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HomeOutdoorsWeekly fishing report: July 7, 2021

Weekly fishing report: July 7, 2021

Michigan DNR

Southeast Lower Peninsula

Lake Erie: Anglers were needing to go further out or south to 27 feet of water. The white bass fishing slowed down considerably. Sheepshead are still common on slower crawler harnesses. Green bottom bouncers are hitting well and fish are low and dispersed. Purple and chrome bandits do good on sunny days. Anglers have been catching more walleye out in 24 to 28 feet of water. Anglers are still pulling in walleye off crawler harnesses with green showing good results. Anglers, trolling over 2 mph, running bandits and spoons have had less by catch, and purple/chartreuse have been hot colors. People have been having more run ins with weeds to the north by Fermi Power Plant, so fishing the dumping grounds has been a good alternative for anglers. Not many people were catching perch still, but bass fishing in Brest Bay was good with the occasional northern pike.

Harbor Beach: A few smallmouth bass were caught in the harbor casting various artificial baits. Some lake trout were taken straight out and north of the harbor using dodgers and spin and glows and spoons in green, blue, and white with pink dots in 130 feet of water. Some walleye were taken in the same areas and also in closer to shore with green and chartreuse and orange colored body baits or crawler harnesses. A few steelhead were taken around the color lines on the 7,9, and 10 colored lead lines with bright colored spoons.

Lexington: Updates to the boat launch and parking lot are complete and the site is back open to the public.

Saginaw BayIn lower Saginaw Bay, boat anglers are catching walleye in Pinconning in 12 feet of water on crawlers and they are also going out to the Blackhole and catching walleye in 24 feet of water. Walleye at Linwood are being caught in 20 to 24 feet of water on crawlers and crankbaits. The dumping grounds are also producing some walleye in 20 feet of water. One mile north of sailboat buoys A-B in 18 to 20 feet of water anglers are also catching a few walleye. At Smith Park in Essexville the shore anglers are catching a few smallmouth bass on perch rigs with worms.

Walleye were caught scattered throughout the eastern part of the bay. Anglers caught walleye out from Quanicassee in 10 to 12 feet of water. The slot is producing walleye in 16 to 18 feet from Sunset to Sebwaing and up towards the islands. Anglers going over the bar are finding some walleye in 20 to 25 feet of water. Walleye were also caught at Sand Point. Crawler harnesses, flicker shads and spoons all caught walleye this week.

Grindstone: Some walleye were caught while trolling.

Port Austin: Some walleye were caught while trolling with an averages of 5 catches per boat. Anglers were trolling at Flat Rock Reef in 20 to 25 feet of water using night crawler harnesses and body baits.

Southwest Lower Peninsula

St. Joseph: Pier anglers were catching catfish and drum. Fishing for steelhead and perch was slow. There were a few fish being caught in 35 feet of water. Boat anglers targeting salmon also had slow fishing. Anglers caught some decent fishing in deep waters. The boats were well past 120 feet of water. Spoons seemed to be the most productive lures.

South Haven: Perch fishing was very slow and pier fishing has been slow for steelhead. Drum and catfish have been caught using nightcrawlers. Boat anglers targeting salmon have had slow fishing as well. There seems to be lake trout still around 100 feet of water.

Grand Haven: Anglers were finding a few salmon and trout in 160 to 220 feet of water. A mix of spoons and flies worked. Pier action was slow for steelhead.

Northeast Lower Peninsula

Rogers City: Limits of lake trout have been reported 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 and 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 while running lines in the top 20 feet of water. Lake trout are hitting best on dodgers and spin-n-glows or cowbells with spin-n-glows. Orange colored spoons with green or brightly colored spoons have been good for steelhead. The smaller walleye sized or regular sized spoons have been the best. Other good colors have been greens, blues, blue and silver, green and blue, purple chartreuse, and glow stuff early and late. Good places to fish are west towards 40 Mile Point or south towards Swan Bay and Adams Point.

