Know Before You Go! New Fishing Limit Changes Start Saturday

If you are looking to drop a few lines this weekend, you should know that there will be new fishing limits on different fish species, including one of the ugliest fish you might catch in a Minnesota lake. Here's what is changing for the 2025 fishing season.

According to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the new fishing limits will start on Saturday, March 1st, the first day of the new fishing season here in the land of 10,000 lakes. With the new season beginning, some changes are coming, including some new fishing limits on certain species of fish.

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"Minnesota will have newly established limits for several species when the new fishing license year begins on March 1. The Minnesota Fishing Regulations for 2025 will include daily and possession limits for American eel, yellow bass, whitefish, cisco, and burbot."

The DNR put fishing limits on cisco, burbot, and whitefish to protect the species from 'over-exploitation'; for burbot, the new daily limit will be 4, the American Eel is rare and can't be harvested at all, and finally, yellow bass has a new limit of 30.

For those fishing in the area, there are also some modified regulations for different bodies of water, including some lakes in Stearns County, so you'll want to make sure you review the new regulations before you get out fishing this weekend.

You should be able to check the regulations book for updated regulations available  March 1 through the Minnesota DNR website. If you want a hard copy, the Minnesota DNR will have printed copies available by March 1 anywhere Minnesota fishing licenses are sold.