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

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

Vince got a NICE Chinook salmon the other day….I got a job of holding it for his picture !

The Muskegon river fishing report for September 16, 2021 in the Newaygo, Michigan area is about the season of change in all of the west Michigan rivers that host fall salmon runs.

Smallmouth bass fishing is still good and as river temperatures begin do drop even more, the “smally’s” will surely amp up the feeding in preparation for the colder months ahead.

We’re seeing some fall run Chinook salmon stage in the lower Muskegon river and should see more signs of more salmon coming in from lake Michigan, in the next week to 10 days.  The cooling trend we had last week and late the week before, helped bring river temperatures down a bit, after having gotten up to the 71 degree range early September.  We’ll need to see that continue to drop before any decent numbers of migratory salmon will show up.

Most of my recent outings have been on the lower sections of the Pere Marquette river east of Ludington, in pursuit of these same salmon, which show up on the Pere Marquette earlier than the Muskegon.

With primarily conventional equipment, we’re been casting-retrieving lures or floating bait under bobbers to catch mostly Chinook salmon, but also a few Coho salmon as well in recent days.  There have been some large fish caught and it may be possible to tie into a #30 fall run salmon on any given day.

Next up will be fall steelhead, which will start in late October and run up to Christmas, maybe even longer if river conditions are good.