Muskegon River Fishing Report – Newaygo, MI – October 9, 2015

Muskegon River Fishing Report – Newaygo, MI – October 9, 2015

Fellow guide Clint Anderson with a nice, very chunky Manistee river Brown trout. Clint and wife Deb are owners of Red Moose Lodge in Baldwin, MI.

The Muskegon river near Newaygo, MI is running near average flows for this time of early October, but may change with the present rains coming through northern MI and those projected for the next day or so.

We are amidst the annual fall run Chinook salmon season right now and fall steelhead will be not far behind.  Fish are both staging in deeper pools and runs, as well as actively spawning throughout the river system.

Techniques for chasing Muskegon river migratory salmon include both fly fishing spin tackle setups and this applies to the fall steelhead that will soon follow.

Kieth, from SE Michigan, with one of several Chinook salmon he and fishing partner Jim caught yesterday.

  For those looking to bend a fly rod, fish can be caught casting large streamers on light sink tip lines, indicator nymph fishing with floating lines around spawning grounds, as well as chuck and duck rigs cast to both staging fish and around spawning grounds.  Resident Brown and Rainbow trout are starting to congregate around spawning salmon, feeding on both nymphs/larva kicked up in the spawning process, as well as free floating salmon eggs.

Spin tackle fishing options include casting-retrieving lures to salmon in staging pools and runs, as well as floating bait under bobbers in these same runs.  Similar setups could be fished around spawning grounds, however these approaches work best for staging fish.

Presuming we continue to have some cooler weather and rains to bring water temperatures down and with any luck, water levels up, we will continue to see salmon for 2-3 weeks, then fall steelhead take over from early November right up to the new year.

Present water temperature hovering around the 60 degree mark.