Fishing in Michigan starts with choosing your water

290 captains across 146 Michigan towns, saltwater and fresh. Pick the water, then the fish, then the town — and call the captain yourself.

Contact details checked on each captain's own website · no booking fees

Choose a stretch of Michigan water

The water you pick changes the fish, the kind of day it is, and the rules that apply to it.

Skip to the town list

What do you want to catch?

Pick the fish, then the fish's own page shows which Michigan towns have captains who go after it.

All 205 fish

Counted from the 290 Michigan charters in the directory, each of which names the fish on its own website. Harvest status is this month's rule from the state agency and NOAA Fisheries, not a forecast of what is biting.

Plan for your dates

A month means different things on different parts of the coast, so the timing answer lives with the fish and with the agency rather than on one state-wide calendar.

Trip timing

When each fish is around

Every fish page carries the months this fleet actually advertises it, town by town, and says how many captains said so. Start from the fish, not the date.

Browse the fish
Keep or release

Check the rule for your water

Seasons and size limits can differ between Michigan's coasts, and a boat holding a federal permit can be bound by federal dates even inside state waters. Confirm it with the captain and with Michigan Department of Natural Resources before you keep anything.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Michigan records with a place you can go

One certified Michigan record names a town rather than an ocean, which makes it somewhere a reader can actually fish. A record is what came over the rail once, not what to expect on a Tuesday.

Record tied to Indian River

Smallmouth Bass

9.98 lb

2016

Smallmouth Bass guide Fishing in Indian River

Why this one is here

Michigan's own record list gives Indian River as the catch location, so the record, the fish's page and the town's captains all point at each other.

See the record

From Michigan's own all-tackle record list, linked per row. Records are certified by the state and can be broken at any time.

Questions before you book

What is the difference between a Michigan charter and a guide?

A charter is a boat you book offshore or inshore on the coast; a guide meets you on a lake or river, usually in a bass boat or a skiff. Of 139 Michigan towns listed here, 37 are saltwater, 27 are freshwater and 75 have captains running both. We use whichever word the town's own boats earn, judged by the fish they name on their websites.

Choose a departure town

Once you know roughly where and what, this is the whole Michigan directory. Towns with 3 or more listed captains have a page of their own.

Ada: 1 charterAu Train: 1 charterBark River: 1 charterBarnes Lake: 1 charterBeulah: 1 charterBitely: 1 charterBreckenridge: 1 charterBrighton: 1 charterBrown City: 1 charterCadillac: 1 charterCalumet: 1 charterCarson City: 1 charterCassopolis: 1 charterCedarville: 1 charterCharlevoix: 1 charterChesterfield: 1 charterColumbus: 1 charterCoopersville: 1 charterDavison: 1 charterDearborn: 1 charterDeford: 1 charterDrummond: 1 charterEagle River: 1 charterEdmore: 1 charterEvart: 1 charterGibraltar: 1 charterGrant: 1 charterGrosse Ile Township: 1 charterGrosse Pointe Woods: 1 charterHancock: 1 charterHarsens Island: 1 charterHart: 1 charterHolt: 1 charterHoughton: 1 charterIndian River: 1 charterKentwood: 1 charterLake: 1 charterLakes of the North: 1 charterLaurium: 1 charterMackinaw City: 1 charterMacomb: 1 charterMarine City: 1 charterMilan: 1 charterMilford: 1 charterMillington: 1 charterMount Clemens: 1 charterNessen City: 1 charterOnekama: 1 charterPotterville: 1 charterPresque Isle: 1 charterRapid City: 1 charterRavenna: 1 charterRuby: 1 charterSaginaw: 1 charterSaline: 1 charterShepherd: 1 charterSheridan: 1 charterSouth Boardman: 1 charterSt. Clair: 1 charterSt. Ignace: 1 charterStandish: 1 charterStanwood: 1 charterStronach: 1 charterThompsonville: 1 charterTwin Lake: 1 charterVillage of Grosse Pointe Shores: 1 charterWalker: 1 charterWalloon Lake: 1 charterWilliamsburg: 1 charterFranklin: 1 charterAtlanta: 1 charterBig Rapids: 1 charterBloomfield Hills: 1 charterBoon: 1 charterClay Township: 1 charterFenton: 1 charterFrederic: 1 charterGeorgetown Township: 1 charterGrand Rapids: 1 charterHarrietta: 1 charterHarrisville: 1 charterHastings: 1 charterLowell: 1 charterRoosevelt Park: 1 charterRoyal Oak: 1 charterSkandia: 1 charterSouth Haven Township: 1 charterStevensville: 1 charterWest Olive: 1 charterWhite Cloud: 1 charterWhitehall: 1 charterBoyne City: 1 charterAlpena: 2 chartersBay City: 2 chartersBenton Harbor: 2 chartersBerrien Springs: 2 chartersBranch Township: 2 chartersBrethren: 2 chartersChassell: 2 chartersCheboygan: 2 chartersElberta: 2 chartersEscanaba: 2 chartersFountain: 2 chartersGaylord: 2 chartersGlen Arbor: 2 chartersHarrison Township: 2 chartersLa Salle: 2 chartersLake Leelanau: 2 chartersMacatawa: 2 chartersMarion: 2 chartersNewaygo: 2 chartersOscoda Township: 2 chartersPearl Beach: 2 chartersPentwater: 2 chartersPerrinton: 2 chartersPort Austin: 2 chartersSpring Lake: 2 chartersSt. Johns: 2 chartersTustin: 2 chartersWyandotte: 2 chartersCrystal Falls: 2 chartersAcme: 3 chartersDetroit: 3 chartersEast Jordan: 3 chartersElk Rapids: 3 chartersGladstone: 3 chartersNew Buffalo: 3 chartersPetoskey: 3 chartersWellston: 3 chartersBaldwin: 4 chartersLinwood: 4 chartersLudington: 4 chartersMarquette: 4 chartersHolland: 5 chartersLeland: 5 chartersSaugatuck: 5 chartersSt. Joseph: 5 chartersMonroe: 6 chartersSault Ste. Marie: 6 chartersFrankfort: 7 chartersSt. Clair Shores: 8 chartersManistee: 9 chartersMuskegon: 10 chartersGrand Haven: 11 chartersSouth Haven: 11 chartersTraverse City: 12 chartersTraverse CityGrand HavenSouth HavenManistee
290 charters in 146 Michigan towns. Each dot is a town; bigger dots, more charters.

Michigan saltwater regions

The stretches of coast these captains name on their own websites.

Michigan saltwater towns

Towns whose boats fish the coast. Towns with 3 or more listings have their own page.

Michigan towns with both

Towns whose captains run saltwater charters and freshwater guide trips.

Michigan freshwater

The lakes, rivers and chains these guides name on their own websites.

Michigan waters

Named waters and stretches of coast this state's captains fish, each with the boats that name it on their own website.

Smaller towns in Michigan

Towns with fewer than 3 listed captains, so they sit here rather than on a page of their own.

9 captains