Indiana’s Oct. 1 sheet: St. Joseph steelhead moving, kings still staging

Northwest Indiana’s fall salmonids are showing, not flooding. The Department of Natural Resources fishing report dated Oct. 1, 2026, says cooler weather and rain have the steelhead run going on the St. Joseph River below Twin Branch Dam, with a decent number of steelhead and a few coho. Spinners, spoons, plugs, and float spawn are the suggested tools. Smallmouth are still a bet on crankbaits, jerkbaits, Ned rigs, and low-light topwater before they slide toward winter holes. The South Bend fish-passage dashboard is working again after earlier technical trouble.

Lake Michigan boat effort has been light, but a few crews reported staging kings with coho mixed in. Cold water near shore helped. The report points at East Chicago and the shipping canal, the Port of Indiana and Burns Ditch, and the mouth of Trail Creek, on J-plugs, mag spoons, and meat rigs at dawn and dusk. A couple of boats caught immature salmon outside 110 feet, trolling the top 40 feet. The Michigan City buoy is deployed for the season.

Shore fishing is hit or miss: a few coho and kings at night, some kings in East Chicago harbor, and a few fish at Portage and Michigan City on glow spoons, rattling crankbaits, or skein under a bobber. Trail Creek, the Little Calumet, and Salt Creek have coho, kings, and steelhead, but a large run has not materialized. The same day’s Lake Monroe note still has warm surface water and bass pushed shallow by low oxygen near the dam, with crappie and channel catfish in the mix. This salmon sheet is separate from the fall channel-catfish stocking plan already on the desk.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Indiana DNR — Fishing reports (St. Joseph River, Lake Michigan, tributaries, and Lake Monroe entries dated Oct. 1, 2026).