T he Muskegon River near Newaygo has been through the “ringer” this spring and early summer with regards to changes in river levels because of the heavier than normal rains in Michigan. A majority of June found the river well above average flows and that affected both insect hatch activity and fishing.
Initial hatches of caddis, sulphurs and gray drakes did produce fish, but not what we had grown accustomed to on the Muskegon River in recent years. As consistent as the caddis and sulphurs were on some days, the flights AND spinner fall of gray drakes was unreliable.
The month of July marks the onset of our smallmouth bass fishing season and we’ve already had some nice smally’s come to hand this summer. As temperatures rise through July and August, fishing for them will only get better.
We pursue them with all kinds of gear, from fly to light spin tackle, topwater to subsurface, it’s literally a buffet of options.
Fly fishing rigs will be 9-10’ long, 6-7 weight rods for topwater, reels spooled with either a “bass taper” fly line, or just overline the rig 1 line size for standard weight forward floating line, i.e. for a 6 weight rod, use a 7 weight line. We’re casting poppers or topwater flies that “chug” on the surface when stripped in, on leaders tapered down to 8-10# test.
Subsurface setups are 9-10’ long, 6-8 weight rods and reels with 200 or 250 grain sink lines, such as the Orvis depth charge or Teeny brand of lines. We’re casting baitfish, crayfish and some general “attractor” patterns when going deep, with tippet in the 8-10# range once again.
Anglers can find smallmouth bass throughout the entire river system come July and August. We’ll be fishing them up as far as Croton Dam in the Newaygo area, down towards Bridgeton, and even between the Croton, Hardy, and Rogers Dams in the middle-upper stretches of the Muskegon River.
As unpredictable as some of our mid-to-late June trout fishing has been, we’re sure to have more reliable fishing as smallmouth make their way up the river from Muskegon Lake.