Come mid-to-late summer in Michigan, most anglers attention is on warm water species of fish, as we’re in the hottest part of our summer season, and cold water fish have a tendency to become lethargic when this happens. As water temperatures rise in the Muskegon River, fishing for both smallmouth bass and northern pike only get better, and they can be fished from dawn to dusk.
Equipment for fishing smallmouth bass includes conventional rods in the 7-8’ length, in medium-light to medium action and with reels spooled with braided line tipped with 6-8# monofilament or fluorocarbon line, or just straight mono/flouro. The thought behind braided line is that due to the thin diameter, it casts very well and with no stretch to it, you have very good sensitivity. A drawback to braid is knots…..once you get one, it’s not likely coming out and you have to cut the line and re-tie your rig. Straight mono/flouro does not have the sensitivity, but is much easier to manage overall than braid, and it costs a lot less. Fly fishing rigs would include 9-10’ long, 6-8 weight rods and a reel spooled with bass taper fly line. This is a line with a much heavier front “belly”, designed to turn over larger flies. This is a great line for pairing with a 10-15’ long sink tip for fishing subsurface streamers as well. If a second spool is available, put 150-250 grain sink tip line on it, which allows one to fish deeper pools and runs more thoroughly.
Mid-to-late August, we will see some of our early run chinook salmon begin their migration up a number of rivers in Michigan and the Muskegon River will get a few salmon in towards the end of the month, however our prime time for fall run migratory chinook salmon is from late September to late October and right on their tails are the extremely acrobatic fall steelhead, which we fish from late October through the month of December.
Summer is a great time of year to be in West Michigan, get out and enjoy it before too much time goes by.
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