Muskegon River Guide - Michigan Steelhead

Over the past several weeks,  Steelhead fishing has been outstanding!  Warmer than normal temperatures and higher water levels have made for great migrations this season on the Muskegon and Manistee Rivers. This year class of steelhead and salmon has been nothing short of spectacular, with an abundance of alewives, the fish have put on the feed bag! 

So what's working best to catch them?

Floats - Spawn - Beads.  Without a doubt, floats and spawn has been working best, producing a lot of steelhead and fat trout.  Covering water with technique has been key.  Great Lakes Steelhead Company - Beads have also been working great!  Trout beads match a single egg perfectly. Their colors are nothing short of amazing!  I usually peg the bead about 2.5" from the hook.   A snelled hook seems to work the best, as it always lays straight on the leader.  It looks like a weird set up but, actually it works perfectly. The fish is always hooked well inside the corner of the mouth.   

 

Back Bouncing Spawn.  Back bouncing spawn has also been another deadly technique for winter and early spring steelhead.  With this style of technique, a heavy drift sinker, ( 1oz or more) is "walked" along the bottom in a hop, hop motion.  It very much resembles a jigging motion.

Large spawn sacks tied with steelhead skein the size of a quarter with 4-5 bright orange floaters help keep the eggs off the bottom.    This technique is so deadly  because it offers a lot of scent and the bait is always right in the fishes face. 

Back bouncing is an easy technique to master. The angler needs to keep close contact with the bottom and feel the weight hitting the boat. With back bouncing, you can actually feel the texture of the bottom, (sand, rock, gravel) and the bottom depth, and hidden pockets and lies that may not be seen.
Hits range from rip the rod out of your hand, to soft, subtle heavy feeling.  Winter Steelhead can be light biters especially when the water is very cold. 

 

 

 These two techniques will help you have a better time on the river, and land more steelhead
We are available for guided trips on the Muskegon & Manistee Rivers year around.  Visit our new website for accurate Daily Steelhead fishing reports.  

 

Muskegon River Winter-Early Spring Steelhead. Spring Steelhead Guides (231) 519-7348

  In the up coming weeks, we should start seeing a fair amount of brighter, chrome spring fish. I guided down low, Bridgeton down, last week and there were good numbers of chromers to be had. I know there are good numbers of fish in the lower section of the Muskegon River. Water levels were up this morning, also with warmer temps. Day light is getting longer, Spring Steelhead fishing should start in earnest in the next week or so. There also seems to be a fair number of stone fly nymphs. The activity of Michigan Winter Stone flies usually my cue to start fishing hard down lower for bright chromers closer to Muskegon Lake. 

Muskegon River Steelhead and Salmon fry - During the late winter months, early Spring, Chinook salmon fry and lake run brown trout fry begin to hatch out of the gravel into the "Fry" or "Alevin" stage.  Red Horse Suckers also produce many fry and tiny minnows.  Large lake -Run Brown Trout feed on them heavily throughout the winter months and early Spring.  

"Ice Man - Rainbow Fry"  is available at MoJoFlies.com

These young fish are the perfect food source for larger steelhead and trout during this time of year. Egg patterns with a pronounced "blood dot" or bright red dot mimic the fry at this time. Also patterns such as the "Ice Man Minnow" or other fry or parr patterns also work well. Steelhead and trout during winter are now relying less on salmon eggs and focusing more on case caddis, stone flies, scuds, sowbugs, other macro invertebrates. Stone flies and fry patterns begin to really work well at this time of year when temperatures are cold and food is limited. 

Muskegon River Daily Fishing Reports 

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.