Muskegon River Fishing Report – October 16, 2021 – Newaygo, Michigan

Muskegon River Fishing Report – October 16, 2021 – Newaygo, Michigan

I AM struggling a bit to hold this very thick Pere Marquette river Chinook salmon that Richard got while fishing with brother Bob a short while back.

The Muskegon river fishing report for October 16, 2021 in the Newaygo, Michigan area north of Grand Rapids is centered on the changing of the seasons, arrival of fall run Chinook salmon and the steelhead that will follow them.

We have been in an unseasonably warm run of weather over the last few weeks and this has prevented the Muskegon river from cooling down.   It’s not just the very mild days, but the warm nights that are keeping river temperatures in the mid 60’s, but we do have some cooler weather coming our way.  Click HERE for current and forecasted weather for the Newaygo, Michigan area.

River levels have come up recently due to the much needed rains that have some through much of Michigan over the last week – 10 days, but the river is still running very clear.  Click HERE for current Muskegon river water flow data from Croton dam.

Much of my last month+ has been spent on the Pere Marquette river, followed by the Manistee river since about the first of October.  Both rivers had or are having a solid fall Chinook salmon spawning run.  We’re hoping for the same on the Muskegon and just getting into this rivers run of fish. 

Steve holds a very, very “spunky” Manistee river steelhead caught earlier this week.

With both fly fishing and spin tackle equipment, we’ve been catching not only salmon, but also some trout and some steelhead as of late on the Manistee.  It will be another couple weeks before we can anticipate any reliable steelhead fishing on the Muskegon river, present water temperatures in the mid 60’s is just too warm to draw steelhead in and hold them in the river.

Equipment setups include 9′ long, 9 & 10 weight fly rods for bottom bouncing to salmon – a.k.a. chuck & duck – as well as 9-10′ long, 5 and 6 weight fly rods for indicator nymphing rigs to fish trout behind salmon beds, along with 9-10′ long, medium-heavy action spinning rods, with medium-large reels (think 3000 series of reels), spooled with 14-16# test line and fishing 10# off your fly or egg patterns for bottom bouncing as well.

I do have a few open dates between now and early December if any are considering an outing to pursue either Chinook salmon or fall and early winter steelhead.  It may be best to call to check on open dates, things are changing near daily with my schedule – 616-560-3195.

Tight lines and good fishing !

Jeff