Muskegon River Fishing Report – January 9, 2026 – Newaygo, Michigan

The Muskegon river is going through all kinds of atypical, mid winter changes as of late due to the erratic weather patterns over the last month+.

After a November of snow like we haven’t seen in MI in 30 years, it all melted with December warm up, then winter came back, now spring like weather and January thunderstorms ?? Mother nature and ‘Ol Man Winter are having a sparring match this year !!

That being said, we got a small bump in river levels with this current warmth, snow melt and rain, which could hold for a number of days.

We do have steelhead wintering over and they’re available to pursue, along with resident Brown trout and Rainbow trout, which have settled into their “winter lies” and tussling with several of these in just a couple hours is highly probable, given the right setup, flies and presentation.

Nothing too drastic in the long range forecast and fishing should remain solid through mid to late January.

Anyone considering getting out to “rinse” themselves of the holiday hustle, I have some open dates on both weekend and mid week days, but would suggest just a half day trip. We can cover plenty of water in a half day and certainly bend a rod several times.

Have a good weekend !

Jeff