Traverse City shop: fewer salmon and more steelhead on the Lower Manistee

Northern Lower Michigan’s rivers are changing over from salmon to steelhead. The Northern Angler fly shop in Traverse City posted an Oct. 16, 2026, report after a week of cooler temperatures and rain. On the Lower Manistee, the shop says it is seeing fewer salmon and more steelhead every day, with fresh fish pushing in and stacking behind salmon on spawning runs. Egg patterns and beads are the main approach around spawning water and in deeper runs and holes. Streamers and egg-sucking leeches are the other tools listed. Cloudy days, the shop says, can start the bite at any hour.

The Betsie is described as a walk-and-wade river where the crowds should thin as the salmon decline. The note tells anglers to leave actively spawning salmon alone and to remember the river’s special regulations. On the Platte, wade anglers are fishing fish that have just left the lake, with early and late day as the windows. The Boardman is the close-to-town option, with parks and a boardwalk on the downtown water. Trout water still open, the shop says, runs from Beitner Bridge down to Boardman Lake. Upstream of Beitner/Keystone Road, the Boardman is closed to fishing from Oct. 1 through the last Saturday in April 2027. The shop says special regulations still apply on the water that remains open, and to check the current Michigan DNR rules.

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

Source: The Northern Angler — Northern Michigan fishing report, Oct. 16, 2026.