Zone 17 Fishing Regulations
Zone-wide open seasons for Fisheries Management Zone 17, from the 2026 Ontario Fishing Regulations Summary.
Zone 17 takes in the Kawarthas and the Trent system — Lake Scugog and the Trent River both sit inside it, and both carry their own regulations on top of the zone-wide seasons below.
These are the zone-wide seasons. Individual lakes and rivers in Zone 17 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 17 page, which is where you should check before you fish.
Zone 17 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 | fourth Saturday in April to November 152026 season: April 25 to November 15 |
| Crappie | Open all year |
| Lake sturgeon | Closed all year |
| Lake trout | fourth Saturday in April to September 302026 season: April 25 to September 30 |
| Lake whitefish | fourth Saturday in April to November 152026 season: April 25 to November 15 |
| Largemouth and smallmouth bass combined | third Saturday in June to December 152026 season: June 20 to December 15 |
| Muskellunge | 1st Saturday in June to December 152026 season: June 6 to December 15 |
| Northern pike | Open all year |
| 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 |
| Sunfish | Open all year |
| Walleye and sauger combined | second Saturday in May to November 152026 season: May 9 to November 15 |
| Yellow perch | Open all year |
Worth knowing about Zone 17
There are several Great Lakes tributaries that have aligned regulations for rainbow trout, brown trout, Pacific salmon and Atlantic salmon - refer to species exceptions.
Waters with their own rules
2 waters or areas in Zone 17 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:
- Lake Scugog
- Trent River
See the waterbody exceptions for Zone 17 →
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 17. 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.
