🐟 Michigan Fish Species

40 species sourced from the Michigan DNR — click any fish to see habitat, techniques, and where to catch them

Native Introduced ⚠ Invasive ⚠ Special Concern 🔴 Threatened
Alewife
Alosa pseudoharengus
2-6 inches
A small, silvery herring that entered the Great Lakes through the Welland Canal. By the 1960s, alewives had exploded to…
⚠ Invasive 🌊 8 lakes
Black Crappie
Pomoxis nigromaculatus
0.5-1 lb, 8-12 inches
Schooling fish, excellent eating. Suspended near structure.
Native 🌊 285 lakes
Bluegill
Lepomis macrochirus
0.25-0.75 lb, 6-10 inches
Abundant and fun on light tackle. Great for kids.
Native 🌊 598 lakes
Bowfin
Amia calva
2-8 lbs, 18-28 inches
Michigan's only living representative of a fish order dating back 180 million years. Cylinder-shaped with a long dorsal…
Native 🌊 21 lakes
Brook Trout
Salvelinus fontinalis
0.25-0.75 lb, 8-12 inches
Michigan's only native trout — a true gem of the north. Prefer pristine, cold headwater streams in the Upper Peninsula …
⚠ Special Concern 🌊 266 lakes
Brown Bullhead
Ameiurus nebulosus
0.5-1.5 lbs, 8-14 inches
The most common bullhead catfish in Michigan. Mottled brown coloration with dark chin barbels (the yellow bullhead has …
Native 🌊 213 lakes
Brown Trout
Salmo trutta
1-4 lbs, 14-22 inches
Prized for their wariness and ferocious fights. The most difficult trout to catch on purpose. Can grow to trophy size i…
Introduced 🌊 202 lakes
Burbot
Lota lota
1-4 lbs, 14-24 inches
Michigan's only freshwater member of the cod family. Long, eel-like body with a single chin barbel and mottled brown-ol…
Native 🌊 22 lakes
Channel Catfish
Ictalurus punctatus
1-5 lbs, 12-22 inches
Bottom feeder active at night. Stocked in many Michigan lakes.
Native 🌊 94 lakes
Chinook Salmon
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
10-25 lbs, 24-36 inches
Michigan's largest salmon. King salmon reaching 30+ lbs are caught from piers, beaches, and charter boats. One of the m…
Introduced 🌊 96 lakes
Cisco
Coregonus artedi
0.5-2 lbs, 10-16 inches
Once the most abundant fish in Lake Michigan -- historical commercial catches exceeded 30 million pounds annually. Silv…
🔴 Threatened 🌊 33 lakes
Coho Salmon
Oncorhynchus kisutch
5-12 lbs, 20-28 inches
Stocked by MDNR in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron tributaries. Fast-fighting fish that creates explosive action during fa…
Introduced 🌊 110 lakes
Common Carp
Cyprinus carpio
5-15 lbs, 20-30 inches
Powerful, underrated sport fish reaching 30+ lbs in Michigan. Increasingly popular with bow fishing and European-style …
⚠ Invasive 🌊 51 lakes
Freshwater Drum
Aplodinotus grunniens
2-8 lbs, 14-24 inches
The only member of the drum family found entirely in freshwater in North America. Makes a distinctive drumming or grunt…
Native 🌊 12 lakes
Grass Pickerel
Esox americanus vermiculatus
Under 0.5 lb, 8-12 inches
Michigan's smallest member of the pike family, rarely exceeding 12 inches. Dark olive with a chain-like or wavy lateral…
Native 🌊 8 lakes
Green Sunfish
Lepomis cyanellus
0.25-0.5 lb, 5-8 inches
A chunky, large-mouthed sunfish with blue-green iridescent coloration and orange-tipped fins. Much larger mouth than bl…
Native 🌊 24 lakes
Lake Sturgeon
Acipenser fulvescens
20-80 lbs, 3-6 feet
Michigan's most ancient fish — a prehistoric giant that can live over 150 years and reach 7 feet in length. Once nearly…
🔴 Threatened 🌊 9 lakes
Lake Trout
Salvelinus namaycush
2-8 lbs, 18-28 inches
Deep, cold-water species. Excellent in the Great Lakes and deep inland lakes.
⚠ Special Concern 🌊 57 lakes
Lake Whitefish
Coregonus clupeaformis
1-4 lbs, 14-22 inches
One of the most important commercial and sport fish in the Great Lakes. Silver-white with a small head and subterminal …
Native 🌊 43 lakes
Largemouth Bass
Micropterus salmoides
1-3 lbs, 12-18 inches
Michigan's most popular sport fish. Found in weedy, warm-water lakes statewide.
