Michigan · Northern pike
Can you keep a northern pike in Michigan?
Yes, with limits
statewide (except Lake St. Clair, St. Clair River, Detroit River)
Open year-roundSize
24 inches and up
total length
Daily bag
2
per person per day
Possession
2
total you may hold
24 inches, two a day statewide.
Lake St. Clair, St. Clair River, Detroit River
Open year-roundSize
24 inches and up
total length
Daily bag
5
per person per day, all must be 24 inches or greater
Possession
5
total you may hold
More than double the statewide bag — five 24-inch-plus pike a day instead of two, one of the more generous pike allowances anywhere in the state.
What we left out on purpose
- Lake sturgeon runs its own separate regulations table (harvest tags, very limited season, in most waters catch-and-release only) that eRegulations references but does not print inline on the general regulations page. Not modelled here rather than guessed.
- Smelt (2 gallons per person per day statewide) is dip-netted or seined rather than rod-and-reel targeted, and is left out for the same reason baitfish species are excluded elsewhere in this silo.
- Michigan's dozens of named-lake exceptions for northern pike (protected slots, relaxed size rules) and muskellunge (46-to-50-inch broodstock lakes) are not modelled beyond the two waters this site actually reports on — the same restraint used for Colorado's Gold Medal waters and Kansas's named-reservoir exceptions.
- The Walleye possession limit specific to Lake Erie/Detroit River/Lake St. Clair/St. Clair River is carried as unsettled because the source's own text shows a limit that should have already been updated for the current season (see reviewNote) — check DNR directly rather than trust a number here.
Other species in Michigan
Where to try today
- Detroit River 5/10 · Decent
- Lake St. Clair 6/10 · Decent