Muskegon River Fishing Report – March 2, 2026 – Newaygo, Michigan

The Muskegon river is “trying” to turn the corner from winter grip to onset of spring and maybe with the upcoming days of warmer weather, we’ll start to make that turn. This being said, we still have a LOT of ice on the 3 reservoirs in the Muskegon river system, which include Croton, Hardy and Rogers dam impoundments.

Current river levels are around normal flows for this time of early March, river temperatures are hovering around the 34 degree mark at this time.

Fish to be had right now include resident Brown and Rainbow trout, as well as Smallmouth Bass, Northern Pike and migratory Steelhead that are wintering over in the river. We do have a decent number of steelhead in, getting them to bite is a matter of consistently working the best type of water for them in the cold river temperatures.

This week marks the kickoff of Oak Heart Lodge resuming the hosting duties for U.S. military veterans, who will be staying at the lodge most weeks over the next 9 months. The Oak Heart Lodge team of guides will be fishing them on both the Muskegon and Pere Marquette rivers, with our first group coming from an Alaska chapter of Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. Such a great operation going with our group of seasoned guides, national non-profit organizations and the men and women who served our country in all branches of the military.

We’ll likely see the first good group of spring run, migratory steelhead enter the Muskegon river in the weeks ahead, much of their migratory “clocks” are driven by not just the fishes biological clocks, but also river temperatures.

With very consistent precipitation, both snow and rain, over the last near 5 months, we’re hoping to see good river levels this spring and summer, along with moderate rise in river temperatures as we get into the warmer months that lie ahead.

Our spring steelhead season historically goes well into May, followed by the annual sucker spawn in mid to late May, then the onset of our insect hatches and prime dry fly fishing for resident Brown and Rainbow trout, from latter May – early’ish July.

Looking for some input on rigging, flies/lures, walk in spots or insect hatch information..?…email, call or text me, happy to help – 616-560-3195.

For now,

Jeff