Southwest Lower Peninsula
St. Joseph: The Chinook and coho runs have begun! A lot of coho and steelhead moved through the Berrien Springs fish ladder this past week with a few Chinook starting to trickle in. Pier anglers caught a few salmon and steelhead, with the most productive technique being the casting of spoons and spinners.
Kalamazoo River: The salmon runs have begun here as well!
Grand River at Grand Rapids: Both coho and Chinook were running.
Muskegon River: There were some Chinook salmon, but fish could be lethargic following the sea lamprey treatment that occurred on September 9.
Northeast Lower Peninsula
Cheboygan River: Anglers tried for salmon while drifting skein and casting crank baits and spoons. Very few Chinook were caught. A few undersized smallmouth bass were caught on worms and crank baits.
Au Sable River: Below Foote Dam, a few smallmouth and rock bass and freshwater drum were caught while still fishing or floating crawlers. The occasional walleye and smallmouth bass were caught while trolling cranks at the river mouth. Waters below Mio Dam cooled to the low 60s and high 50s. Flies imitating the white fly hatch, streamers and mousing at night can be effective this time of year.
Northwest Lower Peninsula
Overall: It’s all about the salmon in this neck of the woods! Rivers like the Pere Marquette, Manistee and Betsie are seeing good runs of Chinook salmon. Pierheads were producing in Ludington, Manistee and Frankfort while Pere Marquette Lake, Manistee Lake and Betsie Bay provided good options for small boat trollers, jiggers and those casting lures or fishing with spawn.
Bear River: The flow was at a good level this past week. A lot of salmon (both Chinook and coho) ran mid-week, but not many fish were caught at the dam. Most anglers were using spawn, artificial eggs and flies
Platte River: Coho have arrived!
Manistee River: Chinook and coho were both there!
Pere Marquette River: A good run of Chinooks had begun.
Upper Peninsula
Manistique River: Salmon were in the river, but numbers were low. Fair catches of brown trout were reported when trolling or casting by the spill-over wall.
Two Hearted River: Coho salmon runs during the past week were light. Water temperatures were in the mid-50s in the river and upper 50s on Lake Superior. Anglers saw a few fish trickling in the river, but with cold northerly winds and cold nights, fish should begin their push.