Muskegon River Spring Steelhead Flyfishing Adventures on Michigan's Muskegon and Pere Marquette Rivers for Great Lakes Fall, Winter, & Spring Steelhead. Come join us for Trophy Steelhead on the Muskegon River!

Winter Steelhead - Newaygo, MI
No other game fish inspires anglers like the Great Lakes Spring Steelhead! These fish are chrome and fight great!
Muskegon River Steelhead Report
May Spring Steelhead- Chicago, IL
Michigan Spring Steelhead ascend the rivers to spawn in March, April, and May.
Pere Marquette River Guides Chrome Spring Steelhead- Chicago, IL
Spring Steelhead provide some of the finest Fly Fishing available any where in the World!
Muskegon River Fly Fishing Winter Steelhead- Chicago, IL
Our Guides are passionate about Flyfishing for Trophy Muskegon River Steelhead.
Muskegon River Steelhead Guides

~Techniques for Steelhead~
Chuck -N- Duck Fly Fishing

Rods: As for Fall & Winter Steelhead fishing in November and December, I recommend a 9'6" 8wt fly rod or a 10' 8wt fly rod. These longer fly rods help for a longer drift allowing the angler feel the steelhead pick-up. They also keep the line off the water and allow for better mending and better presentation.

Reels: I recommend Orvis Big Game IV or a Tibor Everglades. These reels have an excellent drag and very fast line pick up. Spool them with a running line, ex, Rio slick shooter or 25lb Suffix mono (Neon Tangerine) thinner shooting lines cut through the water and give you a very pronounced tick.. tick as your weight drifts along the bottom.

Chuck-n-Duck Rig: I use a free sliding snap swivel clipped to pencil lead, a clear bead, and a barrel (crane) swivel with one end to butt (12lb) section, the other end to the tippet. For optimal drift, I recommend a 5 foot leader (8 or 10lb) from lead to end fly, with and egg fly in the middle and a dark nymph on the end. Also note: For guide trips, you will need waders and polarized sunglasses. All gear, tackle, flies (nominal cost) and a grilled, shore lunch will be provided with all guided trips!

Steehead Flies: As for flies, I recommend a large selection of small egg flies in natural colors such as golden, steelhead orange, oregon cheese, peach, and cream. Tie them in size #8, and 10's tied on a Tiemco 105, Black stoneflies in 8's and 10's, small hex nymphs, and green caddis. Glo-bug egg flies in sizes #8 and #10's, natural colors such as Golden, steelhead orange, peach, Oregon cheese, baby blue, soft yellow. Hex Nymphs, nuke eggs, dark center, light halo. Nymphs: Stone flies, hex nymphs, soft hackles, green caddis rock worm. I always carry a large selection of egg flies during fall, winter, and spring for Steelhead and resident Trout. Fly Patterns for Steelhead: Click Here

~ Techniques for Steelhead ~
Floats and Spawn

Another prefered method for Fall and Winter Steelhead is fishing floats and spawn. Fishing floats and spawn is a fast-paced style of steelhead fishing. We fish quickly and cover miles of river in a day, usually producing lots of hook-ups and many steelhead landed. We prefer to fish specialized G. Loomis 11' 3" float rods. Loomis rods are available for your use on guided trips. These longer rods allow the angler a longer drift and a stronger hook set. We also use Cabela Prodigy spinning reels or center-pins reels spooled with 10 lb hi-vis monofilment. These smooth reels allow for long casts and a smooth drag system to fight big fish.. Floats for steelhead vary greatly depending on water levels and conditions. We generally use the orange/black Thill steelhead floats. They seem to work best for the Muskegon and Big Manistee Rivers. Smaller floats styles are available for the White and Pere Marquette rivers. All gear is provided for you. We have the spawn tied, cured, and ready to fish!

 

Michigan Fall Steelhead- Grand Rapids, Mi
Steelhead - Steelhead are the ultimate game fish in Michigan Rivers. Like Salmon, Steelhead are born in rivers but spend their growing years in larger bodies of water. Our Great Lakes Steelhead return after three or four years, then head out to the big lake again.

