Muskegon River Fishing Report – July 29, 2025 – Newaygo, Michigan

The Muskegon river is fishing good for Smallmouth bass right now and this should hold on for another month as we get into the tail end of the summer season.

With both fly fishing and conventional equipment, we’re getting fish to respond to both topwater flies and lures, as well as subsurface baitfish, crayfish and general “attractor” patterns for both.

The occasional Northern Pike can be found here and there, but not many of those up to this point, the next few weeks may reveal more of the really toothy critters….not just Pike, but also Muskie !

With the random rains here and there, the river had been flowing at pretty good levels for most of the last 4-5 weeks, but we’ve had some instances of really low water here and there, but we’re still able to safely navigate around to get to quality stretches of the Muskegon river where we don’t have a lot of recreational traffic and fishing pressure is relatively low.

Current flows are around 1,000 cfs, which is a touch below “normal”, but not bad and river temperatures have been hovering around the 70 degree mark for the last couple weeks.

Short and long range forecast calling for a chance of rain the next couple days, then a not much over the weekend and then a chance of mid week showers as we get into the first week of August.

Our fall great lakes big game fish of fall run spawning salmon in September and October, followed by fall steelhead from late October – end of December, is fast approaching and if you have any interest in considering an outing for either, it would be best to touch base with me very soon. At the time of this report, I’m down to less than 15 open dates over the 100 day fall/early winter salmon and steelhead season.

Should anyone be looking to wander out on their own and do some walk in-wade fishing, feel free to touch base with any questions about general conditions, locations and rigging for fishing one of the many rivers of west Michigan. Call or text if best – 616-560-3195.

For now,

Jeff