Southeast Lower Peninsula
Lake St. Clair: Anglers are catching walleye near the dumping grounds, at the mouth of the south channel and by the 400 club while trolling with crawlers. A significant number of anglers limited out near Buoy 31. Perch were taken from the mouth of the north and south channel, and in fisher bay. Other anglers caught good numbers of perch and sizable bluegill in canals near the salt river. Bass action definitely slowed this week. During the daytime bass are moving out to the 16-foot range. The best action was near the 9-mile area and at Grosse Pointe. Anglers had the best success on tubes and drop shots.
Port Sanilac: Not a lot of fishing effort but there was an occasional steelhead and occasional Atlantic salmon caught trolling north of the harbor in 75-110 feet of water running baits about 60 feet down. Anglers are using leadcore with downriggers and spoons.
Harbor Beach: Fish continue to be scattered right now with the high winds we have been having. Once the wind and waves go down, you will want to do a search pattern running your lines from top to bottom and working from 80 feet out to 200 feet of water until you find where they are setting. Try a mix of spoons and colors to start. Anglers trolling for salmon and trout are catching mostly lake trout with some steelhead and cohos mixed in. A few walleye have been caught north of the harbor in 30 feet to 40 feet with artificial lures.
Saginaw Bay: Walleye Anglers are trolling with crawlers in 12 to 15 feet of water in front of the Bay City State Park. Walleye are also being caught in the old Dumping Grounds in 20 feet and at Sail Boat Bouy’s A-B in 17 feet of water. At the end of Linwood Road some boat anglers are catching blue gill in 6 feet of water. Crawlers seem to be working better than crankbaits.
Sebewaing: Anglers caught walleye mid-week; numbers were decent but no limits. Best catches were caught north of the channel in the slot in 17 to 19 feet of water trolling night crawler harnesses. Anglers also caught good numbers of largemouth bass in the Sebewaing River casting various artificial baits.
Southwest Lower Peninsula
St. Joseph: Pier anglers were still catching steelhead. The water temperatures continue to be cool around the piers. Most fish were being caught on alewife or shrimp. Perch fishing was slow. The cold water has really scattered the fish. The salmon boats have been fishing 120 feet of water. Lake trout and steelhead were being caught. Spoons and flies were catching most of the fish.
South Haven: The boats that made it out had fair fishing. Most boats were fishing around 100 feet of water. The catch was mostly lake trout with some coho and steelhead mixed in. Pier anglers continued to catch steelhead. Most fish were caught on shrimp. Some catfish and drum were caught as well. Very few perch anglers made it out. Fishing has been challenging due to the water temperatures.
Grand Haven: Salmon and trout action has been on the slower side. Best action has been from 140 to 220 feet of water. Salmon and steelhead have been found in the top 75 feet of water while lake trout have been caught on bottom. Pier anglers have been finding the steelhead action to be hit or miss based on the water temperature. Good numbers of freshwater drum have been caught casting spoons in the channel and off the end of the piers. Steelhead have been caught off the piers mainly on shrimp and alewife. A few have been caught while casting bright colored spoons or spinners.
Muskegon: Boats have found the salmon and trout action to be slow. The fish have been scattered from 120 to 260 feet of water. Orange and green spoons have worked well in the top 80 feet of water.
Northeast Lower Peninsula
Rogers City: Limits of lake trout but anglers are having to work for them. Once located they have been doing quite well. The best depths have been anywhere from 65 to 120 feet of water for best results. Anglers are running lines throughout the water column for best results. Run a couple of lines deep for lake trout then scatter the remaining lines higher in the water column. Those higher lines have been taking an occasional coho, chinook and steelhead. Atlantic salmon have been taken running lines in the top 20 feet. Lakers are hitting best on dodgers and spin glos or cowbells with spin glos. Oranges with green or brightly colored spoons have been good for steelhead. The smaller walleye size or reg size spoons have been the best. Other good colors have been greens, blues, blue and silver, green and blue, purple chartreuse and glows early and late. Good places to fish are west towards 40 Mile Point or south towards Swan Bay and Adams Point.
Rockport: Good places to fish have been straight out of the harbor on the back side of Middle Island near the lighthouse and buoys. Anglers are also fishing the Nordameer Wreck. A few anglers are also fishing north towards Stoneport.
Alpena: Angling in the bay has been picking up. Lake trout are still being caught by mostly trolling spoons at slower than normal speeds in 30 to 50 feet of water but has slowed down in comparison to past weeks. Walleye harvest has increased in the bay but still is slow. Common methods used are crawler harness and bottom bouncers.
