Fishing Rules

Fishing at Potawatomi Wildlife Park

Potawatomi Wildlife Park does NOT allow open public fishing on our ponds or from our banks along the Tippecanoe River.

We do allow fishing for educational purposes through organized youth groups such as Scouts, 4-H, church youth groups, and other approved groups. We also allow fishing during organized field trips hosted in advance by Potawatomi Wildlife Park staff.

Each year, we open beautiful Pond 5 to the public for a few special catch-and-release fishing events, including our Father’s Day weekend event (2026 hosted on Friday) and our Annual Fishing Derby, held the Saturday after Labor Day weekend. Please check our event page for exact dates and times.

Why don’t we allow open fishing all the time?

Potawatomi Wildlife Park is not a county or state park. We are a private nonprofit park, open to the public for free from sunrise to sunset, with very limited staff and resources. Our mission is to connect people with nature, local history, and community through low-impact recreation and educational programming.

We love teaching people how to fish, but we also want to protect the land, water, wildlife, and resources around us. Public fishing areas often face issues with trash, overfishing, safety concerns, liability, and damage when they cannot be monitored regularly. For those reasons, fishing is restricted outside of approved programs and special events.

We do have a separate property, not connected to the main park, called The Historic Wall, located off Birch Road. This area is open to the public from sunrise to sunset, and fishing is allowed there. You may keep what you catch at this location.

To find The Historic Wall: go south past the main park entrance on State Road 331, turn left on 18th Road, then left on Birch Road. Watch for a small pull-off on the left with a park sign.

This property is maintained about once a month, so the grass may be long at times. It can also be used as a kayak entry or exit point. It is about 3 miles upstream from the main Potawatomi Wildlife Park kayak launch and about 7 miles downstream from the Etna Green kayak and canoe launch.

Please respect this space. Do not dump trash, and please pack out everything you bring in. This site is a reminder of why we must protect our main park property and keep fishing limited there.

Thank you for respecting our park rules and helping us care for this special place.