Muskegon River Fishing Report – October 30, 2020 – Newaygo, Michigan

Muskegon River Fishing Report – October 30, 2020 – Newaygo, Michigan

Tom, from CO with one of the largest Chinook Salmon I’ve ever put in my net !

The Muskegon river fishing report for October 30, 2020 in the Newaygo, Michigan area is focused on the fall and early winter steelhead run, which comes on the heels of our annual Chinook salmon spawning run.

The salmon run this fall on the Muskegon river was not a big run, but with some quality fish caught through most of October.  It has come to an end a bit sooner than most years, but this fall certainly qualifies as one of the oddest I have seen, over the last 24 years of full time guiding.  From very little rain and late summer low river levels most of “fall”, some salmon run migrations starting much later on certain rivers than we’re accustomed to seeing during the fall and now into what should be the onset of Prime Time Fall Steelhead, but we’re running thin on steelhead as of now.  All can agree that 2020 has been a year of change and challenge, which holds true to the fishing and fisheries, over the last 8+ months throughout Michigan.

Andrew holds a very bright Muskegon river steelhead from recent outing with great friends, who have been making the trek to west MI for nearly 2 decades to fish together with me.

Much of my focus over the next month+ of steelhead fishing, will be covering mid and lower river water to find the best fishing possible.  Historically, when we have a low water fall season on the Muskegon river, we’ll put time in down river to find the best fishing available.  Click HERE to see current Muskegon river water flow data.

With both fly fishing and spin gear, stealth will be the best approach to fishing in the weeks ahead.  With such clear water, I’ll be downsizing some of the equipment and “offerings” to the steelhead, in order to not spook fish, before they have a chance to bite !

What would help our cause is some rain….and a LOT of it.  However, based on present short and long term forecasts, it doesn’t look like we’re getting anything significant up to mid November.  Click HERE for current and forecasted weather for the Newaygo, Michigan area.

Should any consider getting out for some wade fishing on any of our west Michigan rivers and are in search of a current report, call or email me and I’ll let you know what happening.  Both email and phone number are accessible through the contact button on this site.

Happy Fishing and Happy Halloween !!!