Travel Marquette
DNR Fishing Report
March 12, 2025
The new fishing license and regulation season kicks off April 1, so anglers need to be sure they have purchased a new license for the fishing season in order to enjoy Michigan’s great fishing opportunities. The 2025 fishing licenses are valid through March 31, 2026.
Fishing licenses can be purchased at Michigan.gov/DNRLicenses or by downloading the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app and purchasing your license on the app.
All anglers 17 years of age and older are required to have a fishing license.
Marquette: Anglers reported success mostly when fishing for coho salmon from the break wall. As temperatures warm up, fishing should improve. The Chocolay River had a few good reports for coho salmon and brown trout throughout the winter. Steelhead continued to be caught from the Carp River mouth all the way up to the Marquette Mountain area. Night crawlers and spawn have seemed to work best for anglers.
Little Bay de Noc: Ice conditions on the bay have changed dramatically within a week. Runoff has resulted in erosion of the shore ice at many of the lake access points. Although anglers have reported sufficiently thick ice on the main part of the upper bay, please use extreme caution, as the uppermost layer of ice is soft, and conditions are changing day-to-day. Walleye anglers reported fair to good fishing. Set lines with minnows and treble hooks have been productive. Spoons and snap jig-style baits were catching more aggressive, active fish. Yellow perch anglers caught fish in the shallows, as well as out deep on the mud flats.
Fishing tip: Storing ice-fishing equipment for next season
Here is a checklist of things to do when storing your ice fishing equipment:
- If you have an auger, check for any damage and dry all the blades before storing it. You may want to consult your power auger’s manual to know how to appropriately handle any leftover gas and how to protect the engine.
- Remove batteries from any electronics to prevent any potential damage from leaking batteries.
- Make sure your portable shelter is completely clean and dry before storing. You may want to put some moth balls in it or hang it to keep pests at bay.
- Take a full inventory of your rods, reels and tackle to see what you might need or want for next year. Also remove all bait or line from your hooks and lures for storage and make sure everything is dry.
This report is intended to give you an idea of what is going on around the state. Updates come from Fisheries staff and conservation officers. With more than 11,000 inland lakes, the Great Lakes and thousands of miles of rivers and streams, not all locations can be listed. However, it is safe to say if a species is being caught in some waters in the area, they are likely being caught in all waters in that section of the state that have that species.