Muskegon River Steelhead - Center Pin Float Fishing

Floats and spawn has been our technique of choice for covering water. I spent the afternoon centerpin fishing with Jim and found the weather to be great and the Steelhead whiling to bite! We fished the upper sections of the Muskegon River and found a decent number of fish in each area that we floated. Most of the Steelhead from today were located in the deeper portions of the runs and deep tailouts. They seemed to fight hard and several of them even managed to jump. Water temps are still in the high 30's - low 40's keeping Steelhead aggressive to the correct offerings.


Our technique today was one of our favorites, Centerpin float fishing with floats and spawn. We also landed several fish on tiny Little Nipper jigs and waxworms. Long, extended drifts, light tippets, and different offerings paid off big time as the water levels remain low and clear. I feel there is a great number of Steelhead throughout the river system. These fish are wise and may have been caught and released before. A quiet approach and a clean drifts certainly helped to bring fish to hand.

Muskegon River Winter Steelhead - Float Fishing the Chrome!

I spent the afternoon centerpin fishing with Jim and found the weather to be great and the Steelhead whiling to bite! We fished the upper sections of the Muskegon River and found a decent number of fish in each area that we floated. Most of the Steelhead from today were located in the deeper portions of the runs and deep tailouts. They seemed to fight hard and several of them even managed to jump. Water temps are still in the high 30's - low 40's keeping Steelhead aggressive to the correct offerings.


Our technique today was one of our favorites, Centerpin float fishing with floats and spawn. We also landed several fish on tiny Little Nipper jigs and waxworms. Long, extended drifts, light tippets, and different offerings paid off big time as the water levels remain low and clear. I feel there is a great number of Steelhead throughout the river system. These fish are wise and may have been caught and released before. A quiet approach and a clean drifts certainly helped to bring fish to hand.

Muskegon River Steelhead - Steelhead Fly Fishing!

Muskegon River Steelhead - Water levels are up and Steelhead fishing is prime! Over the past few days, we received some much needed rain to bump up water levels. Levels and water temperatures have been prime to get steelhead on the move. Tuesday and Wednesday, the wind and the rain made fishing challenging but our anglers landed a fair amount of both skipper steelhead and adult fish. From Pine St. to lower bridge in Newaygo, there seems to be an even number of steelhead, no major groups of fish, just scattered throughout the system. Michigan Steelhead Reports
Floats and spawn has been our technique of choice for covering water. Fly fishing has also been great, keeping up with bait fishing numbers. Citris clown eggs and golden/egg nuke eggs have been fishing well. TroutBeads have also been excellent while fishing behind the salmon. (Yes. There have been a very good amount of fresh - clean looking salmon around Thornapple and Newaygo.) Steelhead have also been close by, Cabin hole, Aquarium run, and the Tire Hole, have all been holding Steelhead around the Thornapple launch, High rollaway area has also been good in the deep gravel areas and in the riffle. Trout have also been active behind the salmon.
Michigan Steelhead Flies

Muskegon River Fall Steelhead

Muskeon River Steelhead fishing has been outstanding the past few days. John display a gorgeous Steelhead landed while fly fishing with a peach clown egg pattern. Egg flies have played a huge role in landing Salmon and Steelhead as Chinook roe or spawn has been the primary food source. November is the best month for Fall Steelhead as numbers begin to improve!

Manistee River King Salmon - Salmon Fishing Report- (231) 519-7348

Now offering Manistee and Pere Marquette River Thunderstick trips for early Season King Salmon. Full day trips are 8 hrs and begin early morning around 6am and finish around 3pm. Afternoon half-days are also available from 4pm till just before dark. $250 for two anglers.
Do you want to learn to catch trophy Chinook Salmon and Steelhead and Pere Marquette or Manistee Rivers? Do you enjoy bone jarring strike or fish that about jerk the rod out of your hand? Well come join us on Northern Michigan rivers for early season Salmon. Manistee River Fishing Report
We also offer guided float fishing trips with floats (bobbers) and Skein salmon eggs under a float. This is a very fun day on the water with limits of salmon landed daily. The Manistee River is also home to the World-Record Brown Trout landed bt Tom Healy and Tim Roller. Who knows, you could land the next world record Salmon or Steelhead!

Manistee River Fishing Report: Salmon are just now entering the river is good order. The lower sections near Insta-Launch and Matson's Campground are beginning to produce some really nice fish. Cooler northeast winds have been the key to more salmon. Cooler night and and rainfall have also helped the bite. Some Skamania Steelhead (Summer-Run Steelhead) have also been landed along with Fall Steelhead and Coho. Best baits have been floats and spawn. Casting crankbaits or Thundersticks have also worked well.

Pere Marquette River Report: The lower sections of the Pere Marquette River are also fishing well for early Chinook Salmon. Indian Bridge, Custer, Scottville, and Iris Rd are all producing some nice fish. Ludington Charter boats are also doing well in Pere Marquette Lake. Stinger spoons producing the most fish. There should be very good numbers of both Salmon and Steelhead in the Pere Marquette River through September-October.

Muskegon River Gray Drakes

Seeking Mr. Big and the Gray Drake Spinner Fall.

