Zone 16 Fishing Regulations
Zone-wide open seasons for Fisheries Management Zone 16, from the 2026 Ontario Fishing Regulations Summary.
Zone 16 is the zone the Grand River runs through. The table below is the zone-wide season; the Grand carries its own rules on top of it, and there is a separate page here for that.
These are the zone-wide seasons. Individual lakes and rivers in Zone 16 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 16 page, which is where you should check before you fish.
Zone 16 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 | fourth Saturday in April to September 302026 season: April 25 to September 30 |
| Brook trout | fourth Saturday in April to September 302026 season: April 25 to September 30 |
| Brown trout | fourth Saturday in April to September 302026 season: April 25 to September 30 |
| 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 | first Saturday in June to December 152026 season: June 6 to December 15 |
| Northern pike | January 1 to March 31 and second Saturday in May to December 31 |
| Pacific salmon | fourth Saturday in April to September 302026 season: April 25 to September 30 |
| Rainbow trout | fourth Saturday in April to September 302026 season: April 25 to September 30 |
| Splake | Open all year |
| Sunfish | Open all year |
| Walleye and sauger combined | January 1 to March 15 and second Saturday in May to December 31 |
| Yellow perch | Open all year |
Worth knowing about Zone 16
There are several Great Lakes tributaries that have aligned regulations for Atlantic salmon, brown trout, Pacific salmon and rainbow trout - refer to species exceptions.
Warmouth is listed as endangered in Ontario and may not be caught or possessed under a recreational fishing licence.
Waters with their own rules
17 waters or areas in Zone 16 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:
- Bayfield River
- Big Creek
- Credit River
- Grand River
- Green River
- Humber River
- Lake Couchiching
- Lake Simcoe
- Maitland River
- Nine Mile Creek (Lucknow River)
- Nottawasaga River
- Pretty River
- Saugeen River
- Sydenham River
- Thames River
- Waterbodies in Grey and Bruce Counties
- Whitemans Creek (Horner Creek)
See the waterbody exceptions for Zone 16 →
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 16. 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.
