Muskegon River Fishing Report - Muskegon River Fly Fishing

A new month with new spring steelhead entering the river. March is possibly one on the best months for steelhead fishing in Michigan. With a fair amount of spring snow melt off, much longer day light, warmer water tempratures, March kicks steelhead fishing into overdrive!
Over the past few days, we've expreinced some great fishing! Fly Fishing has become increasing more productive each day. Best fly patterns have been the Egg Sucking Stone Fly, Psycho Nymph, and the Ice Man Minnow. All of which have produced some great fish! Josh landed a gorgeous hen on the "Golby" ice man minnow. Dr. Reily, and Dr. Steve also landed some great steelhead and trout on flies.

Centerpin float fishing has also been very productive. Jigs and wax worms, and floats/spawn.The upper sections of the Muskegon River from the Newaygo area up to Croton have been fishing well. New Chrome Spring Steelhead are on the way with plenty more to come.

Muskegon River Spring Steelhead - Spring Steelhead Fishing Report

Spring Steelhead: In late February, Steelhead move up river and begin their migration to their spawning areas. Steelhead feed heavily on stone flies, caddis larvae, and Chinook fry. During March, April and May, Steelhead begin to polish gravel and begin to spawn.

During this time, Fly Fishing Steelhead is at it's absolute best!! Anglers can visually seek steelhead and make casts to the spawning Spring Steelhead. Sight fishing to Steelhead on gravel and watching them take the fly makes this an exhilarating experience!!

We have guided trips available for fly fishing for Muskegon Steelhead. Guide trips with sink-tips or chuck & duck are available. We also specialize in fishing with floats and spawn during the winter months. Not only do these fish bite.. They about rip the rod out of your hand!

Muskegon River Steelhead - Spring Steelhead

Muskegon River - The Muskegon River, as always, is far behind, because of the warm water reservoirs. The Muskegon River improved greatly over the next few day with the high water levels. Over the past few days, rain and warmer weather has dramatically improved the Steelhead fishing on the Muskegon River. There seems to be good numbers of steelhead starting to show near the mid to lower sections. Deeper holes and runs have been producing the best fishing action. With forecasted rain, fishing should continue to improve. The middle to last week of March and April should offer some great Fall Steelhead fishing, I would also expect to see a handful of large, Lake-Run Brown Trout.

Fly fishing has been our choice technique. Deep water nymphing has been producing good numbers of Steelhead with the stone fly emergence. Stone flies emerge near 36 - 38 degrees and Steelhead key in on them big time!

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!

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