Southeast Lower Peninsula
Panfish anglers were finding success in inland lakes for panfish and pike while jigging off drop offs and flats in 10 to 20 feet of water with live bait (spikes, mousies and waxworms) as well as plastics. For pike, use tip-ups adjacent to weed edges with live bait.
Lake Erie: There were varying reports of success out of Metropark for yellow perch. Spoons tipped with spikes and waxworms were producing the most success. Panfish were also targeted. Jigs tipped with waxworms and spikes seemed to be most effective.
Lake St. Clair: There were reports of a tough bite for large yellow perch. A lot of sorting through small perch to find the larger ones. Anglers were having success out of Selfridge in 7 to 9 feet of water. Anglers also found a good mix of panfish and perch in canals and shallower water.
Saginaw Bay: On the west side of the bay, walleye were caught at the blackhole in Pinconning in 25 feet of water. Walleye were also caught at the cigar in front of Linwood in 18-23 feet of water and at the old dumping grounds in 20 feet of water. Some yellow perch were also caught at these locations. Anglers were also catching yellow perch at the spark plug in 25 feet of water. On the east side of the bay, fishing for yellow perch from Sebwaing to Bay Port had been hit or miss with lots of small perch to sort through. Those doing best were waiting for schools of perch to move to them. Anglers reported northern pike in the same areas while perch fishing.
Saginaw River: Anglers reported slow fishing through most of Bay City and Essexville, with a lot of sub legal walleye caught and released in this area. Upstream in the south end of Bay City at Cass Avenue and in the vicinity, anglers did well catching good numbers of walleye with some limits taken. Anglers did well in this area fishing the edge of the channel in 20 to 25 feet of water jigging a blue and silver or orange jigging Rapala. Anglers should plan to do lots of sorting. Most walleye were running in the 13 to 16-inch size range. Elsewhere walleye fishing was pretty slow at all points upstream around the Zillwaukee Bridge and through Saginaw.
Southwest Lower Peninsula
Gun Lake: Anglers were catching bluegill, yellow perch and black crappie off the state park beach and launch areas. Wax worms and small jigs were working best.
Gull Lake: Anglers were catching smelt, yellow perch and northern pike. Smelt action was best at night in 60 to 70 feet of water.
Murray Lake: Anglers were catching bluegill, northern pike and crappie. Anglers were catching crappie in the evening with small live emerald shiners on a small gold hook.
Wabasis Lake: Anglers were catching perch, bluegill, northern pike and walleye. There is good access to the lake on the west end at the county park boat launch.
Northeast Power Peninsula
Tawas: Perch fishing continued to be slow with some smaller fish caught in 12 to 20 feet of water off minnows and waxworms. A few walleye were caught in 15 to 22 feet of water off jigs and spoons tipped with minnows.
Au Gres: Some small perch and walleye were caught in the Au Gres river off jigs and spoons tipped with minnows. There were some reports of walleye caught out past Pt. Au Gres (Access off Booth Rd.) in 20 to 25 feet of water off jigs and spoons tipped with minnows.
Pine River: Perch fishing was slow with lots of sorting to keep a few. Anglers were catching perch in 5 to 10 feet of water off jigs tipped with minnows or jack hooks / spoons. Walleye anglers were venturing out as far as 1 to 5 miles, catching a few fish in 12 to 20 feet of water, off jigs and spoons tipped with minnows. The evening bite was performing the best.
Northwest Lower Peninsula
Charlevoix: Anglers were catching cisco in 50 to 100 feet of water. Fishing earlier in the day provided the best action.
Portage Lake: Pike fishing was decent with several small fish caught and an occasional keeper.
Manistee Lake: Decent perch fishing occurred off the 9th street boat launch. Pike fishing was also good.
Upper Peninsula
Les Cheneaux/Munuscong Bay: Anglers were catching a few perch in Hessel Bay and in Musky Bay, however it had started to slow down in Hessel. Munuscong Bay fishing pressure seemed to be slowing down as well and catches there were also starting to slow. There were a few walleye and perch caught at Dan’s Resort. Perch anglers were having a little more luck out of the Conley Point boat launch.
Little Bay de Noc: Anglers targeting perch in deeper water reported schools being relatively spread out, although respectably sized fish. Anglers fishing shallower waters out of Kipling were sorting through small fish and catching only a few large enough to keep. Most perch anglers were using minnows or wigglers, with minnows the most productive bait by far. Walleye fishing had been fair to good. Anglers were catching walleye off Hunter’s Point, near first or Center Reef, near the Escanaba River mouth, Saunders Point and out of the Ford River. All areas report large fish being caught, as well as encounters with undersized fish.
Keweenaw Bay: Anglers were reporting decent numbers of whitefish catches. Some anglers had also reported coho salmon, lake herring and lake trout. Most fish were caught in the mornings and in water of 80 feet total depth and deeper. Anglers reported success through jigging many different lures and baits.
Munising Bay: Anglers reported slow to medium action for whitefish. Last week fishing was spotty, however there were some nice limits of whitefish caught that were 13 to 16 inches. Anglers reported a few legal splake, but through the weekend catches diminished. Trout Bay is open. Spearers had been reporting some nice size lake herring, around 20 inches. A few night anglers were targeting burbot but reported slow fishing.
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.
