Upper Peninsula

Keweenaw Bay/Huron Bay: Anglers trolling in the bays were catching lake trout in good numbers when using artificial lures such as flies, spoons and stick baits. Anglers also had luck casting for lake trout in shallow near shore waters. Some anglers were jigging in the bays for splake with natural baits and reported a great amount of success.

Big Traverse Bay/South Portage Entry Canal: Anglers were trolling and jigging with some success for lake trout. Trolling anglers were using artificial baits such as spoons and flies, while jigging anglers were using natural baits like cut sucker. Trolling anglers found fish in 40 to 120 feet of water.

St. Ignace: Anglers were fishing for steelhead at the Carp River, with a couple of individual fish seen by the rapids. At Nunns Creek, pink and Chinook salmon were slowly making their way up the creek when the water was deep enough for them to swim through. Anglers who were using spoons or spawn had the most luck catching a salmon or two.

Little Bay de Noc: Walleye fishing noticeably picked up. Anglers reported a challenging bite, with the best action seen at first and last light of the day. Most anglers were either jigging or trolling during dawn and dusk, although some reported success trolling crank baits after dark. Anglers were fishing the reefs, in the narrows and in front of the Escanaba River. Perch fishing was good; most anglers were either drifting or jigging perch minnows. Anglers fishing out of Kipling reported good fishing.

Manistique: Anglers that fished the river were seeing and catching Chinook salmon. Most anglers reported that some fish appeared to be fresher however, the majority were those that have been in the river for some time. Steelhead anglers reported slow fishing with little to no success. The pink salmon run was reported to be over, with only a few still around. Most anglers were drifting skein or beads.

Ontonagon River: The river saw very low fishing efforts over the past week. Reports show that few fish were caught. The fish cleaning station at the Ontonagon Marina is now closed for the season.

Ontonagon/Silver City/Union Bay: Fishing from these ports was good over the past week. Recent common catches consisted of lake trout in good numbers. Angler reports show that these fish were caught by those trolling across various water depths. Some anglers also had luck jigging in shallower waters. The fish cleaning station at the Ontonagon Marina has been closed for the season.

Black River Harbor: Angling efforts from the harbor were extremely low over the past week. Recent reports indicate catches of lake trout in low numbers. These fish were primarily found in deeper waters.

Marquette: When conditions allowed, several boat anglers went out from the upper harbor for lake trout and almost all reported success. A few boat anglers were still making their way down to the mouth of the Chocolay River to try for coho salmon and saw mixed results. Coho salmon continued to be caught from the Chocolay River mouth all the way up to the M-28 fishing pier. Brown trout were also reported to have been consistent. There were many fish, including steelhead, in both the Chocolay and Carp Rivers, however anglers reported the bite as finicky. Overall, spawn seemed to work best, with a few anglers catching fish on green spinners and blue/silver spoons as well.

Fishing tip: Why is fall fishing so great?

Many anglers will tell you that as fall rolls in the fishing gets better and better. But why is this?

There isn’t much formal research to answer that question, but several factors could be contributing to this influx of angling opportunities: forage availability, dropping water temperatures, fish movement, or oxygen availability.

Some say it could just be related to less fishing pressure and/or better angling techniques.

The bottom line is, if you don’t consider fall to be an ideal time to go fishing you may want to rethink that sentiment. Some of the biggest crappie, muskellunge, walleye and smallmouth bass can be found in the fall — don’t you want to experience that?

For more information on fishing in Michigan, visit michigan.gov/fishing.