Walleye dialed in on Lake Michigan's west side as coho begin building

What's Biting

What's Next

The waxing gibbous moon building through Memorial Day weekend sets up one of the better lunar feeding windows of the month. We're seeing that alignment pay off for walleye on Lake Michigan's west side, where anglers on Michigan Sportsman Forum are reporting consistent action in 30-35 feet across multiple outings. Water temperatures pegged at 62°F on May 25 put surface temps squarely in the productive walleye range; as daily warming pushes toward the upper 60s heading into June, expect fish to gradually stage a few feet deeper or shift onto offshore structure transitions. The approach has been versatile this week: blue ice and stickbaits in 30-35 feet have produced on the jigging side, while Flicker Shads trolled 35 feet back in 11-14 feet of water yielded limits on a separate Memorial Day outing, suggesting fish are spread across depth ranges rather than locked into one zone. Lighter weekday pressure after the holiday could sharpen the bite for mid-week anglers.

Coho salmon are beginning to appear along the Thumb, with a Harbor Beach angler reporting two spring cohos on May 25 per Michigan Sportsman Forum. The same poster notes that full-blown coho season is likely still two weeks out, pointing toward a mid-June peak along the western Lake Huron shoreline and Lake Michigan's northern tributaries. Anglers looking to intercept early fish should target river mouth staging areas and watch for surface bait activity as nearshore temps continue to climb.

On the Grand River, the 4,560 cfs flow from USGS gauge 04119000 will ease in the days ahead as spring runoff subsides. Receding flow typically clears water clarity and consolidates bass onto current seams, rocky points, and the slower inside bends of tributary mouths. Late May and early June are traditionally the best weeks for Grand River smallmouth, as post-spawn fish shed their lethargic recovery phase and move aggressively into summer feeding patterns. Finesse presentations along current edges and riprap should reward patient anglers, and falling flows will improve water clarity on popular wading stretches.

The MI DNR Weekly Fishing Report reminds Lake Michigan boaters that commercial netting operations are active near several popular ports this time of year. Orange-flagged gear buoys can be widely spaced and easy to miss at speed, so slow down and scan carefully on early-morning and after-dark runs, especially near known netting corridors in Thumb-area waters.

Context

Late May on Michigan's Great Lakes fishery typically marks the close of spring migration patterns and the opening of early summer staging. Walleye finish their tributary and nearshore spawning runs by mid-May in most years, and the late-May jigging bite in 30-35 feet reported by Michigan Sportsman Forum anglers this week is consistent with the post-spawn scatter that usually follows. A 62°F surface temperature in this region during the last week of May is right on seasonal schedule; Lake Michigan's nearshore zones typically break into the upper 50s to lower 60s between mid-May and early June, making current conditions neither early nor late by historical standards.

The Grand River at 4,560 cfs on May 26 per USGS gauge 04119000 runs above the typical median for this date, which historically falls closer to 2,500-3,500 cfs at the lower Grand. Elevated late-May flows are not unusual following spring rainfall events across central Michigan's drainage basin, and this reading does not represent a flood-level event. It does push turbidity higher in the main channel and tends to concentrate bass in cleaner water near tributary mouths and protected backwater areas rather than the open river corridor.

Coho salmon timing along the Thumb follows a fairly consistent historical pattern. The leading edge of the spring coho run typically arrives in the Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron tributary zone during the last two weeks of May, with peak action arriving mid-June. The early Harbor Beach report this week aligns with that historical window, suggesting the 2026 run is arriving on schedule. No comparative signal is available from this week's data feeds to confirm whether coho numbers are above or below prior-year averages.

The MI DNR Weekly Fishing Report's recurring seasonal alert about commercial netting is a spring reality on Lake Michigan worth noting each year, particularly relevant through June as netting operations targeting whitefish and other species overlap with popular sport-fishing routes near Thumb-area ports.