Muskegon River Fishing Report – April 9, 2023 – Newaygo, Michigan

The Muskegon river is still running high due to the rains over the last week+ and with off color water, so it finds a LOT of recreational anglers and even some “new guides” driving all over, anchoring in very odd places and fishing in even more suspect spots, trying to find steelhead. A bit comical to begin with, now it has just become a problem of sorts, but this should taper off soon…I hope !

There are spring steelhead in the Muskegon river and more will come for several weeks, how long the run lasts will depend on river conditions to some degree, we’ll see what Mother Nature has in store for us.

With both fly fishing and conventional equipment, we’re covering all kinds of water to put our “offerings” in front of these spring run steelhead. Fishing has been tougher than we’re accustomed to for this time in early April, but should come as no surprise due to the fact that our great lakes steelhead population in general, is down from recent years.

All that said, there are some good fish to be caught and it’s simply a matter of covering water and fishing “smarter, not harder”. As river levels drop, the river will clear a bit and fish should be present in the pre-spawn, spawn and post spawn locations, we’re accustomed to finding them in.

More to follow…

Jeff