Muskegon River Fishing Report – August 19, 2014

Muskegon River smallmouth Bass taken on a popper

Muskegon River

The Muskegon river near Newaygo, MI is running a little above average flows right now, but in fine shape for mid August.  Due to cooler than average air temperatures this summer overall, the river has not reached it’s typical peak in water temperatures.  Great for resident Rainbow and Brown trout, but not so great for mid-late summer, warm water species such as Smallmouth bass and Northern pike.

Techniques being used for trout fishing include indicator nymph fishing with 4-6 weight rods, fishing small nymphs such as hares ears, pheasant tails, BWO nymphs and green caddis larva, all in sizes # 16-20.  Some dry fly fishing has been available on certain evenings, with a few green caddis popping off up closer to Croton dam.

Smallmouth bass fishing has been pretty good overall, with some very good days and a few rather tough ones over the last month+.  Techniques for chasing them include fishing with 7 and 8 weight rods, casting topwater “poppers”, as well as larger hopper and “waking” flies, as well as subsurface fishing with crayfish and baitfish imitations, fished with sinking or sink tip lines.

As water temperatures continue to drop, presuming this cool trend continues, we should see another round of decent caddis hatches within the next couple weeks, along with the arrival of our migratory Chinook salmon, which will be coming in over the next couple weeks and peak in the month of October.  Come mid October, we’ll see the arrival of our annual fall steelhead, followed by lake run Brown trout in November and December.

Present water temperature in the low 70’s.

Pere Marquette River

The Pere Marquette river is running above average flows right now due to recent rains that came through west Michigan, but in good condition overall for mid August.

Daytime trout fishing is all about foam bodies and rubber legs….get it next to the bank, twitch it back, repeat.  Nymph fishing will also get trout to hand and of course, the night time mousing bit is best for the big boys.

Some early run Chinook salmon have entered the river and more are sure to follow as water temps drop and we get closer to September.   Salmon fresh out of lake Michigan did just push into the river over the last few days, big question is did they stop and are staging in the lower river near Scottville, Custer or Indian Bridge, or did they put it in 2nd gear and push up to the upper 1/3 of the river, closer to Baldwin itself ?  We’ll know in the days ahead.

Present water temperature in the low 60’s.