Fishing Report

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! ~Steve...

The Muskegon River remains high. No major precipitation is forecasted in the near term so the river will slowly fall over the next several d...

The December sunshine was welcomed after a cold last week. The weekend storm raised the river considerably; clarity is tough as you head dow...

Dr. Westhouse joined me today for a much needed day away from it all chasing steelhead. Despite being below freezing all day the light winds...

Great start to the week with new friends Josh (above) and Bill (lower). Though accomplished fisherman, today would be their first time swing...

Brad and his wife Amy joined me for the past few days to swing flies for steelhead. As the case has been the last several years they’ve be...

Ol’man winter was surely teasing us today with gusty winds and driving snowflakes. Yes, it was chilly! Fortunately our steelhead have no i...

After having a few unplanned days off it was great to be back on the water with Kris today. The morning swing was anything but good for us t...

Kristine joined me today for another shot at fall chrome after early fall success in September. Nearing the end of the day with two terrific...

Finally felt like steelhead weather today on the Muskegon River. Cold northerly winds ran the river valley today making for some tricky cast...

Terrific group for the last three days from St. Louis. Due to COVID and a few other factors this trip was nearly 2.5 years in the making. Su...

Last couple days swinging flies has featured a tough grind for my boat. Eager fish haven’t required a lot of effort, but the rest, well, r...

When Don Graham retired as a long time RiverQuest fly fishing guide due to health challenges, the Muskegon River guide community lost one of...

We haven’t had too many forecasted all-day rains in a while so I shouldn’t complain too much. This being said, I was pleasantly happy wh...

Long time customer, Jennifer, wished to fish exclusively for steelhead today, which, of course, didn’t disappoint me! So fish hard she...

Felt great to be back in the swing of things today chasing chrome with the full two-handers. With the slow transition to the fall season I w...

First time fly rodders for steelhead and trout, 15 year old Sam and his Dad, Mark, attended a different kind of school today—one on the Mu...

Paul treated his friend and former colleague Steve to a day of guided fly fishing on the Muskegon River with me today. Since steelhead are c...

Jonathan and his son Matthew joined me today on the Muskegon River for their first fall steelhead and salmon fly fishing trip. Both avid fis...

Great day on the water with some new friends. Right spot, right time was key today and afforded both gentleman some quality opportunities at...

Finally felt like fall this morning with overnight low’s in the upper 30’s. Still no frost yet, but I’m not going to complain!  Steel...

The Newaygo Chamber of Commerce must have ordered a picture perfect weather forecast for today, including a request for cooperative steelhea...

All the way from Northville, Michigan, high school senior Nate brought this pretty early run steelhead to hand. After  losing another steel...

The Willet family is with us for a couple days for their annual fall Muskegon River fly fishing trip. Water flows are up after another bout ...

Finally, female Chinook salmon are getting serious about prepping their redds and getting on with their spawning chores. More salmon are in ...

Each year, for more years than I can remember, the McKay group has fly fished with us RiverQuest Charters guides. The guys love our fishery ...

Salmon fishing is slowly gaining momentum. Water temps are the root cause of the slow build into fall season as the river flow is a above av...

The heavens opened repeatedly on Muskegon River valley today as I guided two dear friends and former educational colleagues, Tom and Dave. T...

I love family fly fishing float trips, and today, Dick and son Doug and, of course, the salmon they hooked and landed made for a terrific ti...

I’m not sure how much luck Kris has left in her bag? A beautiful September Steelhead last week on her two-hander and today, one of the bes...

The 2021 Chinook salmon run is getting underway, and today long time customer Paul joined me to chase them with the fly rod. And chase we di...

September Steelhead are often hard to come by on the Muskegon River. Patience and a little bit of luck always help. Kris fishes with me ofte...

First time fly fisherman, first time using a trout Spey, first and only trout she’s ever caught…. Donna and Mike joined me today for the...

Some days fishing is easy, some days it‘s just a reward to be able to be out on the water! Today was definitely the latter of the two type...

The first day of Fall actually felt the part as cool air settled over the region finally. Fall colors and fishing are slowly starting to sho...

The Muskegon River is in great shape heading towards the fall season. Water temperatures are slowly falling in the 60’s with decent flows ...

Muskegon River smallmouth bass fishing was a little odd today in my boat. The river seemed to be void of fish in some areas while others wer...

Bill & Lisa-Marie joined me this morning for a quick half day smallmouth bass trip. Water conditions are back to normal and the smallmou...

The Muskegon River is on the rise and heavily silted from the numerous rounds of thunderstorms this week. Despite these tough dirty-water co...

Summer Smallmouth bass fishing has been “hot” this week. I can honestly say it might be some of the best top-water fly fishing for bass ...

Friend and long time customer Paul dusted off his fly casting stroke on an perfect Chamber of Commerce day on Michigan’s Muskegon Rive...

