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Little Bay de Noc Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Little Bay de Noc: the northern arm of Green Bay at Escanaba and Gladstone, where the Michigan DNR stocks, tags and surveys walleye.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
55 / 58 F
Wind
SSW 9 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Little Bay de Noc is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSW around 9 mph, steady pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 58. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:23 AM-12:23 PM and 10:53 PM-12:53 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Yellow perchGood

Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

SteelheadGood

Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

Tomorrow: Warmer at 63 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Michigan requires a fishing licence from age 17, from $26.00 for residents. What a Michigan licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with DNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Michigan, read off the agency, are on the Michigan seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp55 F
High / Low58 / 39 F
WindSSW 9-15 mph
Pressure1025.3 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset08:16 / 18:48
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Little Bay de Noc this week

The best day on Little Bay de Noc this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:23 AM-12:23 PM and 10:53 PM-12:53 AM
Minor period
4:46 AM-5:46 AM
Sun
08:16 to 18:48
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 10 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Little Bay de Noc: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Yellow perch illustration

Yellow perch

Caught all year, including under the ice through winter

Yellow perch are schooling panfish of the Great Lakes and northern lakes, and Michigan DNR calls them the game fish most often caught in that state. Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Steelhead illustration

Steelhead

Great Lakes tributaries from fall through spring; West Coast rivers have both summer and winter runs

Steelhead are rainbow trout that migrate to the Pacific or the Great Lakes to grow, then return up rivers to spawn; unlike most Pacific salmon they can survive spawning and spawn again. Main tributary season: fish seams, pool heads and tails and structure with drifted eggs, beads, nymphs or streamers, and plan trips around rising or falling water.

When to come: the Little Bay de Noc calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
Yellow perch
Smallmouth bass
Steelhead
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Little Bay de Noc today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 55 F, wind to 6 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 62 F, wind to 9 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Michigan requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Michigan fishing license. On the Lake Michigan waters of Little Bay de Noc north of a line from Peninsula Point Lighthouse to the mouth of the Bark River, the daily possession limit may include no more than one walleye 23 inches or longer (2026 Michigan Fishing Regulations). Other limits follow the DNR’s Great Lakes rules.

Access

The Michigan DNR’s Kipling boating access site at Gladstone serves the bay, and in 2016 the DNR designated an alternate point there for winter access onto the ice; vehicles are not allowed on the launch ramps. Use the DNR boating access finder for other public launches.

About this water

Northern arm of Green Bay (Lake Michigan) at Escanaba and Gladstone, Delta County, Michigan.

Fishing Little Bay de Noc: the full guide

A Lake Michigan bay

Little Bay de Noc reaches north from Green Bay into the Upper Peninsula, with Escanaba and Gladstone on its shores. Each fall the Michigan DNR samples it with trawls for walleye, yellow perch, smallmouth bass, northern pike, lake sturgeon and the invasive Eurasian ruffe.

Walleye

Walleye are the bay’s best-known fishery and the focus of DNR work there, including jaw tags and acoustic transmitters to study how the fish move. The DNR also stocks the bay: in fall 2025 its Northern Lake Michigan Management Unit released 5,211 Little Bay de Noc strain walleye fingerlings at five locations, 2,815 of them raised in a co-op pond tended by the Bay De Noc Great Lakes Sportfishermen.

Beyond walleye

Yellow perch, smallmouth bass and northern pike all turn up in the DNR’s fall survey, which gives anglers other targets when walleye are slow.

Common questions

Is Little Bay de Noc stocked with walleye?

Yes. The DNR put 5,211 fall fingerlings of the bay’s own walleye strain into five locations in fall 2025.

Is there a special walleye rule?

Yes. North of the Peninsula Point Lighthouse to Bark River line, only one walleye of 23 inches or more may be kept in the daily limit.

What else lives in the bay?

The DNR’s fall survey records yellow perch, smallmouth bass, northern pike and lake sturgeon, plus invasive Eurasian ruffe.

Is fishing good at Little Bay de Noc right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Escanaba River6 miFord River7 miManistique River42 miMenominee River44 miOconto River72 miPlatte River86 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 45.7500, -87.0500 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.