Muskegon River Fishing Report – May 28, 2021 – Newaygo, Michigan

Muskegon River Fishing Report – May 28, 2021 – Newaygo, Michigan

Anneka got this great Muskegon river Brown trout to take her dry fly after a good cast, mend, drift, hook set and BATTLE !!….nicely done young lady !

With the Muskegon river fishing report for May 28, 2021 in the Newaygo, Michigan area, comes a long overdue “gift” from Mother Nature….RAIN !!!   Over the course of the last 4 months or so, we’ve not seen much of that and although it may put a damper on some Memorial Day weekend plans, the lakes, rivers and agricultural fields across Michigan will benefit from it.   Click HERE for current and forecasted weather for the Newaygo, Michigan area.

The Muskegon river has come up a little in the few days and I would presume that with the sustained rains we’re seeing now, it will come up a little more in the next 24-48 hours.  Although still very clear, I think that with some runoff from tributaries to the Muskegon river down stream from Croton dam, will add a little much needed color to the river.  Click HERE for current Muskegon river water flow data.

With such an unusual onset of early summer, I’ve seen a more diverse population of fish in the Muskegon river than ever before, for this time of late May.  Aside from the resident Rainbow and Brown trout, smallmouth bass numbers are pretty good right now, along with more Northern pike than normal and even some early sightings of Alligator Gar pike.

We’re using an array of equipment depending on what the target species of fish is.   We’re fly fishing for trout with 9′ long, 5 weight fly rods, floating lines and long leaders.   I have fished some streamers with fly rod setups lately, which are 6 or 7 weight rods, with sinking or sink tip fly lines and varying sizes and colors of streamers.  Smallmouth and pike can be fished to with either slightly larger fly rod setups, with sink tip or sinking fly lines, casting streamers in various colors and sizes.  Conventional equipment rigs include open face spinning reels, matched to 6-7′ long, medium light action rods, casting various size lures to likely spots where these fish are at.

Once we get back into a more normal early summer weather pattern, we should have insect hatches and dry fly fishing for another few weeks and this will be followed by the a combination of trout-bass as the river temperatures warm up on the Muskegon, as well as the Grand river in and around the Grand Rapids area for bass and pike.

As always, should any be looking to get out for a few hours on your own and you would like a current report on any of our west Michigan river, feel free to call – 616-560-3195.

Have a good Memorial Day weekend !

Jeff