Michigan Bass Season Status at this time

[djkimmel]

I've been getting calls and queries about the present status of the Michigan bass season, particularly as it stands for 2015 (remember Michigan's fishing seasons are not calendar year but run April 1 - March 31 so the present Fishing Guide and regs are in force until March 31, 2015. Any new regs that might be created, or any changes for next year would normally go into effect on April 1, 2015 and apply from that date until March 31, 2016.

As it stands today, our 2015 bass season would be exactly the same as the bass season we had this year if there are no changes passed between now and April 1, 2015:

• The last Saturday in April 2015 for the Lower Peninsula catch-and-immediate-release bass fishing.
• May 15 for Upper Peninsula catch-and-immediate-release bass fishing.
• Memorial weekend catch-and-keep bass fishing on all waters including the Great Lakes EXCEPT the Lake St. Clair system, until December 31.
• The 3rd Saturday in June catch-and-keep bass fishing on the Lake St. Clair system until December 31.

The Fisheries Order created in winter 2005 that gave us our statewide spring catch-and-immediate-release bass season starting in the 2006 fishing season is still in effect.

The passage this year of Senate Bill 869 did not remove the existing bass season Fisheries Order. All it did was take out the earliest regular bass season starting dates that our state law had printed in them so someone who has the authority could create an earlier bass season opening date than Memorial weekend (or the 3rd Saturday in June for Lake St. Clair). Before SB 869 passed no one could create an earlier bass season opening date due to the limiting language in state law.

Now, someone with the proper authority still has to accept and approve a new Fisheries Order (or law) to give us a different bass season than the one we had this year and every year since the 2006 season.