This Michigan fishing report is provided by the guides of Indigo Guide Service of west Michigan.  Featuring trips on the Pere Marquette River, Manistee River, Little Manistee River, White River and Muskegon River, as well as summer Great Lakes flats trips in Ludington, Beaver Island, Traverse City and the Straights of Mackinaw.

For other Michigan fishing reports please visit the Indigo Guide Service’s fishing report page for a summary of the Pere Marquette River, Muskegon River and Manistee River.

Pere Marquette guide report for October 16, 2009.

Click here for a great looking single page version of this Michigan fishing report for the Pere Marquette River… perfect for a counter top or bulletin board.

Water Conditions — Temps in the 40’s, water levels and conditions are perfect.

Fishing Conditions — Spawning king salmon everywhere from Baldwin to Walhalla and steelhead and coho salmon in the lower PM River.  Best of all fishing pressure is very low.  This is a great time to swing some great big streamers for the kings, it is awesome to see a twenty pound buck rush forward to destroy a big bright fly.  Rumors have it that the steelhead fishing was hot earlier in the week on the North Ludington Pier, this should mean that there is a big push of fresh steelhead heading our way.

Tip — Many anglers are now using fluorocarbon leader for it’s benefits of low visibility and faster sink rate, many are also having knot troubles.  Recently I’ve been testing Feather-Craft fluorocarbon against my favorite brand for the last few years and I’m going to switch to the Feather-Craft.  It comes on a great spool with line keeper but best of all it takes a knot very well with no slip, a major problem with other brands of fluorocarbon.  Kevin Morlock

A spool of Feather-Craft fluorocarbon leader, salmon flies and fall leaves on the Pere Marquette River.

Along with great fluorocarbon leader, Feather-Craft of St. Louis has a great selection of other fly fishing supplies and gear.  They have a nice shop in St. Louis, a printed catalog and web site… click here to visit the Feather-Craft web site.

This PM River salmon slammed a huge purple marabou streamer first thing in the morning.

Bob who is pictured in the photo above with the PM River salmon that grabbed the big purple streamer that Bob had tied, lives in Oregon where he is really getting into West Coast steelheading with the two-handed spey rods.  The salmon was caught on Bob’s new custom C.F. Burkheimer spey rod that worked great for our Michigan salmon… it was a beautifully made rod and a great story of how Bob and his wife enjoyed choosing all of the options for the new spey rod.  Of note Bob is wearing a hat from The Fly Fishing Shop of Welches, Oregon… Bob cannot say enough good things about the folks at this shop.

Remember to check out past reports for (October 23rd, 2008, Good Steelhead at the Ludington Pier and PM River Mouth) tips, fly patterns and possibly an outlook of future fishing.

Barothy Lodge is the perfect place to spend your next Michigan fly fishing vacation, located in a great section of the legendary Pere Marquette River.  Barothy Lodge is also centrally located between the Manistee River and Muskegon River.

Ludington Michigan has much to offer any visitor, especially in the fall with the beautiful fall colors and great salmon and steelhead fishing.  Visit the Ludington Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (Ludington CVB) web site to learn more about our area.