Michigan · Yellow perch
Can you keep a yellow perch in Michigan?
Yes, with limits
Statewide
Open year-roundSize
No size limit stated
total length
Daily bag
25
per person per day
Possession
25
total you may hold
No minimum size, twenty-five a day. Lake Erie carries a separate 50-fish limit and Lake Gogebic a 25-fish limit with a 5-fish sub-cap over 12 inches — neither applies at Lake St. Clair or the Detroit River, which follow the statewide default.
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