For Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Lake Superior and inland waters north of Highway 64 in Wisconsin, the deadline to remove ice shanties is on or before March 15. (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources photo)

IRON MOUNTAIN — 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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Wisconsin’s new fishing license year also starts April 1. In Wisconsin, kids 15 and under can fish without a license, along with anglers born before 1927.

Wisconsin has a number of licensing options, including a First-time Buyer License for those who haven’t fished Wisconsin before or want to return to fishing after at least 10 years without a license. Resident anglers who recruit someone new to purchase a first-time buyer license can earn points toward a reduced-price license of their choice.

For more information, go to https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/Fishing/outreach/FishingLicenses.

Wisconsin licenses are available through Go Wild, sales locations or DNR Service Centers.

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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.”

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The Michigan DNR reported this Upper Peninsula fishing activity:

Little Bay de Noc: Anglers reported fair fishing this week. There were reports of walleye in areas from Gladstone into the outer bay. Anglers reported catching fish on shallow flats during the early morning hours and at dusk. They also reported doing well at the bottom of drop-offs. Anglers were using set lines with shiners and sucker minnows, as well as jigging snap-style glide baits and spoons.

Yellow perch fishing improved this week, and anglers reported having the best success fishing the upper bay. They were using wigglers and minnows, fished close to the bottom.

Munising: The coho salmon bite remained steady throughout the bay with anglers reporting good success. The whitefish bite reportedly picked up as anglers reported some success when targeting them. The perch and splake bite was fair with a lot of smaller ones being caught. Anglers did well on smelt, along with a few burbot at night. Popular baits were wax worms and minnows.

Keweenaw Bay: Anglers reported fair to good numbers of both lake trout and cisco being caught, along with a few undersized splake. Success was also reported by those targeting burbot and smelt within the last week. Coho salmon and whitefish anglers reported slow fishing, with better success noted during the morning hours. Common baits among successful anglers included minnows, spawn, cut herring, and smelt.

Les Cheneaux Islands: Anglers caught a wide variety of fish throughout the islands. Good numbers of perch were caught in Hessel Bay, Urie Bay, Government Bay, and Moscow Channel. Every day was different, and the fish were on the move. Big pike were reported in Wilderness Bay over the weekend. Anglers also caught a few splake and lake trout, along with a few herring were in Hessel Bay. The perch fishing was reported as hit or miss.