Muskegon River Fishing Report – March 8, 2025 – Newaygo, Michigan

The Muskegon river is entering “spring steelhead” mode, with their annual spawning run starting and going through early to mid May.

The recent rains brought the river levels up this past week and with any luck, we’ll keep some water in the river this year ! Last year was by far the lowest overall “average” of river levels that I’ve seen in nearly 30 years….much of this was due to very little snow last winter, coupled with some early summer drought conditions and we’re hoping Mothe Nature helps us out more in 2025.

With both fly fishing and conventional equipment setups, we’ll be targeting steelhead during their annual spring spawning run, focusing on pre and post spawn fish for the most part, as well as resident Brown and Rainbow trout who will be eager to capitalize on the easy meals of loose steelhead eggs and insect pupa/larva kicked up during the steelhead spawn.

I saw the first of our “early” black stone flies fluttering on the surface yesterday, which is a bit early in general, but still a good sign and when trout key in on them, it provides the first dry fly fishing opportunities for resident trout, which typically occurs in late March and into April.

Before we know it, March will have passed and we’ll be into the heart of the steelhead run and spawn, which will be followed by spawning suckers and trout eager to take advantage of those easy meals and shortly after that around latter May, we’ll see the first of our insect hatches and kick start to our trout-dry fly season.

We have a ways to go before that though, starting with a rise in river temperatures – still cold, around 35-36 the last couple days – “hopefully” stable river levels through the steelhead run and best case scenario will find us getting some rain in May to keep overall river conditions in good shape as we get into summer.

Should anyone be looking to get out on a guided trip, I don’t have much open until mid May, but if you’re looking to do some walk in-wade fishing on your own, feel free to touch base if you have questions about rivers, fish or rigging – 616-560-3195 is my cell, email is jrbacon@ameritech.net.

Tight lines…

Jeff