Muskegon River Fishing Report – January 24, 2026 – Newaygo, Michigan

Rich had quite the day during our pre-arctic weather on the Muskegon river, with a beautiful native Brown trout and a Northern Pike that’s considered a quite large one for a river…well done Rich !

The Muskegon river is one of just a few Michigan rivers to have flowing water right now due to the arctic weather that has taken over much of the northern United States as of late. It will remain that way through the remainder of winter, the Muskegon simply has too much consistent flow to freeze up below Croton dam.

Once this polar vortex works its way through over the next week, we “should” see more typical Michigan winter air temperatures return. Current long range forecast is calling for highs near 30 and lows around 20, in a little over a week from the time of this report.

Once we get back to fishable weather where fingers aren’t numb and exposed skin not in jeopardy of frost bite, I will be getting back out to do some light line fishing with indicator nymphing rigs with 5-7 weight fly rods and small lure and soft plastic fishing with conventional equipment.

Before we know it, mid February will be right around the corner and we’ll be watching to positive breaks in weather patterns to aid in improving river conditions to get our spring steelhead run kicked off. We DO have a fair number of steelhead wintering over in the river and those will be the first to seek out slower moving water, in suitable spawning habitat runs, once their biological clock tells them “it’s time”.

With such sustained cold temperatures as of late, most smaller rivers have shelf ice, are flowing slush, pretty much frozen over, or a combination of these. Many anglers use such down time to attend trade shows, sift through and sort, replace or update equipment, or tie flies for those who enjoy that.

I will be kicking off my spring steelhead season on the Muskegon river in March and will fish for them through early to mid May, depending on river conditions. I DO have some open dates, but not many and if anyone is considering a spring outing, best to touch base sooner than later.

Once our spring steelhead fishing is done, we’ll have a week-10 days or so window of time to pursue resident Brown and Rainbow trout that will be sitting right on the back end of resident and migratory sucker fish spawning grounds. This can be very exciting, often sight fishing to some great trout, in very shallow water.

Come the end of May, we’ll see our insect hatch season arrive, which will find trout keying in on Caddis and mayflies through June and into early July, pending suitable river conditions and water temperatures.

The end of June and early July finds our Smallmouth bass numbers increasing rapidly and these, along with the occasional Northern Pike and even Muskie, will make for some good summer fishing up to early-mid August.

Have a good rest of your January and call or email if you have any questions about equipment, rigging or details for a possible half or full day guided trip.

For now,

Jeff

616-560-3195