Muskegon River Fishing Report – February 19, 2018 – Newaygo, Michigan

While swinging some flies and long rod indicator fishing on the river recently, I propped up my “weapon” for a streamside shot.

The Muskegon river fishing report for February 19, 2018 in the Newaygo, Michigan area is about the pending changes in river conditions due to the rains forecasted over the next couple days.  With flood warnings in place by the National Weather Service for most of west Michigan, we’ll surely see Muskegon river water levels rise over the next couple days.

One “constant” we’ve had through the several thaws and rise in river levels this winter on the Muskegon, is that the water temperatures have pretty much stayed the same.  This will most likely be the case with this next round of weather, since the source of this new water will be coming from the frozen reservoirs above Croton dam.

That said, we still have steelhead in the system, as well as resident Brown and Rainbow trout to fish for.  Although their metabolism  is low during cold water months, fish still do eat and the patient and persistent angler can and does catch them.

With both fly fishing and light spin tackle equipment, we focus on the primary runs and pools that fish call home in the Muskegon river during winter months.

Due to this eminent change in river conditions, we may actually see some new steelhead arrive out of lake Michigan, as we’re not that far from when we would typically see fresh fish start to trickle in.

If we do in fact have signs of a semi-early arrival of the onset of our spring season, we’ll have some pretty good fishing for the remainder of February and the entire month of March.

Present water temperature still hovering around the 34 degree mark.