UTERThe best time to fish Lake Michigan is July through September for king salmon: offshore over the thermocline in July, staging off the pier heads in August, and running the rivers in September. Every season has its own fishery, though. Spring brings coho off the southern shore and the steelhead run, summer brings perch on the southern piers and smallmouth in Door County, and winter puts walleye, perch and whitefish under the ice on Green Bay.
Lake Michigan is the salmon lake: open water down to 900 feet, with Michigan's west-coast river mouths and pier heads where the runs stage, a shallow southern end where the spring coho arrive, and Green Bay, a walleye, pike, muskie and perch fishery of its own. This guide covers all of Lake Michigan, Chicago to the Straits, and the months come from the Lake Michigan page of Fish Scouter's season calendar.
Lake Michigan fishing calendar at a glance
| Month | Headline | Top targets |
|---|---|---|
| January | Green Bay ice; winter steelhead in the rivers | Walleye, perch, whitefish, pike, steelhead |
| February | Ice peaks; coho may show off Indiana | Walleye, perch, lake trout, steelhead |
| March | Spring coho on the southern shore; steelhead run | Coho, steelhead, walleye, browns |
| April | Coho and browns nearshore; peak steelhead | Coho, steelhead, browns, lake trout |
| May | Kings show in the south; Door County smallmouth | Chinook, coho, lake trout, smallmouth |
| June | Smallmouth on beds; salmon go offshore | Chinook, smallmouth, lake trout, carp |
| July | Offshore kings; Skamania steelhead; pier perch | Chinook, lake trout, perch, steelhead |
| August | Kings staging off the pier heads | Chinook, lake trout, perch |
| September | The salmon run | Chinook, coho, perch, muskie |
| October | Tail of the run; browns and steelhead follow | Steelhead, browns, coho, muskie |
| November | Fall steelhead; whitefish run | Steelhead, browns, whitefish, muskie |
| December | Winter steelhead; first bay ice | Steelhead, whitefish, pike |
Winter: December to February
Once Green Bay and the Bays de Noc freeze, they turn into one of the Midwest's best ice fisheries. Walleye bite at dusk on jigging spoons and tip-ups, perch on small spoons and wax worms, whitefish on jigging spoons, and pike on tip-ups with big shiners. Lake trout come through the ice on Grand Traverse Bay in February. Ice conditions change daily. Never trust ice you haven't checked, and stay off the bay in a thaw or a strong wind.
In the rivers, winter steelhead hold in the slow, deep pools of the Manistee, the Muskegon and the St. Joseph. Drift spawn bags or beads on mild days. In February, if the lake is open, the first spring coho can show off the Indiana shore near the warm-water discharges.
Spring: March to May
March and April: coho and the steelhead run
The southern end of the lake warms first, and coho collect off Michigan City, Portage and the warm-water discharges in March. Then they move into the Illinois harbors in April. This is the best shore fishing of the year for salmon. Fish spawn sacs or nightcrawlers under a float, or cast small spoons, from the piers and breakwalls. Small boats troll shallow along the Illinois and Indiana shore for coho and brown trout.
The spring steelhead run peaks in March and April on most Michigan and Wisconsin rivers. Drift spawn or beads through the runs and pools, or swing flies. On Green Bay, the walleye run up the Fox River at De Pere in March. Our Great Lakes steelhead and salmon runs guide covers the rivers in more detail.
May: kings in the south and Door County smallmouth
Spring kings show off the southern ports, St. Joseph and Grand Haven, and trollers find them on spoons and flasher-flies in the warmer water near shore. Lake trout feed on the mid-lake reefs. In Door County and Sturgeon Bay, pre-spawn smallmouth push up onto the rocky flats. Some of the biggest smallmouth in the country live here. Wisconsin's early season is catch-and-release, so check the current rule with Wisconsin DNR.
Summer: June to August
June
Smallmouth go on the beds in Door County and Grand Traverse Bay. Sight-fishing them in clear water is one of the best things you can do on the lake. As the surface warms, the salmon move offshore. Follow the temperature breaks rather than the shoreline. Carp cruise the clear flats of Grand Traverse Bay and Door County, where fly anglers sight-cast to them.
July: offshore kings
Kings feed hard over the thermocline, the layer where warm surface water meets the cold water below. Trollers run spoons and flasher-flies on downriggers and diving planers set at the thermocline depth, often 50 to 100 feet down and several miles out. Skamania (summer-run) steelhead come into Indiana's Trail Creek and the St. Joseph River. Perch fishing gets going off the Chicago and Indiana piers.
August: staging off the pier heads
Kings start to gather off the river mouths and pier heads at Ludington, Manistee and Frankfort before their run. Glow spoons and plugs at first light near the mouths catch fish, and pier anglers get their best salmon chance of the year casting spoons at dawn. Perch fishing peaks from the southern piers.
Fall: September to November
September: the run
King salmon run up the Pere Marquette, the Big Manistee, the Manistee, Wisconsin's Root River and the Kewaunee, and coho run with them. River anglers drift spawn, skein and flies. Some stretches are flies-only. Salmon die after they spawn, so the run ends the season for them. On Green Bay, fall muskie season starts.
October and November
The run tails off in October, and steelhead and big browns follow the salmon into the rivers and harbors to eat their eggs. In November the fall steelhead fishing gets going. Drift spawn bags through the river pools. Whitefish run into the Menominee River and the harbors to spawn. Green Bay's trophy muskie fishing peaks in late fall, but the water is cold, the weather is rough, and it's a big-boat fishery.
Wind, upwelling and water temperature
Lake Michigan has no tide, so wind and surface temperature drive the fishing. A west wind blows warm surface water away from the Michigan shore and pulls up cold water close in, which brings salmon right to the pier heads. An east wind does the same on the Wisconsin side. That's why one coast can be cold and on fire while the other is warm and dead. Read the surface temperature, not just the forecast. Fish Scouter reads it from NOAA's Great Lakes satellite water temperature for your spot.
Pier heads and breakwalls are dangerous in waves. Big waves on Lake Michigan come up fast, and people are washed off piers every year. Stay off the pier when the waves are breaking over it. Our wind and fishing guide covers reading wind direction.
Rules
Lake Michigan touches four states. Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana each license and set limits for their own waters, and the salmon, trout, perch and smallmouth rules differ between them. Check the DNR for the shore you're fishing, and read the river rules separately from the lake's.
Find the cold water before you launch
Fish Scouter combines this calendar with NOAA's Great Lakes surface temperature for your spot, river flow from the nearest USGS gauge, pressure, wind, the dawn and dusk windows and the solunar table, and ranks every species for where you're standing, with the reasons in plain words. We think it's the best fishing app for picking which side of Lake Michigan to fish this week. Try Fish Scouter free.