Minnesota Trout Fishing Regulations Guide

Everyone 16 and older needs a valid Minnesota fishing license to fish for trout. Licenses are issued by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MN DNR) — buy online, at MN DNR offices, or at authorized retailers.

• Annual resident fishing license — $25.
• Trout stamp — $10.75. Required in addition to the basic license to fish for trout in inland waters. Also required for steelhead and salmon on North Shore Lake Superior tributaries.
• Resident total to fish for trout — $25 + $10.75 = $35.75.
• Non-resident — annual non-resident fishing license + the same $10.75 trout stamp. Verify current non-resident pricing on the MN DNR site.

Minnesota’s general inland trout season opens the second Saturday in April. The 2026 opener falls on April 11. Most inland trout sections close in mid-to-late October; verify the specific closing date for your stream in the current MN DNR trout regulations.

• General inland trout season — second Saturday in April through mid-late October on most trout water.
• Whitewater State Park year-round C&R — the Whitewater River inside park boundaries is open year-round to catch-and-release fishing only. A genuine winter and early-spring trout opportunity in southeast Minnesota.
• North Shore tributary seasons — Lake Superior tributaries (Knife, Baptism, Cascade, Temperance, Brule MN, Poplar) operate under their own seasonal rules separate from inland trout. Lower-river steelhead and salmon access is open year-round on many sections.
• Verify per water — Minnesota’s per-stream variation is significant, especially in the Driftless. Always check the current MN DNR trout stream map and regulations booklet for the specific stretch you plan to fish.

Southeast Minnesota’s Driftless Area carries the heaviest concentration of special-regulation trout water in the state. Two flagship slot-limit streams and a year-round catch-and-release state-park fishery anchor the region:

• Trout Run Creek — ARTIFICIALS ONLY plus a 12–16 inch slot limit. Fish in the slot must be released; fish outside the slot may be kept (subject to bag limits). The slot protects mid-size wild browns through their fastest-growing years.
• Middle Fork Whitewater River — ARTIFICIALS ONLY plus the same 12–16 inch slot limit. The Middle Fork is one of southeast Minnesota’s most-protective special-regulation reaches.
• Whitewater River inside Whitewater State Park — YEAR-ROUND CATCH-AND-RELEASE ONLY inside park boundaries. Open every month of the year; no harvest. Outside the park, standard MN trout regulations apply.
• Other Driftless special-reg sections — artificials-only and reduced-bag designations are common across the SE MN Driftless. Verify each section in the current MN DNR trout stream map.

The North Shore tributaries to Lake Superior — the Knife, Baptism, Cascade, Temperance, Brule (MN), and Poplar rivers — all share a common regulatory pattern split by the first waterfall barrier from Lake Superior. The waterfalls block lake-run fish from ascending to the upper river, creating two distinct fisheries:

• Above the first waterfall — standard Minnesota inland trout regulations apply. Native brook trout primary; second-Saturday-in-April opener; mid-late October close. Trout stamp required.
• Below the first waterfall to Lake Superior — North Shore tributary regulations apply. Lake-run rainbow trout (steelhead) and lake-run salmon (coho and pink). Often open year-round on the lower river. Bag, size, and season rules differ stream by stream — verify.
• Verify each stream — section boundaries (which waterfall counts as the “first”) and seasonal dates are spelled out in the current MN DNR North Shore Lake Superior tributary regulations. Check before every trip.

Lake Superior’s pink salmon are an introduced and naturalized species — they entered the lake from the Great Lakes’ original Lake Superior pink stocking in the 1950s and have established a self-sustaining run. Pink salmon are odd-year only on the North Shore tributaries. The next pink run will be in 2027, then 2029, and so on.

• Odd-year run — pinks return only on odd-numbered calendar years.
• Run timing — late August through September, peaking in early September.
• Where — the same North Shore tributaries that get steelhead — Knife, Baptism, Cascade, Temperance, Brule MN, Poplar — carry the strongest pink salmon runs.
• Why odd-year only — pink salmon have a strict two-year life cycle; the original stocking established a single year-class and that year-class persists.

Southeast Minnesota’s Driftless trout streams have an extensive system of public-access easements through private land — a system Minnesota shares with Wisconsin and Iowa. Respect the easement boundaries (typically 66 feet from stream center) and never access through posted private land that is not part of the easement system.

• Public-access easement signs — orange MN DNR signs mark public-access easements along trout streams in Fillmore, Winona, Houston, and other SE MN counties.
• Walk in the streambed — easements grant access along the stream itself, not across adjacent fields. Stay in the water or on the immediate stream bank.
• Verify the MN DNR trout stream map — the authoritative reference for which streams have easements and where each easement ends. Print a paper copy or save offline coverage; cell service in SE MN coulee country is poor.
• Park considerately — most easement parking is gravel pulloffs along county roads. Don’t block field entrances or rural mailboxes.

Buy licenses, the trout stamp, and read the current regulations at dnr.state.mn.us. The MN DNR trout stream map and the annual trout regulations booklet are the authoritative section-by-section references. Print a paper copy before heading to SE MN Driftless coulee country or the North Shore — cell coverage in both regions is unreliable.