The Weekly Fishing Report will temporarily be suspended starting November 16 until early next year when ice fishing picks up and we begin to receive more reports. For fishing reports, call your local bait shop to inquire about current conditions.
Northeast Lower Peninsula
Tawas: Some lake trout and walleye were caught in the Tawas River at Gateway Park while casting body baits & spoons.
Unionville: Boat anglers fishing Sunset Marina near Unionville were catching a mixed bag of crappie and bluegill while fishing live bait and largemouth bass and northern pike while casting artificial baits.
Au Gres and Pine River: There were a few perch and walleye caught out near Point Au Gres while still fishing with minnows in 30 to 35 feet. There were some reports of steelhead caught just outside of Northport Marina. In the Pine River area, the perch fishing was very slow. There were a few perch caught in the river and straight out in front of the river mouth while still fishing minnows in 5 to 15 feet.
Alpena: Anglers were targeting the staging steelhead, Atlantic salmon and some coho salmon that will be entering Thunder Bay Rive at any time. Anglers should try fishing from the mouth of the river out to 40 to 60 feet and run bright spoons high in the water column for best results.
Thunder Bay River: Anglers reported a lot of Chinook salmon in the river, but many of them were past their spawn. Anglers were seeing a handful of Atlantic salmon up at the dam but had no luck getting them to hit. Very little to no reports of coho or steelhead.
Cheboygan River: Chinook salmon were still plentiful in the river, though most fish were spawned out at this point. Several trophy length fish were caught recently. Additionally, steelhead numbers in the river should increase over the next few weeks, with some already in the river. Natural baits tended to be more effective when water temperatures were cold.
Northwest Lower Peninsula
Manistee: Steelhead were caught while using spawn bags off the pier.
Big Manistee River: Anglers at Tippy Dam were still catching Chinook in lower numbers and their color was getting dark. Steelhead were reported throughout the river from Tippy to the mouth of Manistee Lake. Bouncing beads on the bottom or drifting spawn or beads with floats produced several 10+ pound fish.
Manistee Lake: Coho were reported off the Stronach boat launch with spinners getting most of the hits. Anglers reported that running in a little shallower water produced some good pike action.
Ludington: When weather permitted, steelhead were caught while using spawn bags off the pier.
Grand Traverse West Bay: Perch were caught all throughout west bay such as Bowers Harbor, in front of discovery pier south of elmwood marina, out in front of Hilltop Boat Launch, east side of Suttons Bay, and at Northport. The best depth was in 40 to 60 feet of water with wigglers.
Grand Traverse East Bay: Those trolling for cisco did well with limits or near limits. Anglers who were jigging did very poor. Best depth of water for cisco was 110 to 130 feet. Bass fishing was good in 15 to 30 feet of water.
Upper Peninsula
Little Bay de Noc: Walleye anglers reported slow fishing. Anglers were trolling, jigging or casting snap jigs. Areas seeing angler pressure were “black bottom” or Center Reef. Smallmouth fishing was good, and anglers were casting soft plastics or using live suckers. Perch fishing was inconstant. Anglers were targeting Kipling to the Days River. Still fishing rigs made up of minnows or worms were effective.
Manistique: Anglers reported some steelhead in the river. Pink and Chinook salmon were still being caught. Essentially, salmon numbers in the river and the condition of those fish have declined.
Keweenaw Bay/ Huron Bay: Some anglers found some luck fishing for lake trout. Some reports off the water claim salmon were caught on boats near river mouths such as the Big Huron River, the Silver River and the Falls River.
Big Traverse Bay/ South Portage Entry: Anglers had luck catching lake trout in waters between 50 to 100 feet and were biting on natural and artificial baits. Anglers were mostly trolling for these with some successful boats returning reporting jigging as their fishing method. Activity of fishing on the lake seems to be concentrating around areas of shallower water.
Les Cheneaux/Detour: Some perch were caught around Drummond Island. In the Les Cheneaux area, there were still thousands of baitfish of all sizes. There were still a few Chinook salmon hanging around the area too, but they were getting dark and decaying fast. The fishing activity was very slow with little to no pressure.
Grand Marais: A few pier anglers were out targeting Menominee and reported no catches. Anglers reported no catches and lots of current and higher water levels in the Sucker River.
Munising Bay: Anglers reported trolling within the bay for over five hours and only getting two short hits. A few pier anglers were out but had no luck. Anglers were fishing both spawn and tried casting with spoons and stick baits. Water temperatures were still warm in low 50s.
Carp River: The Carp River had steelhead in it. They were caught on a variety of baits both natural and artificial. Steelhead will bite all throughout the winter but warmer days in the fall are great times to scout for deep holes on a river where the fish may hold in a few months.
Upper St. Marys: Fishing pressure was low on the Upper St. Marys River. Anglers were targeting whitefish and yellow perch with limited results. Anglers fishing for whitefish were jigging with wax worms off of the bottom of the river in 15 to 25 feet.
Whitefish Bay: Due to high southeast winds, anglers were forced to fish from shore or to boat into the Tahquamenon River. Shore anglers were catching small pike and rock bass near the Tahquamenon River mouth. Anglers fishing from boats were fishing for pike and musky using a variety of spinner baits. Anglers casting towards shore or trolling wide with planner boards had the most success.
Southeast Lower Peninsula
Saginaw Bay: Anglers were able to get out and look for yellow perch in the Quanicassee and the Sebewaing area. Fishing for perch was slow with only a few caught out in front of Quanicassee in 8 to 10 feet and out by buoy 1 in deeper water. Those targeting walleye had very little success on the east side of the bay. Shore fishing for yellow perch in the Quanicassee and Sebewaing River was slow with mostly just a few small perch. Yellow perch were also caught out in front of Linwood in 12 to 14 feet of water and out on the east side of Spoils Island in 14 to 16 feet of water. Walleye were caught by boat anglers in the lower Saginaw River while jigging soft plastics.
Lexington: The occasional Atlantic and coho were caught while casting artificial lures. Some nice size steelhead were caught while casting artificial lures and on spawn.
Southwest Lower Peninsula
Muskegon River: Anglers were still catching Chinook salmon downstream from Croton Dam. Steelhead were starting to show in the river system. Action had slowed down slightly since last week. Best baits for steelhead were spawn and orange beads.
St. Joseph: There were good numbers of steelhead in the river. There were also coho and some Chinook still in the river. The water levels were generally low for this time of year making navigation difficult in parts of the river.
Grand Haven: The pier fishing was starting to get better with some steelhead caught. With cooler temperatures coming it should only get better.
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.
