Michigan offers some of the finest freshwater fishing in the world, with more than 3,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, more than 11,000 inland lakes, and tens of thousands of miles of rivers and streams.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Fisheries Division looks to connect as many individuals as possible with our state’s plentiful recreation opportunities, and strives to create special opportunities to do so – including our annual Free Fishing Weekends. Conducted each winter and summer, these events allow anyone to enjoy Michigan’s premier fishing for FREE!
Summer Free Fishing Weekend graphicFor these two weekends, all fishing license fees are waived for two days! Residents and out-of-state visitors are allowed to enjoy fishing on both inland and Great Lakes’ waters for all species of fish during their respective open seasons, without having to purchase a fishing license. Please note all other regulations will still apply during this time.
The 2015 Summer Free Fishing Weekend will be held Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14.
To encourage involvement in Free Fishing Weekends, organized activities are offered in communities across the state. These activities are coordinated by individuals, constituent groups, schools, parks (local/state), businesses and others.
Will you join in the fun and plan a 2015 Summer Free Fishing Weekend event? It’s so easy to do!
We’ve compiled numerous resources to help you plan and execute such an event in your community. Simply visit michigan.gov/freefishing and look through the Free Fishing Weekend Event Planning e-Toolkit. If you’ve already been hosting Free Fishing Weekend events, thank you! We’ve got tools to help you as well via the Free Fishing Weekend Event Promotion e-Toolkit at this website as well. Resources in this e-Toolkit include outreach and public relations materials.
Once your event is coordinated, please register it as an official 2015 Summer Free Fishing Weekend activity online at: www.surveymonkey.com/s/2015SummerFFW-registration. Upon doing so you will be contacted about potentially receiving valuable resources from Fisheries Division to use during your event.
Please join in this year’s efforts to help get more individuals of all ages fishing. We welcome you to become a part of the annual Free Fishing Weekends, to make memories, and to have some fishing fun!
For additional Free Fishing Weekend information, please contact Elyse Walter at waltere@michigan.gov or 517-284-5839.
