Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

ive got a question about these and i havent found the answer or really know where to look but maybe you guys would know. are there any laws about fishing around them...or maybe just laws for being nearby with the boat, i thought ive seen something about it somewhere its been awhile.

It depends on if they are private or public. Some may involve local ordinances and sometimes do have local regs about not boating (or fishing in them). I have even seen them mentioned in some tournament rules over the years as off limit areas.

To be safe, I've only fished them in the early morning if no one is around and if I was pretty confident there were no local ordinance or similar that makes them off limits. If it is any kind of public area and there are any signs saying no boating or similar, I treat it as off limits.

I always stay a fair distance away if there are any people around. In Michigan, you should always treat them as off limits by 100 feet minimum for boating. There may be signage that states a farther distance too, like 300 feet in some areas. Since young people in particular like to live dangerously, I never run even that close to a marked swimming area.

In some states, by law you must keep your boat out of marked swimming areas. I don't know when a marked area is official verses unofficial. I always recommend to anyone who fishes that they find out and know all local laws, regulations, orders and ordinances.

I like the boat-ed.com site for checking state level regulations. This page has some bearing on your question and I usually find many people are surprised about some of the boating laws in Michigan since we have no required licensure or training: http://www.boat-ed.com/mi/handbook/oper.htm

so what it looks like to me is you cant be over "idle/no wake" speed so i can fish around them and drive by them (at idle/no wake speed). i dont fish inside them so it looks like its clear to fish around them unless stated otherwise. thanks for the help

You can fish outside of them in Michigan and in most tournament circuits I'm aware of, but again, I'd only do it if there are no swimmers present or close by. If there are swimmers present I wouldn't get that close. Some of them swim outside of the marked area and none of us would win any arguments about fishing close to swimmers regardless or win any points by fishing too close to swimmers.

It's just like I don't fish under docks with people on them, definitely if there are kids. On a rare occasion I have asked permission if people were only on the dock and not getting in the water, but usually I just pass by.