Muskegon River Fishing Report – July 2, 2016

Muskegon River Fishing Report – Newaygo, MI –  July 2, 2016

Muskegon river Smallmouth bass caught on a topwater fly.

The Muskegon river near Newaygo, MI is running around average flows for this time of early July.  With cooler temperatures and rains that came through much of west Michigan the past week, both river levels and temperatures have rebounded from what looked like the onset of the “dog days of summer” on the Muskegon river a couple weeks ago.

We’re still seeing some hatch activity that is providing dry fly fishing opportunities.  From early morning Trico’s, to mid day Caddis as well as afternoon and early evening Cahill and Isoynchia’s.  Trico patterns in the #20-22 range or “clusters” tied on #16 and #18 hooks are getting trout to look up early morning.  Mid day and afternoon green Caddis patterns in #18, along with afternoon #14 Cahill and evening #10 Isonychia patterns can all get trout feeding on the surface.

With water temperatures bouncing around between 67 – 69 degrees, we’re coming into quality Smallmouth Bass time and are fishing them with both fly fishing and light spin tackle rigs. Topwater fishing with poppers or waking flies/lures, along with subsurface imitations of both crayfish and baitfish are getting “smallies” attention.

As we get further into July, our Smallmouth fishing will only improve and if by chance mother nature allows the river to stay below the 70 degree mark, we could see both trout and bass fishing hold on for most of the summer.  With some pretty warm weather in our long range forecast though, we’ll have to see how things pan out.

Present water temperature in the 67-68 degree range.