T he spring months of April and May are a GREAT time of year to be on the Muskegon River with the spring steelhead run in FULL SWING! With both fly fishing and light spin tackle gear, we pursue not only the migratory steelhead that are coming in from Lake Michigan, but also resident brown and rainbow trout. The first big push of steelhead typically stage in deeper pools and runs until their biological clock says it’s time to start working on the “redds” throughout the many spawning areas over 20 miles of river. As the first wave of fish are spawning, others come in behind them and stage for a short while, before also working gravel to prepare their bedding areas. After spawning fish wrap up their annual ritual, many drop back into deeper pools and runs. This is where they will feed aggressively to regain their strength, before heading back to Lake Michigan for the summer.
Conventional tackle rigs are either long float rods (11+’) for fishing floats/ bobbers or slightly shorter bottom bounce rods (9-10) for fishing deeper runs. Both rigged with #12-14 main line and #8-10 tippet.
Fly fishing options include indicator nymphing setups for fishing medium depth – deep runs with 10+’ rods in 7 or 8 weight, 1 or 2 handed rods for swinging streamers or casting-retrieving them and 9-10’ rods for “chuck-nduck” setups for fishing deeper runs with suitable bottom structure for bottom bouncing. With water temperatures still chilly – 36 degrees over the weekend – fish are holding off the main current, in runs that provide some cover in the form of actual structure – logs/big boulders – or medium – larger size boulder runs.
Fishing access on the Muskegon River come spring can be tricky as it’s a BIG river and with spring runoff and resulting rise in river levels, can make wade fishing quite tough and just down right dangerous. Instead of writing about all the “possible” spots for walk-in fishing this spring, simply call me if you’re thinking about going out and I’ll let you know about levels and safe wading locations.
Despite the highly publicized fragile nature of our Great Lakes big game fishery over the past year, the Muskegon River spring steelhead run should be just fine, and we’re looking forward to what could be some of the better dry fly fishing that we’ve had in several years, come this summer. The best trout fishing time on the Muskegon River for the dry fly fishing enthusiast is late May to early July. Following this is the onset of our best smallmouth bass fishing time of the year, the dog days of summer – late July to the end of August.
Get out, enjoy what we have here in all of Michigan, but especially West Michigan—Great rivers, lakes, ponds and streams, as many people across the country and the world we live in, have nothing like it in their back yard.