Swinging Iso nymphs off  trout Spey’s was the name of the game today and Jim and Gerry were rewarded with a terrific Muskegon River brown...

A smorgasbord of opportunities are available on the Muskegon River right now. Streamers, nymphs, and wet flies are all producing. The only m...

A significant cold front brought additional needed rain fall to the area last night. This will continue to help our river return to more nor...

Sorry for the lapse in reports! The Muskegon has been at near record low flows and has finally come up to make fishing a little easier…...

In my 26 years of guiding the Muskegon River I have never seen the river this low–it’s honestly shocking to see it like this. I honestly...

When a son hops a plane from his home in San Francisco to fish steelhead on the Muskegon River with his Dad and four of their friends, it...

The Muskegon River remains extremely low. This is the first time in my 26 years of guiding that I’ve ever seen it this low in the spring. ...

The Muskegon River is back to being extremely low after the river fell around 600cfs today. To say our steelhead were unhappy about it would...

Roger and Al have been with me for the last several days. We’ve known and fished together for well over 25 years. The river treated both R...

Meet Jim, who, along with his wife Mary, one day decided to check out fly fishing. A referral to RiverQuest from a Kalamazoo sport shop put ...

Good start to the week—some much needed rain fall fell over the weekend and gave the Muskegon a little extra water. I don’t expect this ...

My son Ryan is a journeyman machine builder for JR Automation Technology of Holland, Michigan and works with two other journeyman machine bu...

The Muskegon River continues to be extremely low for their time of year. Negotiating the river is causing consideration for area guides. I�...

“Some days are diamonds; some days are stones,” Dr. William Kamstra, Jenison High School Principal and my boss when I was an Ass...

What a day we had today—Dr. Scott and his Dad, Roger—with whom I served a number of years on the governing board of our church! Roger ha...

One of the best parts of a fly fishing guide’s time of the river is how some customers return year after year, resulting in ever deepe...

The Glaspie family joined Jay and I today for their first spring steelhead outing. High winds continue to be the common theme over the last ...

Spent the day with Kristine hoping the Mo’ would treat her a little more kindly than our past two outings. Thankfully, despite the howling...

Yes, spring steelhead are coursing Michigan’s Muskegon River, and yes, today was a bluebird, Chamber of Commerce kind of day. Yet, as ...

A little reminder that’s it’s still early spring as wet snowflakes and a stiff Northwest wind raced up and down the Muskegon River today...

Steelhead fishing on the Muskegon remains challenging—sure, there are a few more fish in the system, but combined with the ultra clear flo...

Beautiful weather is forecasted for the next few days. Certainly not “steelhead weather”, but it’s hard to complain about the vitamin ...

February days like today are pretty tough to complain about. Sunny skies, light wind, and afternoon temperatures in the mid 30’s made for ...

Merry Christmas! May all the joys of this happy season be yours this holiday season and into the New Year! Sincerely, Steve, Ryan, Jay, Tom,...

Tyler and his Dad, Jeff, have fly fished with me a number of times now, and Dad selflessly does everything he can for Tyler to hook the most...

Great finish to a shorty holiday week with the Martin Family. Jonathan and his three sons joined us for a quick steelhead trip before their ...

Pretty cool when Dad asks his three sons gathered for Thanksgiving, if they would like to chase some chrome on the Muskegon River with us at...

Peter and his son Peter joined me for their annual Spey fall steelhead trip on the Muskegon River. It couldn’t have possibly been a more b...

Tony and his daughter Kristen joined me the last two days to swing flies on the Muskegon River. I’ve fished with Tony a number of times ov...

It certainly felt seasonable today on the Muskegon River today swinging flies. The temperature hovered around 40 degrees most of the day, on...

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a stretch of November weather like this before. The 70 degree weather continues…. Judging by the kaya...

The Muskegon River is ultra-clear right now. Combine this with bright skies and near 70 degree weather and Steelhead fishing has been like h...

Last couple days swinging flies with the Stewart group has made for enjoyable days on the river but tough overall steelhead fishing. We’re...

Hannah and her brother, Jace, joined RiverQuest guide, Jay Allen, and me along with their dad and longtime family friend and business collea...

Much needed rain fell over the region today. It was not a nice photography day by any means… Jay and his crew from Houston TX were ple...

The old saw “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” must have been Nebraskans Byron and his son Alex’s mantra to...

The 2020 Chinook salmon run on Michigan’s Muskegon River is winding down, big time. Fewer and fewer may be seen with each passing day....

Nick and his wife Chelsey joined me on the Muskegon River today. While Nick has fished with me a number of times before, this trip was token...

Long-time guest and friend Jon Rudolph joined me today for one of his annual fall trips. The weather and fishing didn’t disappoint with a ...

Sheesh! What a day on Michigan’s Muskegon River today: gorgeous sunrise; then clouds; then sleet and hail; then lightning and thunder;...

