Muskegon River Fishing Report – Croton, MI – June 27, 2015

Muskegon River Fishing Report – Croton, MI – June 27, 2015

A Muskegon River Brown trout, ready for release.

The Muskegon river near Croton dam in the Newaygo, MI area is running a bit above “average” flows for this time of late June, but in good shape overall due to a cooler than normal June so far.

We still have some hatch activity taking place, providing for some dry fly fishing opportunities from mid-late afternoon, through early evening and up to just shy of dusk.

Primary hatches right now include #18 Green Caddis, #16 & #18 Sulphurs, #18-20 BWO’s (mostly on cloudy days), a few #12 Gray Drakes & #10 Isonychia’s, from early evening and up to near dark.

Indicator nymph fishing during pre-hatch time is best done around tailouts of riffle runs, as well as longer, medium depth, medium current speed runs, with a bottom mix of gravel/small boulders and rapidly growing “grass flats”.  Fly patterns to have on hand include #18 Green Caddis pupa, #16 & #18 sparse Hares Ears or Pheasant Tails, as well as larger Isnonychia nymphs to swing through big boulder runs with medium depth.

We are on the front end of our good Smallmouth Bass fishing “season” on the Muskegon river as we approach July.   With the amount of baitfish in the river and what appears to be a good population of Crayfish, we should see some great Smally action over the next couple months.

Come mid summer, river fishing trips can be a mix of both fly fishing and light spin tackle, based on ones preference, experience, species of fish we’re pursuing and overall fishing conditions.  I most often have PLENTY of both, either rigged in a ready in the new Stealthcraft  jet sled, or in my vehicle and ready to be rigged up on a moments notice. 

Both full and half day trips are a great way to mix in some fishing, with other summer time activities.  If one is looking for more of a BIG TUG, our fall Chinook Salmon run is not far off and within another 30-45 days, we’ll have fish approaching the pier heads, in preparation for this annual spawning run up their natal rivers.  We start on the lower Pere Marquette river in late August, casting-retrieving lures, spoons and spinners to these incredibly powerful great lakes big game fish and pursue them, and later fall steelhead, right up through the month of December.

Present water temperature on the Muskegon river is in the upper 60’s.