Muskegon River Fishing Report – Newaygo, MI – December 31, 2016

Muskegon River Fishing Report – Newaygo, MI – December 31, 2016

Happy New Year to all !!!!!!

Dr. Banda, from SE Michigan with a nice winter steelhead from our outing.

The Muskegon river is running a little above average flows after having come up last week due to the warm weather we had in west Michigan and the snow melt and runoff we had as a result.

I was on the river right up until my scheduled elbow surgery last week and we had been doing good for this time of December, despite VERY clear water leading up to the runoff of last weekend.

We’re catching both resident Rainbow and Brown trout, as well as steelhead that are “wintering” over in the river.  As long as those steelhead don’t get harvested out of the river, we should have big fish to catch for the next month or so, before water temperatures drop to their coldest levels of the year and fish become very lethargic due to very slow metabolism.  That being said, there are some anglers and guides still fishing who have this “need” to kill fish.  How many fish can one eat and how much of that will end up in the back of a freezer, only to be discovered in 6 months or more and end up in the trash ????….good question.

With both fly fishing and light spin tackle , we’re able to get our offerings to the slower water lies where fish will be found during cold winter months and come this time of year, many prefer to take advantage of my “winter special”.

With pretty consistent weather forecasted for the weeks ahead, we should see the rest of our “winter” season play out the way it should…not that 50 degree weather with massive snow melt like last weekend !

Present flows just under 2000 cfs and temperature in the 35-36 degree range.