Muskegon River Fishing Report – March 4, 2015

Muskegon River

The Muskegon river near Newaygo, MI is running below average flows for this time of winter and presently around the 1500 CFS mark.

A March Muskegon river steelhead in full winter colors.

Although still cold, the river went from flowing slush and ice chunks a handful of days ago, to relatively clear of both the last couple days.

The “spring” season is NOT far off, we should see our first warming trend in the next week, with warmer air temperatures forecasted in the days ahead.  Without a lot of snow pack in the upper portion of the watershed, once things begin to thaw, it should be much more gradual than the last couple springs.

I was out recently breaking in new boat engine and did spot steelhead, as well as some really nice resident trout in typical “winter lies”.  I also came across a few trout rising to midges.  Although the midge hatches were by no means strong, some fish were “looking up” and sipping dry flies in softer water seams.

Present water temperature in the 33-34 degree range.