Trout Fishing Tips for Michigan.

Tips for Trophy trout in Michigan. Small details pay big dividends

There's no question the trout live in beautiful places, Michigan is no exception to that rule. Everywhere you look, we are surrounded by water. Here are 5 tips for better trout fishing in Western Michigan. These tips should help you catch more, and larger trout.

Location. Probably the number one key to great trout fishing success. Ask around, people are generally pretty good about sharing information. Usually this will at least give you a starting point. Where you fish for trout is certainly a huge key to success. Area Maps like the Michigan Trout Guide, Plot maps and Google Earth all show details about great places to trout fish. They can tell you if the area is private or public land. Google Earth maps are so detailed, the show color and break like so you can tell between riffles and holes!

Best Trout Rivers Michigan

Trout bite best during low light conditions.

Pack a Plano box just for Trout fishing.  Having one small box with just trout lures and gear really helps in lure selection.  Pack it full of tried an true trout lures like Mepps,  Pather Martin, and Blue Fox Vibrax spinners. Small
crank baits are also an excellent choice! Rapala, Rebel, and Yo-Zuri all make some very natural, deadly looking crank baits for trout.  Also, stock your box with plenty of swivels, hooks and split shot.  Trout streams are always filled with snags. Bring lots of terminal tackle.

Time of day.  When you fish for trout makes a huge difference! Trout are a shy, spooky, skittish species. First light (morning) and last light, and night time are great times to fish for trout.  Especially Brown trout, they are usually nocturnal. Focus your energy of fishing low light periods when trout feed the most often. Michigan Trout Fishing Report

 Decide whether you're going to fly fish or spin fish. Don't bring both! I know this one seems odd but hear me out. One thing huge that I've noticed in guiding, when clients try to use both techniques, they rarely catch anything. They keep thing, "What if I used this..." Stick with what you know works until you catch some fish. After that, then branch out on techniques. Have faith in what you're using and go from there. Brown trout are notorious predators and fish on smaller fish, minnows, and crayfish. Your baits should reflect that.

Fishing guides can help you catch more fish!

Hire a fishing guide. Hiring a fishing guide can set you light years ahead of the learning curve!  Guides have spent thousands of hours perfecting their craft on the local waters that you wish to learn. They know the local intriquies of that river or stream and know that water like the back of their hand. There's always some local tricks or techniques that set that area apart. Fishing guides usually have the inside scoop for catching fishing in their area. Give it a shot, you might be surprised!

All the essentials and the equipment mentioned above are crucial for any Michigan Trout Fishing adventure or while getting ready for a trout fishing trip. If you're looking for some guidance to catch some trophy fish, booking Betts Guide Service, is a great idea.  Our guide staff will help you on everything from Michigan Trout Fishing, hotels, fly fishing, spin fishing trips, eco-tours, and anything else related to Michigan river fishing for salmon, trout , and Steelhead. Give us a shout at (231) 519-7348

Fall Steelhead Fishing on the Muskegon River. Muskegon River Steelhead

   Mild temperatures over the past month have made water temperatures above average and favorable for steelhead fishing. With the ridiculous numbers of Fall Steelhead that entered the river in November/ December, January and February should offer some outstanding Winter Steelhead fishing throughout the Winter months. Steelhead on the Muskegon River are certainly larger than average, as we have had three Steelhead near 17lbs, and one over 18 pounds! That is a trophy in anyone's book with most fish averaging in the 10 lb range!

Our best techniques over the past two weeks have been fly fishing with the Alaskan bead technique and floats/spawn combo is also working very well producing over a steelhead per hour. Trout fishing has also been excellent in the upper river with resident trout being healthy, fat and sassy!

  Step on board for one of the best Fall / Winter Steelhead runs in over a decade! If you ever wanted to learn to steelhead fish, now is the time! Steelhead fishing has been very good over the past week making this December one of the best migrations in over a decade. Both the numbers of steelhead and the average size have been larger that years past. This trend should offer tremendous fishing oppetunities through December and the winter months. The long-range weather looks to have our run of above normal temperatures ending and seasonal conditions becoming the norm. Steelhead fishing forecast looks excellent!

Muskegon River Spring Steelhead - Spring Chrome on the way!

Spring Steelhead Muskegon River Style!  

Do you want to learn how to catch giant spring Steelhead like these?  Fish like the pros with our Muskegon River Guide Service.  Learn great hatches, fly selections, and how to fight big fish on the fly rod.   March and April offer World Class fly fishing oppertunities Spring Steelhead.  Sight Casting to spawning fish on gravel and having the oppertunities to watch a steelhead eat the fly!  

Anglers of any age can learn to fly fishing

Spring Steelhead on Michigan's Muskegon River.

Over the past few days we've experienced a warming trend that has gotten steelhead fishing moving in the right direction!  Warmer temperatures and longer daylight hours have spring steelhead beginning to migrate up river in good order. 

  The lower sections of the Muskegon River from Giles Rd. to Bridgeton have been fishing very well. Anderson's to Mystery Creek has also been doing very well.
     Fish have been holding in the deep holes waiting to move up river. Deep pockets behind spawning gravel has been fishing the best, especially first thing in the morning. 
   Best fishing techniques for the steelhead have been back bouncing large spawn sacks in the holes and tail outs.  Floats and spawn have also been working well with much smaller sacks or single egg flies.  Best colors have been chartreuse, hot pink, and peach. 
  This trend will be continuing even with temperatures dropping over the next ten days, once steelhead begin to migrate, it's "Game on!" Spawn with scent has been the key to keeping them going on the bite. 

