UTERJanuary
Green Bay ice: walleye, perch, whitefish and pike
Tip-ups and jigging spoons off Bayshore and the Bays de Noc; winter steelhead in the Manistee and St. Joe.
Chicago to the Straits, Green Bay to Grand Traverse Bay
Lake Michigan fishing
What's biting in Lake Michigan in October: Coho (silver) salmon, steelhead and walleye at their peak, with Chinook (king) salmon, smallmouth bass and yellow perch around too. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows 12 fish here month by month, from Chicago to Green Bay.
Tail of the run; browns and steelhead follow; Green Bay muskie
The salmon lake: open water to 900 feet with kings and coho over the thermocline, the river mouths and pier heads of Michigan's west coast where the runs stage, the shallow southern end where the spring coho come in, and Green Bay — a walleye, pike, muskie, perch and whitefish fishery all its own.
ChicagoMichigan CitySt. JosephLudingtonManisteeMilwaukeeSturgeon BayGreen Bay
Updated
Now · October
Tail of the run; browns and steelhead follow; Green Bay muskie
Steelhead behind the salmon; big browns in the harbors; Green Bay's trophy muskie season.
Coho (silver) salmonSteelheadWalleyeLake trout (mackinaw, togue)Brown troutMuskellunge (muskie)
This month here
From the season calendar, best firstSpawningPeakPeakPeakPeakSpawningSpawningLeavingAroundAroundAroundAround
Coho (silver) salmon
Steelhead
Fall fish follow the salmon in
Walleye
Northern pike
Muskellunge (muskie)
Brown trout
Lake trout (mackinaw, togue)
Chinook (king) salmon
Tail of the run in the rivers
Smallmouth bass
Yellow perch
Lake whitefish
Common carp
The water
Structure that matters
LakeFishing pierRiverBoat rampCreek / streamBridge
After a cold front
A west wind blows the warm surface water offshore on the Michigan side and brings cold water and salmon right to the pier heads; an east wind does the same for Wisconsin. Read the surface temperature, not the forecast.
Month by month
What's happening, and what to throwFebruary
Ice fishing peaks on the bays; coho may show off Indiana
Walleye at dusk on Green Bay; shore-cast the Indiana warm-water discharges if the lake is open.
March
Spring coho on the southern shore; steelhead run the rivers
Michigan City, Portage and the Chicago harbors — spawn and nightcrawlers under a float. Fox River walleye run.
April
Coho and browns nearshore; peak steelhead run
Troll shallow along the Illinois and Indiana shore; drift spawn in the Michigan rivers.
May
Kings show in the south; smallmouth stack in Door County
Troll the spring kings off St. Joseph and Grand Haven; Sturgeon Bay smallies pre-spawn — catch-and-release early season.
June
Smallmouth on the beds; perch on the piers; salmon go offshore
Door County and Grand Traverse Bay smallies; perch from the southern piers; follow the temperature breaks for salmon.
July
Offshore kings and Skamania steelhead
Spoons and flasher-flies on downriggers over the thermocline; Skamania summer steelhead in Trail Creek.
August
Kings staging off the pier heads
Ludington, Manistee, Frankfort — glow spoons at first light near the mouths.
September
The salmon run
Chinook (king) salmonCoho (silver) salmonYellow perchSmallmouth bassMuskellunge (muskie)Northern pike
Pere Marquette, Big Manistee, the Root and the Kewaunee — skein and spawn, flies in the flies-only water.
October · now
Tail of the run; browns and steelhead follow; Green Bay muskie
Steelhead behind the salmon; big browns in the harbors; Green Bay's trophy muskie season.
November
Fall steelhead, browns on the piers, whitefish run
Spawn bags in the river pools; whitefish into the Menominee and the harbors.
December
Winter steelhead and the first bay ice
Manistee and Muskegon steelhead on mild days; wait for safe ice on Green Bay.
Fish guides for Lake Michigan
When, where and what to use, fish by fishBrown troutChinook (king) salmonCoho (silver) salmonCommon carpLake trout (mackinaw, togue)Lake whitefishMuskellunge (muskie)Northern pikeSmallmouth bassSteelheadWalleyeYellow perch
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