Thunder Bay River: Bass are still in the river. Common methods used by anglers to catch bass include casting stick baits, body baits and spinners. Anglers are still catching pike, freshwater drum, and the occasional walleye using body baits, jig heads with twister tails and crawler harnesses.
Cheboygan River: Shore anglers have been commonly catching drum and rock bass near the draw bridge on the river. Occasionally, boat and shore anglers have caught walleye and channel cat throughout the river, with the best results while trolling. Shore anglers have been having the best luck catching walleye while casting crawlers and stick bait.
Oscoda: Angling has picked up slightly. Anglers have been catching lake trout, rainbow trout and a few Atlantic salmon as well as walleye while trolling spoons and crawler harnesses between water depths of 80 to 140 feet. Off the pier anglers have been catching mostly bass and sheepshead with the occasional walleye using drop shot rigs.
Au Sable River: The bass are starting to move farther upstream and being caught most commonly by casting stick and body baits. Catfish have been caught with drop shot rigs with cut bait or worms. Anglers have been occasionally catching walleye and drum most commonly by trolling crawler harnesses and bottom bouncers. However, anglers have had some success casting jig heads with twister tails and using drop shot rigs.
Tawas: Boat anglers caught some walleye, lake trout, steelhead and brown trout in 30 to 80 feet off spoons and crawlers. Some boat anglers were catching and releasing good numbers of smallmouth bass in 10 to 20 feet off tubes, swim baits and body baits. Pier anglers caught small perch, rock bass and smallmouth bass off minnows, swim baits and crawlers.
Tawas River: At Gateway Park, some smallmouth bass were caught off swim baits, crawlers and spinners. Some catfish were caught off crawlers.
Au Gres: Boat anglers caught walleye (some limits were taken.) in 30 to 60 feet off crawlers and crank baits anywhere from north of the Charity islands to south into the bay. Pier anglers caught catfish, bull heads and drum off crawlers.
Pine River: Some largemouth bass, pike were caught off body baits, spinners and jigs. Some rock bass and bluegills were caught off waxworms and crawlers. Boat anglers targeting walleye caught some in 15 to 30+ feet off crawlers and crank baits. Bass anglers caught largemouth bass in near the weed beds off spinners, swim baits and body baits.
Spectacle and Reynolds Reef: Lake trout fishing has slowed down a bit forcing boat anglers to go further offshore to locate them. The anglers that have been catching lake trout have had the best results at depths of 30 to 60 feet.
Northwest Lower Peninsula
Harbor Springs: Some boats stayed around Harbor Point to target lake trout with a little success in 60 to 90 feet of water. Most boats went north and west and caught more lake trout up in the Cross Village/Good Hart area in about 80 to 90 feet of water. Anglers targeting Cisco have the best luck using the jigging technique. Anything shiny…jigging spoons, cleos, Swedish pimples, Kastmasters and blade baits.
Petoskey: A few boats fished this side of the bay, from the Breakwall to the Bay Harbor area. A couple lake trout were caught in 90 to 120 feet of water, some near bottom and some about 20 to 25 feet.
Bear River: Still running on the low side, with very low angler pressure. Shore and pier anglers are still fishing the mouth of the river mainly. They caught Smallmouth Bass, Rock Bass, small Panfish, Bullhead, Drum, and Carp. Larger Catfish, Pike, and even one walleye were also reported in this area. Anglers use worms, minnows, jigs with soft plastics, and crankbaits.
Charlevoix: A few boats went out over the weekend targeting lake trout. There were varying degrees of success, but the consensus was that the lake trout were suspended. Most fished the cement plant to Fisherman’s Island. Lake trout were caught anywhere from 20 to 80 feet down over 100 to 300 feet of water. One cisco was also caught while trolling near the cement plant, also suspended. One boat went toward Nine Mile Point and caught a lake trout in 90 to 100 feet of water near the bottom.
Pressure was lighter last week in the channel with fewer cisco being caught. Anglers still caught a few, along with increasing numbers of smallmouth bass. Mainly small bass, but a couple were keeper size. Not many are targeting smallmouth yet, they were usually caught by people who were casting/jigging for cisco. Worms work well for smallmouth (real or artificial) fished near the bottom.
