Gone fishin'

Upper Peninsula

Marquette: Fishing picked up and anglers were catching fish in the Marquette area. Lake trout were reported being caught offshore near the Chocolay River through Shot Point. Anglers were catching some coho near Shot Point in about 40 to 50 feet of water. White Rocks was a popular spot where anglers were catching lake trout. While fishing near lower harbor, the Chocolay River and Shot Point, try trolling bright colored spoons on deep lines for lake trout and high lines for salmon. For fishing in the upper harbor area and White Rocks, try trolling multi color spoons or flickers in deep water for best chances.

Au Train: Anglers should try trolling or jigging cut bait near Au Train Island or try trolling bright color spoons in deep water (150+ feet) for lake trout. When fishing deep water for lake trout, try light blue or any bright color spoon while trolling.

Keweenaw Bay/Huron Bay: Anglers mostly found lake trout with rainbow trout, Chinook salmon and coho being reported but infrequently. Anglers were mostly fishing in the morning hours. All fish reported were caught using artificial baits in waters ranging from 70 to 150 feet of water. Fish were found throughout the water column in these depths. Anglers should continue fishing in the morning hours and keep imitating smelt with the baits used.

Les Cheneaux: In Les Cheneaux area, anglers were catching a few perch off the pier and were still catching splake within Wilderness Bay.

Detour: Anglers reported a nice mixed bag catch with fair success targeting Atlantic salmon off the flats and around the Detour lighthouse. Anglers were targeting these fish 10 to 20 feet below the surface over 60 to 100 feet of water. Anglers reported catches of lake trout from 2 to 5 pounds in these similar areas while fishing closer to bottom. There were also scattered catch reports of steelhead, coho salmon and some Chinook.

Little Bay de Noc: The walleye fishing slowed down, but anglers continued to see limited success. Anglers were trolling the reefs and the head of the bay and reported small fish being caught. Anglers were also fishing Breezy Point and were catching some larger fish. Those venturing out of the Ford River were having good results. Smallmouth bass fishing was good. Shorelines with weeds or areas with rocks were producing fish.

Manistique: Anglers that were targeting walleye were having limited success in the river or at the mouth, drifting crawlers or trolling crank baits. Salmon fishing was poor, and anglers reported only marking bait and a few fish. Lake trout were caught in small numbers.

Traverse Bays/South Portage Canal Entry: Anglers reported less bait fish throughout the water column. Where they were seeing smaller fish, they were also seeing their target species. Most anglers were targeting trout and salmon with only a handful fishing for pike and bass. Anglers had the most luck trolling for trout and salmon with the main catch in the area being lake trout with some Chinook salmon and brown trout being caught as well. Anglers reported most catches coming from depths of 50 to 175 feet of water and fishing throughout the water column. Anglers fishing in the morning hours had the most success.

Upper St. Mary’s: Whitefish fishing remained steady upriver of the Soo Locks. Anglers were reporting small-sized whitefish and menominee while jigging with wax worms 3 to 5 feet above the bottom of the river. Some anglers were targeting rainbow trout and reported limited catches using crawlers. In Waishkey Bay, some walleye were reported with slow catch rates. Crawler harness setups while trolling in the early morning or late evening produced results.

Lower St. Mary’s River: Anglers were reporting moderate success for those just starting to target cisco. The most popular spots so far were in Potagannissing Bay off of Drummond Island near Harbor Island. Anglers were using small jigs tipped with either mayflies or wax worms.

Whitefish Bay: Fishing in Whitefish Bay produced some results of Chinook, coho and whitefish. Fishing in 100 to 125 feet at 25 to 75 feet produced the best results. Multiple anglers reported seeing limited to no fish on sonar, however, still catching fish midway throughout the water column. At Tahquamenon River mouth access, anglers were targeting walleye, perch, pike and coho. Catches of walleye and pike were limited.