all Upper Peninsula lakes. For Michigan-Wisconsin boundary waters the deadline is March 15.

For Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Lake Superior and inland waters north of Highway 64 in Wisconsin, the deadline is on or before March 15.

Anglers can continue to use portable ice shanties after these dates so long as they are removed from the ice when they are not actively in use and at the end of each day.

As these deadlines approach, it’s important to remember that no ice is ever 100% safe.

“Ice thickness can change very fast,” said Lt. Jacob Holsclaw, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources off-highway vehicle administrator. “That could trigger a split-second and possibly fatal dunk for anglers, snowmobilers and other outdoor enthusiasts unless safety steps are followed.”