Over the up coming weeks, many more steelhead should enter the Muskegon & Big Manistee River. Water temperatures are finally worming up and the fish are on the more.

Look for steelhead in the deeper holes and runs of the larger rivers. Deep holes offer slower current allowing steelhead to conserve energy. As the water warms, steelhead with become more active. 

Michigan Brown Trout Fishing - Muskegon River Trout

Michigan Brown Trout Fishing - Muskegon River Trout 

Muskegon River Trout fishing continues to be consistently productive with good numbers of quality trout.Cinnamon caddis has been the main stay of fly fishing. Caddis dries and Caddis emergers going throughout the day and evenings. Caddis super hatches in the evenings! Isonychia and light cahills (Stenonema Ithaca) producing some of the biggest fish. Nymphing has also been producing good numbers. Caddis pupa, baetis nymphs, and pheasant tails all working well fished near the bottom. Crayfish patterns are also working well for both trout and smallmouth.  Michigan Fly Fishing

  Top Flies this week for Brown Trout fishing: X-Caddis (# 16) Caddis Emerger (#16- 18's)
Z-lon pupa (#16-18) Rusty Soft hackle (#16) Iso Parachute (# 12) Mojo Sac fry. #8

 Over the past several weeks I have divided my time into two distictive guided trips for the summer.   Both have been incridible productive for summer trime brown trout.  Deep water freestyle nymphing & Dry fly fishing damsel dry flies against the shoreline.  Both have worked well all summer for our Clients. 

Greg with a gorgeous brown trout from the Muskegon River.

Dry fly fishing damsel patterns produced a fantastic day of trout fishing yesterday for Bob. He guided the middle section of the Pere Marquette River, fishing streamers and floating damsel patterns against grassy shorelines and undercut banks.

      There are lots of suckers spawning and encouraging the bigger browns and rainbows to feed on nymphs behind sucker redds. Excellent numbers of Gray Drakes seen in the last couple of days, mostly during the afternoon period. Many of stocked Trout targeting dry fly Caddis with an occasional big fish on the surface. As water temperatures increase, larger Trout will come up. Sulpher emergence is soon to come. Streamer stripping with salmon fry patterns has been working well for larger Trout - We need warmer water to get the big boys to chase streamers.

More Information for trout fishing on west Michigan rivers such as the Muskegon, Pere Marquette River, and Manistee River.    Michigan Fly Fishing Report      (231) 519-7348

Winter Steelhead on the Muskegon River. Winter Steelhead Guides (231) 519-7348

Winter Steelhead in Michigan - Float fishing guides. (231) 519-7348

Mild temperatures over the past month have made water temperatures above average and favorable for steelhead fishing. With the ridiculous numbers of Fall Steelhead that entered the river in November/ December, January and February should offer some outstanding Winter Steelhead fishing throughout the Winter months. Steelhead on the Muskegon River are certainly larger than average, as we have had three Steelhead near 17lbs, and one over 18 pounds! That is a trophy in anyone's book with most fish averaging in the 10 lb range!

Our best techniques over the past two weeks have been fly fishing with the Alaskan bead technique and floats/spawn combo is also working very well producing over a steelhead per hour. Trout fishing has also been excellent in the upper river with resident trout being healthy, fat and sassy!

Step on board for one of the best Fall / Winter Steelhead runs in over a decade! If you ever wanted to learn to steelhead fish, now is the time! Steelhead fishing has been very good over the past week making this December one of the best migrations in over a decade. Both the numbers of steelhead and the average size have been larger that years past. This trend should offer tremendous fishing oppetunities through December and the winter months. The long-range weather looks to have our run of above normal temperatures ending and seasonal conditions becoming the norm. Steelhead fishing forecast looks excellent! Muskegon River Fishing Report

Winter Steelhead in Michigan - Float fishing guides. (231) 519-7348

Mild temperatures over the past month have made water temperatures above average and favorable for steelhead fishing. With the ridiculous numbers of Fall Steelhead that entered the river in November/ December, January and February should offer some outstanding Winter Steelhead fishing throughout the Winter months. Steelhead on the Muskegon River are certainly larger than average, as we have had three Steelhead near 17lbs, and one over 18 pounds! That is a trophy in anyone's book with most fish averaging in the 10 lb range!

Our best techniques over the past two weeks have been fly fishing with the Alaskan bead technique and floats/spawn combo is also working very well producing over a steelhead per hour. Trout fishing has also been excellent in the upper river with resident trout being healthy, fat and sassy!

Step on board for one of the best Fall / Winter Steelhead runs in over a decade! If you ever wanted to learn to steelhead fish, now is the time! Steelhead fishing has been very good over the past week making this December one of the best migrations in over a decade. Both the numbers of steelhead and the average size have been larger that years past. This trend should offer tremendous fishing oppetunities through December and the winter months. The long-range weather looks to have our run of above normal temperatures ending and seasonal conditions becoming the norm. Steelhead fishing forecast looks excellent!   Muskegon River Fishing Report