Tonight was the night.. overcast skies all day, hot and humid.. Waiting for the bugs to fall.
Earlier in the evening we had a good number of Sulpher spinners coming down with a few smaller Trout starting to rise.

A half hour later I started to see a few Gray Drake spinners starting to fall.. Then a few minutes later... Along came Mr. Big; a gorgeous, hook jawed trophy Brown Trout... The rest is history. Here's a great photo of Andy and his beautiful Muskegon River Brown Trout landed on a Gray Drake spinner dry fly!

Muskegon River Trout Fishing

Wow! What a change in weather! Warmer temperatures forecasted and the fishing has been very good! Muskegon River Trout and Streamer fishing has been great with the huge amounts on Sucker and Steelhead fry. Fry patterns have been the flavor of the month. Both Rainbows and Browns have been feeding heavily on fry. Trout have also keyed up on Caddis emergers and or fry depending on the weather.

Steelhead Fry & Sucker Spawn

During the day- Large Streamers and fry patterns near the bank. Shaded pockets hold the fish! Sink-tip fly lines have been the key. Nymphing with sucker spawn patterns and small nymphs has also been producing numbers of Muskegon River Trout. Dry flies & Drake spinners in the evenings. Some of the best hatches occur as the sun drops below the tree line with low light.

May & June are the the time for Dry fly fishing with the Gray Drake Spinners. (Gray Drakes are a mid-sized may fly with smoke clear wings, a thin variegated body, and a white ring around the eyes.) Most spinner falls occur just be for dark. Drakes also always spinner fall on a riffle or fast current. Muskegon's most overlooked hatch, typically found in the middle to lower sections of the river. Thornapple - Henning Park.

Gray Drake Spinner - May - July Trout Evening Hatch Fishing (Gray Drake Spinner -Gray Drake) River perfect level-2450-cfs- 60 degree water temp.

Muskegon River Trout - There are lots of suckers spawning and encouraging the bigger browns and rainbows to feed on nymphs behind sucker redds. Excellent numbers of Gray Drakes seen in the last couple of days, mostly during the afternoon period. Many of stocked Trout targeting dry fly Caddis with an occasional big fish on the surface. As water temperatures increase, larger Trout will come up. Sulpher emergence is soon to come. Streamer stripping with salmon fry patterns has been working well for larger Trout - We need warmer water to get the big boys to chase streamers.

Muskegon River Spring Steelhead

Spring Steelhead on the Muskegon River.

Over the past two days, I had the pleasure of fly fishing with Shun Washiya. Shun lives in the UK and in his words, took a "fly fishing holiday to visit Steelhead designations around the world." The Muskegon River was first on the his list!

I was less than pleased with the weather forecast... winds 7-15 in the morning, highs in the mid twenties... Just what you want to hear when fly fishing for Steelhead.
Nothing like frozen fly line and frost bit finger tips. After changing fly lines and teaching Shun our bastardized method of Great Lakes Chuck-n-Duck, things began to roll along quite nicely.( After a morning Monster, and 6 hand warmers ) Within the first few drifts of the morning he was in to a fat Rainbow in the riffle above Pine Street.
This spot is loaded with trout and is a great way to start the morning!

Around 11:30 things began to change. The wind died down and the sun popped out for awhile. We moved the boat to several deeper runs. Many drifts and only a few small trout in those locations. I decided to change up patterns instead of moving. Shun hit his first Steelhead of the day, a stout double striped buck pictured on left. After ten photos Shun was fired up, had faith in the water (and guide) and was now ready to fish! We managed to hook four more Steelhead that afternoon and landed another bright hen and a smaller buck.

Those of you that know me well understand that I prefer to fish floats and spawn during the cold winter months. Typically, you hook and play far more Steelhead and line management is just easier. It did feel great to hook-up Steelhead on a fly rod. There is certainly something different about feeling the "grab" of the fly verses watching a float go down. They are both cool if there is a fish at the end!

By the second day, things were beginning to groove well. Shun had the cast and the drift down and fishing smoothly. Air temps, still not warm, were better than the day before. Within the first three hours on Sunday, he had landed an nice Brown, hooked two other Steelhead and landed a dark winter hen from a deep run. Oddly though, almost every Steelhead landed (7 for 11- 2 days) were all on either Stone flies or Hex nymphs. Often times that is a sign that Spring is near, the hens need protein to help mature the eggs, Stone flies become active in late February, and salmon fry begin to emerge this time of year. I was thinking more along the lines that every Steelhead from the Dam to Bridgton have all been either hooked, pricked, stung, or caught and released on spawn sacks or egg flies. Nymphs were something different.

Point being that we both had a fantastic two days of fly fishing! Not the best weather or best conditions. The water was 32 degrees, low, and gin clear. Because the Muskegon is a tailwater fishery, it has so much more to offer. It never freezes, and has piles of resident trout and a lot of Steelhead. How many places in the world today, can you hook over ten Steelhead in two days fly fishing in February? This river has a lot to offer anglers. Sometime this Spring, take and day and enjoy the river!

Muskegon River Spring Steelhead

Muskegon River Fly Fishing Report

Great Lakes Steelhead Flies

Michigan Fly Fishing Guides

Michigan Fly Fishing