Muskegon River Fishing Report – December 3, 2020 – Newaygo, Michigan

Muskegon River Fishing Report – December 3, 2020 – Newaygo, Michigan

Mike with a nice steelhead on a chilly day !

The Muskegon river fishing report for December 3, 2020 in the Newaygo, Michigan area focused on the steelhead fishing taking place now and the forecast for fishing through December.

We are in the middle of the an odd fall of weather that goes back to the first of September, with very little measurable rain over the last 3 months in key portions of the Muskegon river watershed.  Click HERE for current and forecasted weather for the Newaygo, Michigan area.  This has not affected just the Muskegon river, but most all rivers in west Michigan are running low.

Steve fished with Mike that day and I HAD to photobomb him on this one !

As a result, we’re fishing in some of the clearest river conditions in memory and this is requiring some changes to rigging and methods of fishing to counter the “gin clear” conditions.  Either by going with lighter tippet, fishing from greater distances, downsizing ones “offering”, be it a nymph, egg pattern or streamer, we’re doing whatever we can to tip the scales in our favor.  What would REALLY help is more rain to bring river levels up a bit AND keep them up for more than a couple days, which has been the norm this fall, click HERE for current Muskegon river water flow data.

All this being said, there are both migratory steelhead and resident Brown and Rainbow trout to be caught and we’re finding some of each by covering water, fishing quite methodically and capitalizing on the opportunities we get.

With no significant weather in the long term forecast, we may simply have to accept that we’ll have to stick with our more stealthy approach to pursuing steelhead.  If targeting trout, it will be a game of small nymphs, very light tippet, longer rods and being patient and persistent.

With all that 2020 has thrown at us, we’re long overdue for some good and sustained changes to improved fishing for 2021 and the different fishing seasons it holds !

Good Fishing !