Native 🌊 536 lakes
Longnose Gar
Lepisosteus osseus
2-6 lbs, 24-40 inches
A prehistoric living fossil unchanged for 100 million years. Long, needle-thin snout packed with sharp teeth. Body cove…
Native 🌊 17 lakes
Muskellunge
Esox masquinongy
10-20 lbs, 36-48 inches
Michigan's most prized freshwater trophy — the "fish of ten thousand casts." Reaching 50+ inches, the muskie demands pa…
Native 🌊 93 lakes
Northern Pike
Esox lucius
3-8 lbs, 24-36 inches
Aggressive predator found in weedy bays. Can reach 40+ inches in Michigan.
Native 🌊 525 lakes
Pink Salmon
Oncorhynchus gorbuscha
3-5 lbs, 20-24 inches
The smallest Pacific salmon. Males develop a distinctive humped back during spawning, earning the nickname "humpy." Odd…
Introduced 🌊 16 lakes
Pumpkinseed
Lepomis gibbosus
0.2-0.5 lb, 5-8 inches
One of Michigan's most colorful fish — brilliant orange, blue, and green markings. Common in weedy shallows alongside b…
Native 🌊 33 lakes
Rainbow Smelt
Osmerus mordax
Under 0.5 lb, 6-9 inches
A slender, silvery fish with a distinctive fresh-cucumber smell when handled. Native to Atlantic coast and some norther…
⚠ Invasive 🌊 34 lakes
Rainbow Trout
Oncorhynchus mykiss
0.5-2 lbs, 10-18 inches
Stocked heavily by MDNR in many Michigan streams and lakes.
Introduced 🌊 243 lakes
Rock Bass
Ambloplites rupestris
0.25-0.5 lb, 6-10 inches
Small but feisty. Often caught alongside smallmouth.
Native 🌊 268 lakes
Round Goby
Neogobius melanostomus
0.1-0.5 lb, 4-10 inches
A small, aggressive bottom-dwelling fish from the Black and Caspian Sea region, introduced via ballast water around 199…
⚠ Invasive 🌊 13 lakes
Sauger
Sander canadensis
0.5-2 lbs, 10-18 inches
The walleye's smaller, range-restricted cousin. Nearly identical to walleye but with a spotted (not clear) spiny dorsal…
🔴 Threatened 🌊 4 lakes
Sea Lamprey
Petromyzon marinus
An eel-like jawless fish with a sucker mouth ringed with sharp, rasping teeth. Attaches to large fish and feeds on bloo…
⚠ Invasive 🌊 9 lakes
Smallmouth Bass
Micropterus dolomieu
1-3 lbs, 12-17 inches
Hard-fighting fish preferring rocky bottoms and clear water.
Native 🌊 373 lakes
Splake
Salvelinus fontinalis x namaycush
1-5 lbs, 14-24 inches
A stocked hybrid of brook trout (female) and lake trout (male) produced at Michigan DNR hatcheries. Grows significantly…
Introduced 🌊 28 lakes
Tiger Muskie
Esox masquinongy x lucius
8-18 lbs, 30-44 inches
A sterile hybrid of muskellunge and northern pike, stocked by MDNR as a trophy predator. Grows faster than either paren…
Introduced 🌊 6 lakes
Walleye
Sander vitreus
1-4 lbs, 14-22 inches
Prized table fish. Most active at dawn, dusk, and on overcast days.
Native 🌊 362 lakes
White Bass
Morone chrysops
0.5-1.5 lbs, 10-14 inches
Schooling fish that erupts into explosive surface feeds on open water. Underrated sport fish — when you find a school, …
Native 🌊 12 lakes
White Crappie
Pomoxis annularis
0.5-1.5 lbs, 9-14 inches
Michigan's second crappie species, lighter in color than black crappie with a more silvery-silver body and vertical bar…
Native 🌊 21 lakes
White Perch
Morone americana
0.5-1.5 lbs, 8-12 inches
A silvery, spiny-rayed fish originally from Atlantic coastal waters. Accidentally established in all five Great Lakes a…
⚠ Invasive 🌊 13 lakes
Yellow Bullhead
Ameiurus natalis
0.5-1.0 lb, 7-12 inches
Similar to brown bullhead but distinguished by pale yellow-white chin barbels, a yellow belly, and preference for clean…
Native 🌊 11 lakes
Yellow Perch
Perca flavescens
0.25-0.75 lb, 6-10 inches
Michigan's most popular panfish and excellent table fare. Found in virtually every Michigan lake. Schools move constant…
Native 🌊 497 lakes