Muskegon River Steelhead Fishing Report – Newaygo, MI – March 24, 2016

Muskegon River Steelhead Fishing Report – Newaygo, MI – March 24, 2016

Steve holds a very acrobatic steelhead, one of several caught on his multiple day outing on the Pere Marquette and Muskegon rivers.

The Muskegon river near Newaygo, MI is presently running a little above average flows for late March, but this will likely change in the days ahead due to the wintery mix of snow, sleet and rain that’s coming through most of Michigan now.

We are into our spring steelhead run on the Muskegon river and getting into fish each day with both fly fishing rigs and conventional gear such as spinning rod/reel combo’s, as well as bait caster setups. 

Fly rods in 9-10′ length and in 7 or 8 weight work great for bottom bouncing -a.k.a. Chuck-n-Duck.  These rods are also good choices for floating line and indicator “nymphing” rigs, as well as casting-retrieving streamers.    Water temperature is a bit chilly for streamers right now, but will be changing in the days ahead.  Another streamer setup  once the streamer bite picks up would be longer rods in the 11-13′ length for spey casting sink tip lines.

Conventional equipment rigs would include longer rods in the 10-12′ length, for float/bobber fishing with open face spinning reels or bait casters. 

With water temperatures kind of stuck in the 37-38 degree range, we’ll continue to see steelhead trickle in out of lake Michigan.  Once levels come up due to pending snow melt and runoff in the upper reaches of the Muskegon river watershed and water temperatures climb even a couple degrees, we’ll see bigger pushes of fish come in from lake Michigan.

Present water temperature still hovering around 37, with fair to good visibility at this time.