Muskegon River Fishing Report – February 20, 2024 – Newaygo, Michigan

The Muskegon river continues its return to “winter mode”, as colder nights have brought river temperatures back down near 34 degrees in recent days. The drop in river level didn’t help and we could use some precipitation here shortly to help with our pending spring steelhead run.

There are some steelhead in the system, but much like most of this winter, still not many and some anglers have opted to focus on resident Brown and Rainbow trout fishing, which has been pretty good over the last month or so.

With 5 weight fly rods and floating line-indicator setup, we had been finding trout in likely winter holding spots and catching them with various nymph and pupa patterns. The incredibly clear water requires a more stealthy approach than years past when we had more of a “natural” stain/tint to the river, but those days are likely gone. We can continue to “thank” the Ice Mountain bottled water operation for that, as they pump thousands of gallons per day out of the aquifer that feeds the Muskegon river.

So, we’re left with a very clear river and dropping tippet down to 6x is helpful…..hard to manage larger trout on such light line if they get into faster water, but such a challenge keeps us on our toes !

With the long range forecast all over the place, it looks like we’ll see temperatures well above “normal” for the end of February, as well as “near normal” stretch of days and nights over the next couple of weeks. We could really use some help from Mother Nature in the near future, or we could be looking at a low water spring season.

For any looking to get out for spring steelhead from March – early May, or prime time dry fly action for resident Brown and Rainbow trout from latter May – early July, it would be best to check availability SOON ! I have but a few open steelhead dates and about a dozen trout/dry fly dates in the time frames noted above.

For any looking to get out for some walk in-wade fishing on their own and wanting some input on locations, rigging, flies or equipment in general, feel free to send an email, send me a text or give me a call – jrbacon@ameritech.net – 616-560-3195

For now…

Jeff