Frankfort: Anglers trolling in 100 to 150 feet of water and setting lures 70 to 100 feet down trolling south to the herring hole are reporting small Kings in the area. Anglers trolling and jigging north off Point Betsie are reporting good numbers of lake trout hitting on spin-n-glows and swedish pimples. Steelhead near the surface are hitting on orange spoons. Water temperatures are climbing, and bait pods have been reported in several areas. Try running a high line with an orange spoon for that occasional Steelhead.
Onekama: The bank is picking up with activity, anglers are reporting very good lake trout catches with a couple kings and steelhead mixed in. Spoons and flies have been working best with blue and green the most popular colors. Try sticking with the bait pods.
Manistee: Salmon fishing was mostly slow. A couple scattered kings were caught along the shelf in 120 to 200 feet of water. Steelhead were caught in the top 30 feet and lake trout were caught in around 100 feet of water. A few steelhead were caught on the north pier using alewife and shrimp and a few cisco were caught on spoons. Steelhead catches have been consistent at both ports so fish a spoon high up in the water column to maximize your potential catch.
Ludington: Salmon fishing was slow although a couple kings were caught near Big Sable Point. Steelhead and lake trout fishing was better. Steelhead were in the top 30 feet from 70 out to 200 to 300 feet of water. The piers were slow. Most of the action has been around Big Sable Point. The Ludington Bouy is a great source of information to get up-to-date lake temperatures and wave conditions.
Upper Peninsula
Ontonagon: Fishing pressure has continued to drop again over the past week with some stormy weather and dispersal of fish. Catches of lake trout were spotty out of both Ontonagon and Union Bay. Anglers finding fish and staying on pods did well but there were also several boats with zero to one fish. Lake trout have been the most prevalent fish the past week with the occasional brown and coho coming in as well. Trolling has been occurring anywhere between 20 to 120 feet with trout being caught in all depths on spoons and other artificial lures. The Ontonagon River was starting to clear up and anglers picked a few more walleye jigging, trolling and drifting.
Keweenaw Bay: Anglers had the most luck fishing in Keweenaw Bay while trolling for lake trout and jigging for lake whitefish. Most of the fishing was done in waters deeper than 50 feet. A few coho and rainbow trout were also caught in Keweenaw Bay this week. Fishing pressure was slow in the Falls and Silver Rivers. Some shore anglers had luck near the mouth of the Traverse River.
Au Train: Anglers are still bringing in some decent catches of lake trout. They seem to have moved in shallower waters. Anglers caught some nice ones close to shore.
Marquette: Decent catches of lake trout were brought in. Anglers report catches in shallow water. A few browns and a coho were brought in.
Munising: Fishing pressure continues to be low, with boat angler effort directed towards Manistique and Fairport for kings. A few boats have been out for lake trout and doing quite well, not always limits but most anglers are catching a few. Best areas again to fish are towards White Rocks, Wood Island Reef, Grumps Hump and Big Reef. Some anglers have tried bobbing with limited success – best luck is trolling with flies near bottom near the breaks around 120 to 180 feet. Anglers fishing Big Reef have been fishing the edges in around 80 feet or less. Pier anglers have been catching a few nice splake around 18 to 20 using mainly fresh spawn however action has been intermittent.
Grand Marais: Pier anglers continue to do well with limits as long as winds are from the northwest. Action slows down considerably when winds are from the south.
Little Bay de Noc: Smallmouth anglers are catching fish at the mouth and in the Ford River. Walleye anglers are having a tough time but some reports of success. Limited numbers being caught around Portage Point and out of the Whitefish River when trolling or drifting crawler harnesses. Perch anglers that went out of Kipling and Gladstone had some success. Shore anglers at the Whitefish caught perch. People that fished the dock and shoreline at Gladstone caught perch and rock bass.
Big Bay de Noc: Smallmouth fishing has been good. Catch rates have been mixed throughout the bay. Those that headed out of Nahma and Ogontz found most fish out deep near structure, although some were also caught in the shallows along the shore. In Fairport, some Chinook salmon are being caught.
St. Ignace/Les Cheneaux: The bite has continued to be very slow. There are still few pike and walleye being caught in both the Pine and Carp rivers. Anglers are still catching perch in the Les Cheneaux areas, but are struggling to get the bigger ones to bite.
This report is intended to give you an idea of what is going on around the state. Updates come from Fisheries staff and conservation officers. With more than 11,000 inland lakes, the Great Lakes and thousands of miles of rivers and streams, not all locations can be listed. However, it is safe to say if a species is being caught in some waters in the area, they are likely being caught in all waters in that section of the state that have that species.
