Captain Gary from Troutscout Charters – Manistee, Michigan reports:

The fishing still remains good, we are catching adult kings in the 15# class range and young kings up to 10# class and some nice sized steelhead.

The Manistee river fishing has been good for kings and it should be a great for steelhead this fall.

Capt. Dan Tebo, of D’Ann Marie Charters in Grand Haven, reports:

Fish have been fishing offshore this week. We have been in 240 ft. to 300 ft. of water, and fishing the top 50 ft. We are getting some very nice catches of Steelhead, Kings, and Cohos.

We are hoping for good weather this weekend for our annual Slammin’ Salmon Fest in Grand Haven.

We will be having a huge fish boil on Friday evening (open to the public). On Saturday, we will have lots of fun things to do all along the boardwalk

Fishing for the 4 year old kings seems to be about over. The good news is the abundance of smaller fish (Kings, steelhead, coho, and lake trout). These fish are very aggressive and will bite any time of the day. This is a normal fall fishery with all fish being caught on spoons from the surface down to 100 feet, anywhere from 130 to 280 feet of water. Catches for the last three trips were 21, 28, and 26 fish/trip.

Captain George Freeman of Free Style Charters reports from Ludington, Michigan

We fished south of Ludington today. My last few trips I’ve gone north hoping to catch some big four year old Kings. We have caught some, but not as many as we would like. The shallow water (40 – 50 feet) is holding a lot of fish, but the water is warm and the fish are biting for a very short period of time right at daybreak and at dark. If you don’t get them then it can be a long day.

Captain Ron Westrate reports from Southern Lake Michigan – Saugatuck – Cohooker Charters
There are a few 4 year olds in front the piers and a person can catch a few, however there still is not a large concentration showing up. There are also reports of decent catches of salmon in the Kalamazoo River by floating spawn into the holes. However the most consistent catches of salmon (2, 3 and a few 4 year olds) occur in the 60 to 120 foot of water and in the 140 to 160 foot depth. There are also some boats fishing 260 to 300 foot of water and reporting some good steelhead catches.

Manistee area resident Tom Healy caught the 41-pound, 7.25 ounce monster on a crankbait while fishing the Manistee River. It is the new record hold for Michigan. Upon the second weighing with the scales leveled, the weight was determined to be 1 pound, .75 ounces heavier than originally determined. The fish was 43.75 inches long.

The fish is 1 pound, 3.25 ounces heavier than the reigning world record German brown trout, a 40-pound, 4-ounce fish caught in Arkansas in 1992 by Howard “Rip” Collins who used an ultralight rod and 4-pound test line to catch that fish. Healy will have to apply for certification to be declared the world record holder.
The state record German brown trout until today weighed 36.81 pounds and was caught in Lake Michigan in Benzie County in 2007. The next three places in the state record books were held by Lake Michigan browns caught in Manistee.