MARQUETTE – With the last days of September approaching, there are still great opportunities ahead for fall trout and salmon fishing.

While the general trout season is winding down to its Sept. 30 final day on most rivers, fall salmon and some trout fishing at river mouths and on certain stretches of tributaries to Lake Superior and Lake Michigan is heating up.

“Salmon will start getting near shore by the end of September,” said George Madison, fisheries manager for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in Baraga. “That’s a rule of thumb.”

Anglers fishing for coho or chinook salmon are known to begin congregating near the mouths of the Dead, Chocolay and Carp rivers in Marquette County, the Falls River in Baraga County and the Anna and AuTrain rivers in Alger County, and others during these late September days.

Those anglers often drift spawn bags and worms or use spoons, spinners and other lures to catch those lake fish set for their river spawning runs up into the tributaries, which occurs primarily in October.

Some streams, like the Dead River and the Laughing Whitefish River in Alger County, also see a few pink salmon in fall spawning runs.

Madison said when the fish congregate near the river mouths, this is when the quality of the fish being caught is at its best.

“The fishing is good through the third week of October,” Madison said. “Early on, the flesh is quite palatable, but into October, they lose their firmness.”

Once the fish move upstream toward graveled spawning areas, anglers concentrate on deeper holes where salmon can hold. Anglers continue to catch fish with spawn and baits, but some salmon can lose their tendency to feed once into the spawning mode.

Madison said past the third week in October, most salmon have spawned and begin to turn dark color before they die.

Unlike some downstate rivers known for their fantastic steelhead (lake run rainbow trout) fishing during fall spawning, the Upper Peninsula doesn’t generally have the same experience for anglers, with not as many streams being deep enough to hold the steelhead throughout the winter, Madison said.

Some deeper streams, like the Chocolay River and others, do get some fall steelhead. However, more prominent for fall trout in U.P. stream runs are brown trout.

“Some of them will come in when the salmon come in,” Madison said.

Like salmon, fall rain storms may trigger brown trout movements up into area streams. In regard to brook trout, they are also getting ready to spawn and the inland waters anglers still have a few days to hit some streams before the season ends.

Madison said that at this time of year, a lot of outdoors enthusiasts have turned their thinking toward fall hunting seasons and the end of summer, so early fall days often have less fishing pressure on streams from trout anglers.

Male brook trout began to show their pre-spawning brightened orange and red coloring by late August and female brook trout are packed with eggs.

“Those pre-spawn males are very beautiful fish,” Madison said.

With the additional draws of fall coloring of the leaves and the opportunity to scout hunting areas, that only adds to the splendor of fall fishing.

“Often, that is the best time of the year to fish,” Madison said.

Brook trout, which have been dispersed throughout streams during the spring and summer months, begin to stage in places downstream of spawning riffles.

Madison said the better than average precipitation over the past several months has worked to improve the condition of trout streams in the region.

“The rivers are looking better this year than I’ve seen them in a long time,” Madison said.

The DNR has been doing inland creel surveys this year, talking with anglers about what draws them to fish certain streams. Madison said one of the most common answers to that question is that anglers know those streams well.

Madison suggested anglers contact the DNR for advice on additional fishing locations as many rivers and creeks in the area see little fishing pressure.

“We’ve got a lot of good streams across the U.P. to get out and try something new,” Madison said.

Fishing information is also available on the DNR’s website at michigan.gov/dnr

John Pepin can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206.