Reading a Michigan river’s type before you fish it

“During closed season dates on inland trout and salmon waters, fishing is prohibited for all species.” The 2026 Michigan Fishing Regulations, in force April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027, put it in those words (p. 42), and the rule covers every inland trout and salmon water in the state. The booklet’s season chart (pp. 4 and 5) shows Type 1 and Type 2 streams closing Sept. 30 and Type 3 and Type 4 streams open in every month. On a closed stream it is also unlawful to possess fishing devices along the bank (p. 11, statewide). A stream Type is the DNR’s numbered class for a stretch of trout and salmon water.

The four types, and what bends them

The table follows the booklet’s stream table (p. 43, statewide) and the DNR map colors.

On all four, the daily limit is 5 fish with no more than 3 trout 15″ or greater, any natural or artificial bait may be used, and chumming is prohibited (exceptions on pp. 48 to 65). On Type 4 water, brook trout, brown trout and Atlantic salmon cannot be kept after Sept. 30, while other trout and salmon stay in season. River-by-river limits are in the steelhead rivers guide in this issue and the Tippy Dam story.

Gear-restricted streams (GR), listed on pp. 44 to 46 as flies only or artificial lures only and drawn in red on the map, sit outside the Types. On every one it is unlawful to use or possess live bait, dead or preserved bait or organic or processed food, on the water or on shore, except while the stream is under Type regulations (p. 44, statewide), and a bead is not a fly (p. 8). Some switch by season: Cooks Run in Iron County is managed as Type 2 from the last Saturday in April to Sep. 30, then from Oct. 1 to the Friday before the last Saturday in April as a flies-only stream with possession closed (p. 45). In November it is open to fishing, but no trout may be kept, except one by a child under 12.

A stream may also be a designated trout stream: all Type 1, Type 2, GR and Brook Trout Restoration Area streams, and most Type 3 and Type 4 (p. 44). Fisheries Order 210.26, effective April 1, 2026, is the list. Gaffs are barred on them (p. 10), and possessing fishing gear or fishing for suckers on designated trout waters in the closed season is unlawful (p. 12).

Finding your river in the lists

The county lists (pp. 48 to 65) give each stream a Type digit, “GR” or “BTRA”, but say Type 1 streams are not listed except for a few instances. Fisheries Order 200.25, the posted text, effective April 1, 2025, says that a stream named in FO-210 but not in FO-200 is under Type 1 regulations. FO-210.26 designates each listed stream and its tributaries upstream of the point given, unless excepted, so check the system a creek flows into as well as the creek. A river missing from its county list may be Type 1, closed since Sept. 30. A river in none of those places falls under the rule for streams not classified by Type (p. 44, statewide, except Michigan-Wisconsin Boundary Waters streams): open all year, 8″ minimum (7″ for brook trout), 5 fish with no more than 3 of them 15″ or greater, up to 5 Chinook or Coho 15″ or greater. The Grand River mainstream in Kent County is one: the Kent list (p. 56) has no entry for it, and FO-210.26 designates the Grand’s Kent County tributaries, not the mainstream.

An “SC” in an entry marks a fishing closure for the area and period named (p. 48). The Betsie River entry in the Benzie County list (p. 50) reads Type 4 from Kurick Road downstream to M-22, then two SC lines at Homestead Dam: within 300 feet of the lamprey barrier and fish passage facility from Aug. 1 to Nov. 15, and within 100 feet from Nov. 16 to July 31. Fisheries Order 204.26, effective Oct. 15, 2026, carries both. The Au Sable mainstream below Foote Dam (Iosco County, p. 55) is Type 3, yet its SC line closes it year-round from the dam to the downstream edge of the apron.

Gear rules in November, and where the booklet stops

Two gear rules stack on the Type. From Aug. 1 to May 31, on all streams statewide including Great Lakes tributaries, multi-pointed hooks are limited to 3/8 inch between point and shank, single-pointed to 1/2 inch, and lures to one ounce (except in the Detroit, St. Clair and St. Marys rivers) (p. 11). Snagging is unlawful at any time (p. 11).

From Aug. 1 to Nov. 15, on the waters named in the p. 8 definition of an artificial lure, terminal gear is limited to single-pointed hooks or jigs of 1/2 inch or less, or trebles of 3/8 inch or less only when attached to a body bait, plug, spinner or spoon. The p. 8 list is West Michigan water: the Betsie, Pere Marquette, Little Manistee and Bear Creek, the Manistee from Tippy Dam to the railroad bridge below M-55, the Big Sable up to Hamlin Lake Dam, the White up to Hesperia Dam and all of its North Branch, the Muskegon up to Croton Dam, and both Pentwater branches (the South Branch up to Hart Dam). County entries that say “special artificial lure regulations apply” (pp. 28 to 31) point to this window, not to a year-round rule. A bead within 4 inches above the eye of a single-pointed hook counts as a lure (p. 8).

The DNR’s Sept. 10 and Oct. 15, 2026 releases say their changes “are not reflected in the printed version of the 2026 Michigan Fishing Regulations” and point to Michigan.gov/DNRRegs and the DNR Hunt Fish app. They covered lakes, the Menominee River’s sturgeon seasons and an Otsego County pike marsh; none changes a trout stream’s Type. The booklet PDF the DNR posts, read Oct. 30, still printed the old Otsego closure (p. 31). Michigan.gov/DNRRegs leads to the DNR’s Regulation Summaries and Handbooks page, which, read Oct. 31, 2026, links the fishing regulations to that same PDF revision, gives no revision date and lists no fall changes.

Before a trip, find the river in its county list, check FO-210.26 and the DNR map, and read Michigan.gov/DNRRegs for anything newer. Both fall changes took effect the day after a Natural Resources Commission meeting, Sept. 9 and Oct. 14, so check again after the next. The December roundup in this issue picks up from here.