Rockport: Anglers are catching limits of lake trout but are having to work to locate 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. The higher lines have been taking an occasional coho, Chinook and steelhead. Atlantic salmon have been taken while running lines in the top 20 feet. Lake trout are hitting best on dodgers and spin-n-glows or cowbells with spin-n-glows. 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 and were doing pretty good for lake trout, steelhead and an occasional coho and Atlantic. The best depths have 65 to 120 feet of water. A few anglers are also fishing north towards Stoneport. A big mayfly hatch occurred this past week and they are feeding heavily on them. Anglers are using lead cores in 1-4 colors with brightly colored spoons.

Alpena: Lake trout, rainbow trout, and salmon were still being caught by mostly trolling spoons anywhere from 50 to 100 feet of water. Walleye harvest has increased in the bay dramatically. Common methods used were trolling crawler harness and body baits in 10 to 20 feet of water.

Thunder Bay River: Bass were 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, jigs with twister tails and crawler harnesses.

Oscoda: Anglers were catching lake trout and rainbow trout as well as various salmon species most commonly by trolling spoons from everywhere between water depths of 80 to 140 feet. Off the pier anglers have been catching mostly bass, sheepshead and channel catfish with the occasional walleye using drop-shot rigs or floating worms.

Au Sable River: The bass were starting to move farther upstream and were caught most commonly by casting stick and body baits. Catfish were 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 body baits, but anglers have had some success casting jigs with twister tails and using drop-shot rigs.

Tawas: Boat anglers caught walleye and steelhead out near buoy #2 in 50 to 70 feet of water off spoons and body baits as well as crawlers There was also some walleye caught out near Alabaster and the Charity islands in 20 to 30 feet off body baits and crawlers. There were some smallmouth bass caught in the bay off tubes and jigs. Pier anglers caught a few smallmouth bass, rock bass and carp off body baits and crawlers. A few perch were caught in the mornings off minnows.

Tawas River: Anglers at Gateway Park on the Tawas River caught a few largemouth bass, pumpkinseed fish, rock bass and catfish off crawlers.

Au Gres: Boat anglers were catching good numbers of walleye all the way from near the Charity Island, south to the Pine River area and the catfish hole. Depths ranged from 13 feet in the southern areas to 30 to 40 feet to the north. Most were caught off crawlers as well as body baits. Dock anglers at the Pine River access site caught a few undersized largemouth bass off spinners.

Cheboygan River: Although undersized, fishing for smallmouth bass along the Cheboygan River continued to pick up with anglers catching multiple per trip. While smallmouth were being caught further down the river, some anglers were catching bluegill and rock bass closer to the dam. Anglers were catching bluegill, smallmouth and rock bass when using crawlers.

Hammond Bay: Rock bass continued to be a hot catch at Hammond Bay State Harbor along the shore, near the dock. Shore anglers were having the best luck using crawlers.

Northwest Lower Peninsula

Harbor Springs: Most people fished up north of Harbor Springs. Lake trout were caught around 5 Mile from 115 feet to 130 feet of water. Near Harbor Point, lake trout fishing success varied. Some couldn’t get anything to bite, but a few lake trout were caught from 100 to 130 feet of water near bottom. Smallmouth bass boats were back out last week, and success varied. One day was tough, but the next day anglers caught a lot of nice size smallmouth and some rock bass. Smallmouth bass anglers in Harbor Springs reported bigger fish in 15 to 20 feet of water, but lots of small ones in shallower too.

Bear River: Shore and pier anglers were still fishing the mouth of the river. Anglers caught smallmouth bass, rock bass, small panfish, small perch, bullhead and catfish.  Anglers were using worms, minnows, jigs with soft plastics and crankbaits.

Charlevoix: One boat left Harbor Springs and fished the 9 Mile Point area toward Charlevoix because of wind direction. They caught a few lake trout in 140 to 170 feet of water. Lake trout are deep in many places because of the water temperature. Some smallmouth bass were biting in the channel, mainly undersized ones.

Petoskey: Boats concentrated on the area between the break wall and just past Bay Harbor on the Petoskey side of the Bay. Some lake trout were caught in 120 to 135 feet of water near bottom. Most were released because they were small.

