Save-the-Date for the 2015 Winter Free Fishing Weekend

Free Fishing Weekends

Dear Fishing Enthusiast:

Michigan is home to some outstanding fishing, with more than 3,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, more than 11,000 inland lakes, and tens of thousands of miles of rivers and streams.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Fisheries Division strives to engage as many individuals as possible in our state’s vast recreational opportunities, and provides special times to do so – including our annual Free Fishing Weekends. Conducted one weekend each winter and summer, these opportunities allow anyone to enjoy Michigan’s world-class fishing for FREE!

The 2015 Winter Free Fishing Weekend will be held Saturday, February 14 and Sunday, February 15. As part of these weekends, all fishing license fees are waived for two days with residents and out-of-state visitors allowed to enjoy fishing on both inland and Great Lakes’ waters for all species of fish during their respective open seasons. Please note all other regulations still apply during that time.

To encourage involvement in Free Fishing Weekends, organized activities are often offered in communities across the state. These activities are coordinated by constituent groups, schools, parks (local/state), businesses and others. Will you be joining them and planning a 2015 Winter Free Fishing Weekend event?

We have numerous resources to help you plan and execute an event in your community. Simply visit www.michigan.gov/freefishing and look through the Free Fishing Weekend Event Planning e-Toolkit. If you’ve already been hosting Free Fishing Weekend events, thank you! We’ve got tools to help you as well via the Free Fishing Weekend Event Promotion e-Toolkit located at the website listed above. Resources in this e-Toolkit include outreach and public relations materials.

Once your event is coordinated, please register it as an official 2015 Winter Free Fishing Weekend activity online at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2015WinterFFW. Upon doing so you will be contacted about possibly receiving a packet of resources from Fisheries Division you can use during your event. All registered events will be entered into a drawing to win one of two “No Tangle Fishing Poles” from Lil’ Anglers – a rod that eliminates casting problems and tangles and is perfect for kids (examples of rods shown below)!



If you won’t be hosting a Winter Free Fishing Weekend event this coming year, but are planning on participating in the 2015 Summer Free Fishing Weekend (June 13 and 14), then please stay tuned for future email communication from us.

Please join this year’s efforts to help get more individuals of all ages out fishing. We welcome you to become a part of the tradition that is the annual Free Fishing Weekends – a time to get together and have some fishing fun!