Captain Ed Stowe of Stowaway Charters reports from Ludington:
The boat is back in the water and ready for another great season. Spring is early this year and shaping up to be a good year for fishing. I don’t know where they came from but the Brown trout fishery is better this year than it has been in the last ten years. The browns are plentiful,(compared to most years), hungry, and are running from 3 to 12 lbs. We are also catching Steelhead and a lot of Lake Trout. The Lake Trout are not legal to keep until May 1. We are fishing the nearshore waters and in front of the rivermouths. Anywhere there is a small creek running into Lake Michigan is a good bet for Browns. Rapalas, Rebels, YoZuris, Smithwicks as well as SuperSlims and Yeck Fireballs and Yeck Pearlies are all working. We are taking an occasional Chinook salmon with reports of boats taking 5 to 10 salmon last weekend. Glad to be back in the water. Good Fishin….Capt Ed

Fishing Report from Capt. Steve Hamilton First Class Charters, Manistee, MI

Brown Trout fishing has been better this season than past years. Nice
catches of Browns being caught in shallow water, 3 to 6 ft., out to about 20
ft. This is both north and south of the piers along the shoreline. Also some
nice silver salmon caught in the last few days right in front of the harbor
of Manistee. Boats using planer boards and body baits and spoons.
Also a mixture of perch, salmon and browns being caught on the piers.Pier
fishermen using wax worms and wigglers.

Brown fishing has been good. We fished north of Ludington yesterday, but the boats fishing south by the Project had better action. Most of the fish were taken in water 8 to 15 feet deep using stick baits. Our biggest Brown came on a 4DW Orange & Green tip spoon ran on a 1 color core. The hot colors on the stick baits were Blue & Chrome and Black & Gold. The water north of the Point was very muddy and did not produce the action we are accustomed to when fishing that area. Our King came on a Blue & Chrome H10 Rapala ran on a flat line off the back of the boat.

Rough water and high winds have limited fishing this past week, however there were some nice fish caught when you could get out. The action was not fast and furious, however boats reported catching some Chinook salmon weighing 14 to 16 pounds. The best reports have come from boats fishing in 40 to 45 foot of water between Holland and Port Sheldon and off of Half Way Creek north of Saugatuck. In these areas boats are taking Coho, Brown Trout, Steelhead and an occasional Lake Trout and Chinook salmon. There are also reports of very good perch catches off the Grand Haven piers and a few perch being caught off the Holland piers. There are some Steelhead being caught in the Kalamazoo River and as the river level declines this fishing should improve.

For fishing information or to make a charter request, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.

More and more boats are getting ready to start fishing for the season in Manistee, this some what warmer Spring like weather has put anglers in the mood to get out and go fishing.

Fishing on Lake Michigan has been good close in for Brown Trout, shallow water right on the shore line and also a few steelhead and browns being caught in the Harbor.

The fishing on the beach has been good both north and south of the piers.A few reports of a few steelhead being caught in Manistee River. Fisherman are also doing some pier fishing.

Pam and Steve Hamilton
First Class Charters Manistee, Michigan

The boat will be in the water on Monday so the 2010 fishing season will officially start for us. Fishing has slowed down for the brown trout and steelhead the last week or so because of the storms and runoff during this time. Water visibility is very low and a lot of sand and mud in the water. There are some fish (browns and coho) being caught in 30 to 40 foot of water however the action is slow. With the high water flow in the river, we should see a increase in the steelhead fishing as the water clears.

Check back next week to see what is happening out on the big lake. For information or to make a charter reservation, email me at captron@chartermichigan.com.