Michigan · Walleye
Can you keep a walleye in Michigan?
Yes, with limits
Statewide
Open year-round15 inches, five a day statewide — except the special possession limit that applies specifically at Lake Erie, the Detroit River, Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River (see the next region).
Lake Erie, Detroit River, Lake St. Clair, St. Clair River
Status unclearDNR sets a specific daily possession limit for these connected waters that resets every year around May 1 — the source text itself says the limit was 6 fish 'through April 30, 2026' and would be 'updated by May 1 annually,' but as of this retrieval in August 2026 no updated number is showing. Publishing the stale pre-May figure here would misstate the current rule. Check the DNR fishing website or the recorded hotline (888-367-7060) for today's number.
This is the one number on this page we will not state, because the source's own text confirms it should already have changed and hasn't been refreshed.
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