Manistee: Fishing was hit or miss. A few Chinook were caught along the shelf in 100 to 200+ feet of water and south towards Big Sable point. Lake trout were caught around 100 feet of water but it was slow. A few steelhead were caught in the mix, usually from the top 30 feet of water. The north pier was slow. Sheephead can be a fun species to catch and release off the piers. They will usually hit spoons and body-baits so you can target a few different species at the same time.

Ludington: Salmon were scattered. After the water cooled down a few coho were caught. A few Chinook were straight out from the harbor, south and near Big Sable Point. The salmon were anywhere from 120 to 200 feet of water and out to 400 feet and at 120 to 350 feet of water off the point. Lake trout and steelhead were also in the mix from depths of 60 to 150 feet of water. A couple smallmouth were caught off the north pier using lures and plastics. If the the adipose fin (fin between the dorsal and tail) of your catch is missing, your fish may have a coded wire tag. Save the head or snout of that fish and put it in one of our head freezers at Copeyon Park or the Manistee fish cleaning station. Your name could be drawn at the end of the year to win a gift card.

Upper Peninsula

Ontonagon: Anglers fishing out of Ontonagon continued to do well while trolling for lake trout. Fish were found anywhere from 30 to 120 feet of water and spoons seemed to be the ticket. A few brown trout and coho were picked up but the primary catch was lake trout. The Ontonagon River was producing a few legal walleye but there was a lot of sorting for anglers trolling and jigging. Piers anglers were finding a few legal fish and the occasional sturgeon while using crawlers. Union Bay has not been very busy but the anglers fishing out of there have had similar success to Ontonagon.

Keweenaw Bay: Anglers had lots of luck catching lake trout in the afternoons while trolling in deeper water in both Keweenaw Bay and Huron Bay. Some anglers were still able to reel in the occasional coho. In Big Traverse Bay, anglers had some luck trolling in medium depth water for lake trout.

Au Train: Fishing was slower this past week. Some lake trout were caught jigging on the flats. Anglers did better trolling in deeper water.

Marquette: There was heavy boat traffic this past week. Anglers had to work to catch fish. Some lake trout and coho were caught.

Munising: Fishing pressure again was low with most boats going to Fairport/Manistique for Chinook salmon. There were a few boat anglers going out for lake trout and doing well with not always limits but five or six fish per party of two. Areas to target have been towards Grand Portal, or the west channel near White Rocks trolling to Wood Island Reef. A few boats went to Big Reef and did well with a few limits reported.  Shore anglers have caught a few splake, but overall fishing was slow.

Grand Marais: Fishing pressure was low, however a few boats went out for lake trout did well with most reporting limits. The best locations were Five Mile Reef, towards shipping lanes and AuSable Point. There was no activity off the pier.

Little Bay de Noc: Anglers fishing for walleye have had little to no success. Reports of mostly undersized fish being caught. Perch anglers were finding some action when using worms in shallow waters. Shore anglers along the Ford River were catching smallmouth bass.

Big Bay de Noc: Smallmouth fishing has experienced an uptick. Anglers report fair to good success when launching out of Nahma or Ogontz. Perch anglers were able to land some small numbers in Ogontz Bay. Salmon fishing in Fairport has been good.

St. Ignace/Les Cheneaux: Fishing in the St. Ignace area continues to be extremely slow with little to no fish being reported. Some anglers are traveling toward Boblo Island to catch lake trout. The Pine River slowed down again, however anglers were catching some smaller walleye and perch. The Carp River continues to produce pike, walleye and perch. In the Les Cheneaux area, anglers were reporting that the cisco were started to move towards the Detour area but were still pulling in a few from McKay Bay. The smallmouth bass fishing in the Cedarville area has been phenomenal. Anglers were catching their limits of splake within the west entrance. Splake were found where the gobies are. Smallmouths were still in shallow waters on their beds. The fish biting at the rivers in St. Ignace seem to be early in the morning or late afternoon.

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.

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