Park fishing

[gmetime24]

Lately I have been noticing some guys posting pictures of bass they are catching out of a public park's small lake. Can the DNR still come into the park and give them a ticket legally? It is a public area but I think the lake is owned by the owner of the park. Is this still illegal?

[tjrock]

If it's a public park I would have to say it's illegal.

[djkimmel]

If it is a public park without any special local regulations, then they are fishing out of season - illegal. It is possible they have special, local regulations for that park only or park system, but that is not real common in Michigan. You could ask someone involved in your local park system if they have special regulations or if the pond is considered private to the park system since it is possible.

Private normally would be a pond completely on someone's personal property or say, a pond completely owned by an entity/company like the KOA campground pond we have in Lansing. There are a few lakes completely owned by associations with no navigable connection that can be private but many lakes people call private still fall under Michigan season and fishing regulations.

Sometimes, there are short term exceptions made too for special situations like a small pond in Mason that they got permission to fish out because it had suffered too much winter kill. They planned to kill everything in it and start over so they let a group of us have a big kids fishing contest were you could catch and keep as many fish of any size that you wanted to get one last public service out of it. That was approved by a special, one-time order. It was a fun day filled with zillions of tiny panfish, a few small bass and some bullheads.

[fuzzygrub1611]

 You are allowed to fish public parks IF there is no ordinance against it. Fishing seasons and regs. still apply. I have fished parks in Plymouth and Westland. As long as you play by their rules you are fine.

[gmetime24]

I kinda thought since it was a public park, they are fishing outta season. It is a pretty well know park in our area with some pretty nice bass in it. I know in the past the DNR has been there to take surveys on fish and I believe at one point didnt want you keeping bass because of a hard winter. Sucks to see pics of these nice bass when I get on facebook and Im not sure if these people even know the laws

[djkimmel]

I'm no longer surprised when people claim they didn't know you can't fish for any species in Michigan during their closed season. They will claim they didn't know there was a season, or more often, that as long as you let them go it is legal. Not.

I'm still having to tell several anglers each spring that the April 1, 6 test lake season went away several years ago when we changed the statewide season. That was part of the deal. It was just a test afterall.

I also, one year had to tell 2 CO's at the Lansing show that you could catch and release bass on 6 test lakes in Michigan from April 1 to Memorial weekend after I heard them tell an angler who asked that there were no places in Michigan at the time to catch and release bass before Memorial weekend. So, it isn't just anglers who aren't always aware of all the regulations.

Many do know the law but they choose to ignore it. That has been going for over 25, maybe 30 years now in Michigan. It is just become accepted apparently, maybe just because it so easy now to do it, for some people to also talk about doing this online where anyone can read about it.