The 2011 fishing season is about to begin in Saugatuck. We are planning on getting the boat in some time this week and the report is that the fishing has been very good. People fishing off the pier have been doing very well with CoHo, Steelhead and Brown Trout hitting spawn and lures like Little Cleos. Trollers off the Saugatuck piers are also catching Brown Trout and CoHo using small stick baits, and small Hot n Tots pulled behing boards and small stinger lures on the down riggers and dipsy divers. If you are planning on trolling, I would troll south toward South Haven since the hottest fishing is in the southern part of Lake Michigan. St. Joe, Michigan City and the southern ports are reporting limit catches of CoHo but with the water warming the fishing should become more active to the north.
I tried to contact the charter captains that are fishing the Kalamazoo and St. Joe Rivers for steelhead, however no one returned my calls. Reports are that they are catching steelhead in both rivers and the run has been much better than last year.
If you want to try perch fishing, Fish On Bait Shop in Spring Lake reports that the perch bite is hot on the Grand River at the bridges. The best bait are minnows and leeches.