10/20/2008
It has been 3 weeks since the last fishing report and in that time the boat has been pulled out of the water for the season and the status of the fishing has changed very little. The "fall run" has really never materialized in the Kalamazoo River and the reports from the Grand and St. Joe are similar. There are still some fairly good fishing in the 130 to 140 foot of water and also out in 180 to 200 foot. The Lake Trout season is now closed, however there are some 3 and 2 year old salmon in the 140 foot depth and steelhead and salmon out in the 200 foot depth. Boats fishing the 140 FOW are using flashers and flies 50 to 80 foot down and stingray and stinger lures on 300, 200 and 100 foot of copper (or equivalent lead core). Off shore in the 200 FOW the steelhead are being caught on stingray and stinger lures on divers and 100 and 200 foot of copper.
The report of fishing in the river is not very good at this time. Tony Walte of Frostbite Charters reports that the Chinook fishing in the Kalamazoo and St. Joe river is very slow with 1 - 3 fish being caught per trip. The steelhead have not shown up in any numbers as of this past weekend and the fishing at the Allegan dam has been slow the last couple of weeks. Report are that the chinook returns at the weirs on the Platte and Manistee rivers was also very light.
What has happened to the run? I do not know, however a few years ago we had warm water in the lake and the run did not materialize until the end of Oct. or the first part of Nov. We will have to see if this is the trend this year. Check back and I will update the report as soon as I get any new reports. You can contact me at captron@chartermichigan.com.