[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he salmon enter the river and first stage in deeper pools and runs while their biological clock continues to slowly tick until Mother Nature tells them to get up near spawning grounds. Before reaching the gravel runs where they prepare their redd and ultimately lay their eggs, they’re still inclined to bite lures, bait, and well-presented flies. The bait and tackle bite is historically better than the fly bite, but they DO bite streamer flies in various sizes, fished on lighter sink tips which get the flies 5-10 feet below the surface in the slower water they occupy at that time of their migration.
Fall steelhead are quick to show up and get in on the free meal the salmon provides. Anglers can find steelhead right on the tails of spawning fish. Salmon eggs or roe is the highest protein food available to fish, so once they get a belly full of fresh eggs, they’re EXTREMELY energetic.
Anglers can fish both salmon and steelhead with fly fishing and spin tackle gear, it’s all a matter of person preference. For salmon we have heavier rods and line as these fish can exceed 20# and test the best gear made. The fly angler will want a 9 or 10 weight fly rod, with the appropriate line for how they want to fish them and tippet in the 10# range. Flies to have on hand would include larger streamers for putting on the sink tip in attention grabbing color combinations such as chartreuse, red, yellow and green. Just think Lake MI charter boat lure colors, and you’re on the right track. Other flies to use include egg patterns, green caddis, hares ears, black stone flies, sparse hex patterns, and an array of egg sucking leaches.
Conventional gear setups can include open face spinning reels and bait casters, spooled with line in the 15# range for fishing around spawning grounds or 30-40# braided line for casting-retrieving lures to staging fish. Rods in 9-10′ length, rated for line in 10-20# range would work best for salmon. Lures such as Rapala’s, Thundersticks, and spinners work well for staging salmon. Those fishing bait will often fish spawn under bobbers in the same staging runs that one would cast a lure into.
With a bulk of the salmon migrating up to the best spawning grounds available, anglers will find most of the salmon in the first 15-20 miles of river below Croton Dam outside of Newaygo. We do have some good spawning areas further down river. However, a majority of it is in that first 15-20 miles of river below the Dam.
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