Southwest Michigan Fishing Report (April)

4/11/06:  I tried my hand at some crappie fishing in Paw Paw Lake today.  The bait store didn't have any minnows so I had to resort to wax worms.  I only caught two small crappie and numerous blue gill.  I really needed minnows to catch quality crappie.  The water temp was only 49 degrees in the main lake and 53 in the cannels.

4/9/06:  My father and caught a nice male steelhead out of the Galien River today.  My father caught it on a spawn bag.


4/3/06:  A friend an I went steelhead fishing today and we absolutly slammed them.  We caught 5 steelhead on egg flies, and 2 walleye as well.  There seemed to be a lot of fresh steelhead moving into the Galien River today.  The fishing should get better every day. 

Southwest Michigan Fishing Report (March)


3/28/06:  More walleye and steelhead have moved into the Galien River.  I caught 6 walleye tonight and my biggest was 8.1 lbs.  I also landed a female steelhead, man she faught like crazy.

3/27/06:  I had an amazing time on the Galien River yesterday evening.  I caught 5 great 5-7 lb Walleye and 2 steelhead.  I caught them all on a black stone fly.  All released!!!!

3/25/06:  The steelhead have started working their way up the Galien River.  I caught one steelhead on an egg fly.  I also caught two bonus walleye using a black stone fly.  One walleye was 27 in long. 

3/23/06:  I fished the Benton stretch of the St. Joe River today and had fearly good success.  The water temp was 43 degrees in the main river and 44 in the back water.  A lot of logs were floating down the river so be careful running. 

Also I visited the Galien River and the water has cleared up.  The river is full of suckers and a few steelhead.   The majority of the steelhead have not ran yet..... I hope.

3/11/06:  I went to Magician Lake jigging for walleye and caught a few small fish.  The water tempurature was a steaming 40.5 degrees and ultra clear.  Make sure you use 6 lb Gamma  Edge fluorocarbon to maximize your bite potential.  My fish were caught in 20-25 ft of water on a silver buddy. 

3/9/06:  I fished the St. Joe River for an hour tonight and caught multiple species of fish.  Steelhead were storming the river.  The warm rain caused a bunch of fish to come into the river to spawn.  The water Temp was 45.8 degrees in the main river and the same in the back water.  The river was high and muddy though so be careful.

3/4/2006:  I went steelhead fishing in the Galien River and had some success.  I caught one 20 in steelhead on a orange egg fly and had another break off in a log jam.  I suspect the steelhead will start moving into the river to spawn this weekend after we get the warm rain the weather man predicted.   A also noticed a lot of suckers in the river.  Nothing was shallow, look into deeper holes nect to log jams. 

Good Luck!!

*Bass fishing reports will start on April 29.