Muskegon River Fishing Report – August 8, 2017 – Newaygo, Michigan

Muskegon River Fishing Report – August 8, 2017 – Newaygo, Michigan

A “blast from the past”…..friend and present owner of Caster’s Fly Shop in Hickory, NC, Dave Hise, with an early run Chinook salmon from 14 years ago on the Pere Marquette river.

The Muskegon river fishing report for August 8, 2017 in the Newaygo, Michigan area is all about fishing for Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike and Walleye.  With this being the warmest time of our summer season, trout are hunkered down around springs and I prefer not to even target them as they don’t respond well to being caught and reviving them for release can be a lengthy process.

With both fly fishing and light spin tackle equipment, we’re fishing for mostly Smallmouth, but come early August we also see more Pike and Walleye show up and be willing biters.  From topwater poppers and waking flies or lures, to subsurface imitations of baitfish and crayfish, finding “biters” is all a matter of covering water.

As heavy rain storms have come through most of west Michigan over the past few days, river levels are staying above “normal” levels for this time of summer and water temperatures have come down a few degrees in recent days and may stay there with the cooler night time air temperatures in the forecast.

Not far off is the onset of CHINOOK SALMON SEASON !!  Per usual, I will begin my “fall” season on the lower reaches of the Pere Marquette river near Ludington, where we’ll fish these beasts of the big lake with mostly conventional tackle, casting and retrieving lures in likely holding spots.  If you’ve never tangled with the fresh salmon in the river, there is NOTHING like it in fresh water fishing.  The shear power of these fish will test the best angler and equipment.  This will begin in another couple weeks, I typically mark August 25 as the beginning of our fall salmon fishing on the Pere Marquette river each year.  Much of this is dependent on lake Michigan water temperatures and how they relate to river temperatures.  The closer the two, the better for salmon migration as their bodies don’t have to adjust a lot of extreme water temperature differences.

Not far behind the salmon will be FALL STEELHEAD, arguably one of the most prized and sought after fresh water big game fish, which we’ll fish from late October through Christmas on the Muskegon river.

Present water temperature on the Muskegon river hovering around 70.