Muskegon River Fishing Report – July 1, 2021 – Newaygo, Michigan

Muskegon River Fishing Report – July 1, 2021 – Newaygo, Michigan

Luke with a nice and chunky Muskegon river smallmouth from the other day.

The Muskegon river fishing report for July 1, 2021 for the Newaygo, Michigan area “was” about the new influx of water that came from the long overdue rain we got last week….until we apparently ran out of water in the upper watershed and the river started to drop again..?  Click HERE for current Muskegon river water flow data below Croton dam.

The rains did a great job of not just adding water to the river, but also keeping it from warming any faster than it had been up to the weather fronts of last week came through.   It appears as though we’re in for a number of days or more normal early July like weather, so we’ll see how quickly conditions change as river levels come down.  Click HERE for current and forecasted weather for the Newaygo, Michigan area.

Up until the big weather of last week, we were seeing the insect hatches begin to taper off and what looked like a quick closure to our early summer dry fly fishing for resident Brown and Rainbow trout.  However, with river temperatures having dropped 6-7 degrees following the new water, we’re still seeing some hatch activity and trout rising to bugs in certain stretches of the river.

Austin went fishing with Grandpa Chuck and cousin Evan….here he holds a very acrobatic Muskegon river smallmouth bass.

Evan with one of several smallmouth bass caught with cousin Austin and grandpa Chuck !

We ARE into the onset of our best summer time smallmouth bass and northern pike fishing on both the Muskegon river around Newaygo and the Grand river around the Grand Rapids area.  This will continue through mid August and I will make decisions on which water to fish, based on conditions of each as we move forward.

With both fly fishing and light spin tackle equipment, we’re casting both topwater and subsurface “offerings” and have been having success with both over the last week+.

Long range forecast shows very moderate temperatures coming through west Michigan and we should keep quality river conditions over the next couple of weeks.

As always, if any are looking to get out for some walk in-wade fishing on their own and would like a current report or suggestions on equipment or methods, feel free to call – 616-560-3195.

Tight lines !!

Jeff