Muskegon River Fishing Report – July 17, 2016

Muskegon River Fishing Report – July 17, 2016

A little fun in the sun, with my wife Mary and sons Carter & Jack. Carter reeled this Smallmouth in, one handed !

Muskegon river fishing report for Rainbow and Brown trout, Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike and Walleye fishing in the Newaygo, MI area, north of Grand Rapids.

We have a buffet of fishing options right now on the Muskegon river for both the fly fisher and light spin tackle angler, which includes several different species of fish.

Jack being very diligent trying to “lip” the Smallmouth he reeled in.

With water temperatures having stayed below 70 for most of this early summer season, we found resident trout were still responding to hatches of small Trico mayflies taking place early in the morning and were found sipping dry flies in slower tailouts.   We were also finding some random “risers” that were coming up to Cahill mayflies later in the day, but early morning was the best bet for dry fly opportunities.  With water temperatures appearing to come up in recent days, it may very well stay at/above 70, which may put a damper on trout fishing…..but only make Smallmouth fishing better !

Smallmouth, a few Pike and even the random Walleye are being caught in more summer like runs and pools where these warmwater fish congregate.  With both fly fishing and conventional gear, we’re fishing imitations of crayfish and baitfish to entice bites.  “Smally’s” are the target species come mid to late summer on the Muskegon river, Pike and Walleye encounters are more a by-product of “just keep fishing”, as they will often occupy the same or similar water that Smallmouth do.

As we see warmer weather come through west Michigan in the weeks ahead, we’ll likely be venturing to other stretches of the Muskegon river to continue our pursuit of these great mid summer fish.

Present water temperature in the 69-70 degree range.