Muskegon River Spring Steelhead Report – March 20, 2015

Muskegon River

The Muskegon river spring steelhead run is in progress.  The Muskegon river, near Newaygo, MI is running near average flows for this time of March, after having come up several days ago due to the previously warm weather, snow melt and runoff into the river.  With the return of more “normal” air temperatures over the past week, the water temperature has been rising…..ever….so…..slowly. 

The beautiful winter colors of a Muskegon river steelhead.

The spring steelhead season is in progress, but with little sign of many new fish arriving fresh out of lake Michigan, the steelhead being caught are predominantly winter hold overs, which will be spawning soon in deeper spawning areas for the most part.

We are pursuing them with both fly fishing and light spin tackle, no one method is IT just yet.  At some point during the early stages of the Muskegon river spring steelhead run, casting large, gaudy and attention getting egg and what I call, general spring steelhead “attractor” fly patterns, can produce some epic results.

At some point here shortly the swung fly bite will turn on, as will fishing with floating line and indicator rigs for the fly fishing enthusiasts.  I did see my first adult black stone fly the other day and if water temps and Mother Nature play nicely over the next few weeks, we could see our first dry fly opportunities, as trout rise to these beefy, #12 first flies of spring.

As water temperatures climb closer to 40, things will turn quickly.  Should be an interesting spring.

Present water temperature in the 35 degree range.