Zone 15 Fishing Regulations
Zone-wide open seasons for Fisheries Management Zone 15, from the 2026 Ontario Fishing Regulations Summary.
Zone 15 is cottage country, and it is the zone Doe Lake sits in — the lake this site started with. The seasons below apply across the whole zone.
These are the zone-wide seasons. Individual lakes and rivers in Zone 15 can carry their own rules on top of them, and this page does not list size limits or catch limits — those are on the official Zone 15 page, which is where you should check before you fish.
Zone 15 open seasons
Season dates only. Where the regulation is written as a rule (“third Saturday in June”), this year’s actual dates are worked out from it rather than typed in, so they cannot go stale.
| Species | Open season |
|---|---|
| Atlantic salmon | Closed all year |
| Brook trout | January 1 to September 30 |
| Brown trout | Open all year |
| Channel catfish | Open all year |
| Crappie | Open all year |
| Lake sturgeon | Closed all year |
| Lake trout | January 1 to September 30 |
| Lake whitefish | Open all year |
| Largemouth and smallmouth bass combined | fourth Saturday in June to November 302026 season: June 27 to November 30 |
| Muskellunge | 1st Saturday in June to December 152026 season: June 6 to December 15 |
| Northern pike | January 1 to March 31 and third Saturday in May to December 31 |
| Pacific salmon | Open all year |
| Rainbow trout | Open all year |
| Splake | Open all year |
| Sunfish | Open all year |
| Walleye and sauger combined | January 1 to March 15 and third Saturday in May to December 31 |
| Yellow perch | Open all year |
Worth knowing about Zone 15
There are a number of brook trout and lake trout waterbodies that have species-specific regulations in addition to restrictions related to gear, bait and fish sanctuaries. These additional restrictions are applicable to the waterbody, regardless of what species are being targeted. Refer to species exceptions for more details.
Waters with their own rules
17 waters or areas in Zone 15 carry regulations that differ from the zone-wide seasons above. If you are fishing one of these, the zone table is not the whole story:
- all waterbodies in Algonquin Park
- Bonnechere River
- Calabogie Lake
- Carmichael Lake
- Jack Lake
- Kushog Lake
- Lake Clear and Little Lake Clear
- Madawaska River
- Mud Lake
- Murphy’s Lake (Arabis Lake)
- Royal Lake
- Slipper Lake
- South Wildcat Lake
- Stocking Lake
- Stoney Lake
- Trout Lake
- Windigo Lake
See the waterbody exceptions for Zone 15 →
What this page does not cover
Size limits, catch and possession limits, and the waterbody-specific exceptions are deliberately left off. They change from year to year and from lake to lake, and a number copied onto a personal website is exactly the kind of thing that goes out of date quietly and costs somebody a fine. The seasons above are the zone-wide rules; everything else belongs on the official page.
Always check the official summary before you fish. This page is a starting point, not a substitute for it — and you need a valid Ontario fishing licence.
Seasons transcribed from the 2026 Ontario Fishing Regulations Summary — Fisheries Management Zone 15. Rules last checked against the official page on September 14, 2026. Opening dates are calculated from the regulation, not typed in, so they stay correct as the years roll over.