These beautiful fish average 8-10 pounds and occasionally a monster close to 20 pounds is caught. Natural reproduction is increasing so join us to catch a Wild Trophy Steelhead and the memory of a lifetime!

Michigan Fly Fishing Guides - Fall Steelhead Muskegon River Fall Steelhead - Great Lakes Steelhead migrate into our rivers in late October. These hard charging, acrobatic, exhilarating chrome bullets enter the Muskegon River in mid October while Michigan strain- Chinook salmon are spawning. Bright silver egg robbers cruise spawning salmon redds searching for free egg samples. Drifting egg patterns behind the spawning Chinook is the preferred method for taking early fall Steelhead.

Later in the the season when when the water temperature cools, greater numbers of Fall Steelhead enter the lower Muskegon River. Fishing spawn drifted under a float just can't be beat. These Steelhead are fresh, just in from the lake.

Peak Dates: Late October, November, December Michigan Fly Fishing Guides - Fall Steelhead
No fish inspires anglers more than Michigan's Fall Steelhead!

Muskegon River Winter Steelhead - During the winter months, fall and winter steelhead stage in the lower Muskegon River below Newaygo. Due to colder water, these Steelhead group up in deep holding water and slowly make their way up river. This is exceptional time of year to focus on good numbers of Fall and Winter Steelhead with few anglers on the River. Both Fly Fishing and Floats & Spawn are very effective for targeting these great fish!

Peak Dates: December, January, February, March
Double Winter Steelhead- Ann Arbor, MI
~ Muskegon River Winter Steelhead ~

Michigan's Spring Steelhead - In late February, the winter steelhead move up river and begin their migration to their spawning areas. Steelhead feed heavily on stone flies, caddis larvae, and Chinook fry. During March, April and May, Steelhead begin to polish gravel and begin to spawn. During this time, Fly Fishing Steelhead is at it's absolute best!! Anglers can visually seek steelhead and make casts to the spawning Spring Steelhead. Sight fishing to Steelhead on gravel and watching them take the fly makes this an exhilarating experience!!

Peak Dates: March, April, May, early June
Photo~ ~ Michigan's Muskegon River Spring Steelhead ~

Summer Steelhead - (Skamania Strain) Probably the most noted, the St. Joseph River, located in southwest Michigan, is perhaps the most reliable River in Michigan for Skamania Steelhead. Both Michigan and Indiana, plant more than one hundred thousand summer run steelhead a year into the St. Joe River. Numbers of adult Summer Steelhead return to the river as adults. Skamania Steelhead stage at the mouths of cool spring creeks flowing into the larger main stream. Large groups of steelhead cruise clearly visible to the fly caster. Casting the fly to particular fish, managing the drift, and watching the take make this fly fishing experience extraordinary.

Peak Dates: Late June, July, August

~ St. Joseph Skamania Steelhead ~
The fighting and leaping ability of this Washington State transplanted Skamania
steelhead is unparalleled perhaps only to the Atlantic salmon - they are truly
the tarpon of Lake Michigan. Their runs occur from June through
September and we guide out of our custom HeadWater jet
boat to cover vast areas of the river system.

With Indiana's and Michigan's stocking of the giant St. Joseph and
Big Manistee River tail waters with closer to half a million summer Skamania steelhead, these rivers may truly have one of the greatest summer run rivers in the world. Fly Fishing black and purple bunny leeches and Spey flies on sink tip lines, ten plus hook-up days are common with 14 to 20 pound chrome silver bullet Skamania Steelhead.

   

Things to Know about Great Lakes Steelhead:
Steelhead are anadromous- Meaning that they migrate from one body of water to another. Ex. Lake Michigan to the Muskegon River. Basically they are a huge Rainbow Trout the migrates to a river to spawn.

