Virtually all of Michigan’s steelhead spawn in the spring, but not all of them wait until spring to run up our Great Lakes tributaries. In a few streams, there will be summer-run steelhead that entered their stocked or natal river last summer. A much larger group will migrate upstream in the fall and spend the winter in the river waiting for springtime procreation.

Steelhead remain active all winter despite river water temperatures that are typically in the low 30s. Stronger fall runs tend to occur in the larger, heavily stocked rivers and in the streams that have good natural reproduction of steelhead. River ice can be a concern in some tributaries, but even during cold spells you can still find open water.

At press time, there was no way to know for sure how the steelhead run would be this season, but Jim Dexter, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ chief Lake Michigan fisheries biologist, told me that there were good numbers of steelhead in the lake and they appeared to be healthy. Charter boat captain Bill Bale echoed Dexter’s comments, saying they had encountered many large, deep-bodied steelhead on their forays over the summer.

Our Lower Peninsula provides the best opportunities for winter steelhead. We will make a clockwise swing around the southern half of the state, highlighting the top winter steelhead rivers.

ST. JOSEPH RIVER
Perhaps our best winter steelhead river flows into Lake Michigan in the southwest corner of the state at Benton Harbor. The St. Joseph River is shared with Indiana, and both states stock high numbers of winter steelhead smolts. Indiana also stocks summer steelhead in the river, almost guaranteeing that fish will be present in the winter because many of these fish linger in the Michigan part of the river until spring.

The first dam up from Lake Michigan is located in Berrien Springs, and the reach below this dam is a prime one for winter steelhead. The river is always ice-free below the dam for several miles. While the river is best fished from a boat, there is an area for wading anglers below the dam on the west side of the river. You can launch a boat at Shamrock Park in Berrien Springs or at downstream ramps at Benton Township, Riverview and Corrunde Parks. The lower ramps may be iced over during especially cold weather.

Farther upstream there will also be steelhead present below the Niles and Buchanan Dams in towns of the same name. A boat is still the best plan, but it is possible to do some wading below each dam. If you prefer a smaller river, there are usually some winter steelies in the Dowagiac River. This good-sized tributary joins the mainstream near Niles and a low-head dam on it keeps the steelhead in its lower two miles. You can easily wade the Dowagiac at normal winter flows.

KALAMAZOO RIVER
The Kalamazoo River flows into Lake Michigan at Saugatuck and can produce good steelhead fishing in the winter. The focus of its fishery is the Allegan Dam, west of the town of the same name. The dam concentrates the steelhead and ensures open water all winter. There is limited bank-fishing right at the dam, and you can launch a boat just below the dam. Usually there will be several miles of open water below the dam, and fishing the deep holes there is a good plan.