Muskegon River Fishing Report – December 12, 2017 – Newaygo, MI

Muskegon River Fishing Report – December 12, 2017 – Newaygo, MI

Bill with a snowy young female Muskegon river steelhead caught while fishing with long time friend Butch, both from the mid Michigan area.

The Muskegon river fishing report for December 12, 2017 in the Newaygo, MI area is……CHILLY !!!!!

With the return of more mid December like weather, we’ll be seeing the river conditions change accordingly and settle into what will be our “winter season” through December, January and February.  Water temperature is still hovering around 40 degrees, but this will likely change with very cold air temperatures over the next few days.  

With both fly fishing and conventional fishing gear setups, we’re focusing on certain runs to fish for both resident trout and migratory steelhead.  With the Chinook salmon having wrapped up their annual spawn in early November and lake run Brown trout having done the same over the past near month, both trout and steelhead will be feeding on a combination of eggs that get kicked up from spawning grounds, as well as insect larva and nymphs.

It won’t be too long before we could see some midges emerging and some mid winter dry fly fishing !  Yes, it does happen on the Muskegon river most years, but the window of time for this can be narrow. 

With moderate weather forecasted for the end of the week and weekend ahead, we may see some snow melt in the upper reaches of the Muskegon river watershed, but not likely that it will bring water levels up much, if any.

Present water temperature around 40 up near Croton dam and a degree or two cooler around Newaygo itself.