Hoosier Kaden spent three days with his dad and friends in the McKay group with us fly fishing the Muskegon River for steelhead and Chinook ...

The McKay group is with us just as they have been for past nearly 20yrs this week in October. Always a group we look forward seeing each sea...

Early this year, John’s wife, Karen, called me to request a RiverQuest fly fishing trip gift certificate, which she wished to gift Joh...

Having fly fished with me for over 20 years, my dear friend and former colleague, Tom, had long hoped to get his son Trevor, who works in Wa...

Suzy and here sister Barb joined me for a fun filled day of good stories, laughter and some nice fly fishing on the Muskegon River. While we...

The fall Chinook salmon run continues to build on the Muskegon River. Nephew-in-law Travis hosted his long-time friend Jeff for whom the the...

The operational definition of a gracious host surely must be one who’s seeks the best for his or her guest, and especially so, when th...

Sunny skies and beautiful fall colors provided a pretty nice backdrop for Dr. Scott Westhouse and his father. Probing the dark water behind ...

One just has to love days like today on the river:  misty, moody fog as Paul and his daughter Jen and I pulled away from the boat launch; t...

Fall fishing on the Muskegon river is slowly coming along. Some Kings, some Coho, and some steelhead are available in relatively low numbers...

What’s not to love about this time of year on the river? The Russomanno group joined guide Bill Haagsma, Captain Steve Kuieck, and me ...

Today day marks the last official day of summer as Fall officially begins tomorrow. I had the opportunity to go fishing this morning persona...

Cooler weather (at least nights) look to have us slowly transitioning away from summer fly fishing. The river temperature in the Big Rapids ...

Longtime customers and friends, Pat and Terry, and I enjoyed a simply wonderful day on the Muskegon River yesterday. No, the smallmouth were...

The Muskegon River continued to fish very well this week for smallmouth bass. No matter which section we fished it produced about the same�...

Smallmouth bass fishing on the Muskegon River is very good right now. Thankfully this warm summer weather favors these fun river fish. Bill ...

Kristine has been itching to get back on the river for some top-water smallmouth bass fishing but the oppressive heat kept us hopeful for a ...

The last time Jake and I fished together was in 2018. We and four families spent a couple weeks taking in all that Yellowstone Park could of...

A sense of “normal” probably bests describes my day today. Joining me today was long-time guest and friend Dr. Chad Afman and his father...

Steelhead fishing on the Muskegon is done for the season. Sure there are, and will be, a few stragglers left but for all intensive purposes ...

Michigan DNR is not requiring the recommendations of MUCC “safe return to work practices.Link Here. For the time being we will be discoura...

Statewide, trout season opens today. Traditionally this “holiday” means a lot to many across the State of Michigan as rivers that have b...

It was great escape to the river today with my son Zach and his soccer buddy Bryson and his dad Corey. Though we couldn’t escape the const...

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John and his son Johnny kicked off sons spring break from Wake Forest law school chasing spring steelhead. While I’m sure there was plenty...

I’m honestly not disappointed that I didn’t have to shovel snow out of my boat all day today one bit. The forecasted snow storm shifted ...

When we started our day we were anticipating a significant winter storm tomorrow. Now it looks like a false alarm? Who knows really….....

“Unusual” would is the only way to describe this winter’s weather. High water, mostly from rain events, and some family vacation time ...

Wishing you a very merry Christmas filled with fun and laughter, and very best wishes for a fabulous New Year! Steve, Ryan, Tom, Don, Jay, &...

Tranquil weather has not been the theme lately, at least for any length of time. Yesterday was truly a rare day with decent temperatures and...

When I first spoke to Dr. Milan he mentioned he had finally purchased a proper two-handed rod to swing for steelhead on the Muskegon River. ...

I’ve been reluctant to start using the word “winter” in my posts mostly cause I really haven’t been ready, but I think it’s time. ...

Nebraskan Byron told me at the outset of his two days of fly fishing with me that although he had fly fished for steelhead on most of the st...

With the bilge pumps whirring again and again throughout the day, avid steelheader and Nebraskan, Byron, pressed on with nary a whimper as w...

Long-time guest and friend Bill Sidor and his college buddy Dave Hartley joined me for their annual fall steelhead trip today on the Muskego...

I can’t exactly explain the fishing over the last three days. It’s been a tough swing, plain and simple. The fish have been willing, but...

Flat-out gorgeous, but 17 degrees chilly, the Muskegon River valley, draped in new fallen snow, today shared its steelhead bounty with long ...

Crazy fall, warm and wet, now winter? Looks like Ol’ man winter is going to stick around for a while too. Don and his wife Wendy are here ...

Not many words necessary to sum up Logan’s satisfaction. Congratulations! The weather looks to dry out by mid-week, hopefully we can shed ...