As winter begins to loosen its grip, it’s time to check your gear and plan a steelhead trip to one of Michigan’s many streams that host the anadromous rainbows. Rivers that get good summer and fall runs of steelhead are the best bets for late winter and early spring outings. Last year, the fall run was below par, so fishing was tough until spring arrived.

Michigan angler Larry Keller caught a big steelhead at Fish Creek. Photo by Jim Bedford.

We will zigzag our way north describing the best winter steelhead streams in the approximate order that their runs peak. While concentrating on winter fisheries, we will also give information on where to try when all the snow and ice melts. Tips on catching the silvery rainbows in frigid water will be provided as well.

SOUTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN STREAMS
The St. Joseph River in the southwest corner of the state is one of our premier winter steelhead venues. It is stocked with both summer and Little Manistee-strain steelhead with Indiana contributing all the summer-run fish and part of the others. While some summer fish quickly run all the way to South Bend, many remain in Michigan waters. The reach below the Berrien Springs Dam is the best for winter steelheading. This is the first obstacle for the fish up from Lake Michigan, and water never freezes near the dam. How many miles below the dam you can fish may be dictated by the weather. Wading is possible but limited to near the dam, so a boat is a better option. There is a public launch at Shamrock Park in Berrien Springs and several more farther downstream if lack of river ice allows their use.

Moving upstream toward Indiana, the dams at Buchanan and Niles keep the river open below them and concentrate steelhead. Similarly to below Berrien Springs you can do some wading, but a boat is better. The Dowagiac River, just north of Niles, can have good numbers of winter steelhead and is wadeable but large enough to float in a small boat or canoe. A low-head dam, about three miles upstream from the St. Joe, keeps steelhead in the lower part of the river.

Winter steelheading on the Kalamazoo River is focused below the Allegan Dam in central Allegan County. You can bank-fish at the dam, but launching a boat from the ramp below the spillway helps you cover a lot more water. The river stays ice-free for several miles below the dam. The area below the juncture of Swan Creek, about a mile below the dam, is a good section to concentrate if the fishing is slow near the dam. If the recent weather has been mild, you will likely find good numbers of steelhead where the Rabbit River joins the Kalamazoo about halfway between Allegan Dam and Lake Michigan. Both rivers freeze here when the weather is frigid. During high water falls, there are fishable numbers of winter steelhead in the Rabbit, but it is a better spring fishery with the best fishing in Hamilton and about five miles west of Wayland.