There are four main runs (Migrations of Steelhead)

Michigan Fall Steelhead - These fish make a run in late fall- Oct 15th - Dec 15th. For some reason these Steelhead enter in the Fall months and stay until Spring to spawn. Fall Steelhead are usually the most aggressive of all Steelhead. These are the ones that you read about that jump 5 feet out of the water!
Best Flies: Egg patterns, Nuke eggs, egg sucking leach, Swing Flies.

Great Lakes Winter Steelhead - Michigan Winter are Steelhead usually Fall Steelhead that have entered the river later, or in most cases, stage in the lower river to get a head start on Spring Spawning. Winter Steelhead live in the river during the Winter months and usually bite well. They also see a lot of fishing preasure so you need to be stealthy in your approach.

Best Flies: Egg paterns (Natural egg colors) Darks Nymphs such as Stone flies. Fly selections should be down-sized, smaller patterns work best for Winter Steelhead.

Michigan Spring Steelhead - Spring Steelhead can be any of the pervious, Fall, Winter, or Spring. Spring Steelhead are the larger females that have either held over, or entered the river in late February, March, April, or May. Males are usually colored (Green back, blood red stripe.) Hens (Females) are usually chrome or silver in nature. Spring steelhead are great fighters, but usually do not jump nearly as much as Fall Steelhead.
Best Flies: Egg paterns (Natural egg colors) Darks Nymphs, such as stone flies, Hex nymphs and Green Caddis, Steelhead buggers. These fish feed well just before beginning to spawn.

Spawning Steelhead - These are spring Steelhead that are in the act of Spawning. There is usually a single hen on a polished gravel patch (Redd) that the female has dug out from the rivers bottom. The hen is the fish in the center of the redd. The males (Bucks) are satellite males the move around the spawning redds challenging each other for the right to spawn. Some of these males are great biters.
Best Flies: Egg paterns (Natural egg colors) Smaller egg patterns. Darks Nymphs, such as stone flies, Hex nymphs and Green Caddis, Because the female is digging gravel, nymphs are and excellent choice at this time!

Spring Steelhead FlyFishing - This is when fly fishing is at it best, anglers can actually see the fish, and present the fly to the visable Steelhead. It is truly amazing to see a buck Steelhead actually hit a fly across the gravel. The best flies for these fish are usually dark nymphs, Stone flies, Hex nymphs, buggers, and leach patterns work well for Spring Steelhead. Egg flies also work great at this time!

Summer Run Steelhead - (Skamania Steelhead) Summer Steelhead usually enter the river systems around summer solstice, or a high water time around mid June or early July. Summer Run Steelhead are very aggressive at times. These fish almost immediately jump when they are hooked and are usually very chrome. Only a select few rivers in Michigan get a decent run of Skamania Steelhead. The Manistee River and the St. Joseph get the Largest runs. The Muskegon, Grand, and Pere Marquette River also receive a handful if conditions are right. These fish also winter over in the river but usually spawn earlier than the Little Manistee Strain (Winter-Spring Steelhead). Skamania Steelhead spawn in February-March. Little Manistee Spawn in late March, April, and May.
Best Flies: larger flies in Black and Purple. Swing Flies like the Egg Sucking Leach. Skamania also eat a lot of baitfish. Bi-polar Parr is also a good choice. Skamania also love egg flies.

Muskegon River Steelhead are much more active fly fishing in water temps above 36 degrees because Michigan Stone flies are most active during this same time frame.

Our Michigan Steelhead Guides have developed Great Lakes Steelhead fly patterns for Western Michigan's rivers. Top guide patterns for Steelhead on the Muskegon River, Pere Marquette River and Manistee River. Stone flies and egg patterns for Steelhead Alley and Lake Erie Tributaries.

Midwest Guides & regional experts sharing their most productive fly patterns for catching Steelhead, Trout, & Smallmouth bass throughout the Great Lakes region and beyond. Lake Erie rivers along the shorelines of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Steelhead Alley provides the best fly-fishing opportunity in the world today.