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Little Manistee River Fishing Report

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

Michigan's steelhead egg source: the Little Manistee weir supplies the state's winter-run strain, and no steelhead are stocked in the river.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
65 / 66 F
Wind
SE 4 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 Manistee River is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 4 mph, steady pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 66. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:18 AM-12:18 PM and 10:48 PM-12:48 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Brown troutExcellent

Close to Vermont's 53-66Β°F optimum, browns feed more freely; in fall, pre-spawn fish move toward tributaries and gravel, so fish streamers and keep off the redds.

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.

Chinook salmonSlow

Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

Tomorrow: Similar at 65 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

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 β†’

Chasing steelhead 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 temp65 F
High / Low66 / 40 F
WindSE 4-6 mph
Pressure1025.3 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset08:08 / 18:46
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 Manistee River this week

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

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

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:18 AM-12:18 PM and 10:48 PM-12:48 AM
Minor period
4:41 AM-5:41 AM
Sun
08:08 to 18:46
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 5 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

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

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.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Close to Vermont's 53-66Β°F optimum, browns feed more freely; in fall, pre-spawn fish move toward tributaries and gravel, so fish streamers and keep off the redds.

Chinook salmon illustration

Chinook salmon

Seasons follow the runs: spring, summer and fall runs on the West Coast, and late summer into fall in Great Lakes rivers

The largest Pacific salmon, caught by trolling and mooching at sea and by drifting and plunking in rivers as adults return to spawn; also stocked in the Great Lakes. Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

When to come: the Little Manistee River 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
Steelhead
Brown trout
Chinook salmon
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 Manistee River 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. Brown trout led the card at excellent. High of 67 F, wind to 6 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Steelhead led the card at excellent. High of 67 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Steelhead led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 5 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. 2026 Michigan Fishing Regulations: closed all year within 300 feet of the DNR weir; closed January 1 to March 31 from 300 feet above the weir to Spencer's Bridge; closed September 1 to November 14 and January 1 to March 31 from 300 feet below the weir to Manistee Lake. Special artificial-lure rules cover all waters of the river.

Access

Landmarks named in the regulations: Spencer's Bridge (North Peacock Trail), Johnson's Bridge (Johnson Road), the DNR weir off Old Stronach Road, and the Stronach Road Bridge near Manistee Lake.

About this water

A Lake Michigan tributary in Lake, Mason and Manistee counties, Michigan, ending in Manistee Lake; home of the DNR's steelhead and chinook egg-take weir.

Fishing Little Manistee River: the full guide

The weir river

Michigan DNR's Little Manistee River weir is the only steelhead egg-take facility in the state and produces the Michigan winter-run strain; eggs go to state hatcheries and several other states, and Ohio and Indiana stock yearlings of this strain. The DNR stocks no steelhead in the river itself, describing the run as mostly naturally reproduced fish plus strays from other rivers.

The weir calendar

The weir usually goes in during the first two weeks of March and stays until the steelhead egg quota is met, typically by mid-April, with unripe fish counted and passed upstream. In fall it runs from about August 15 to November 15: chinook eggs are taken in early October, salmon reaching the weir are harvested, and steelhead and brown trout are passed. The DNR's count for 2025 was 2,478 spring steelhead and 5,620 chinook.

Closures and the fly reach

Large parts of the river close for part of the year (see the rules below). From Spencer's Bridge on North Peacock Trail down to Johnson's Bridge, the 2026 Michigan Fishing Regulations set a 7.5-mile flies-only reach with a two-fish limit, a 15-inch minimum for brown trout and 10 inches for other trout and salmon.

Common questions

Are Little Manistee steelhead wild?

Mostly: the DNR stocks none here and describes the run as naturally reproduced fish plus strays from other rivers.

When is the river closed?

Most of it closes January 1 to March 31, the reach below the weir also closes September 1 to November 14, and 300 feet around the weir is closed all year.

When does the weir operate?

From early March to about mid-April for steelhead and from about August 15 to November 15 for salmon; the DNR runs a hotline at 231-775-9727, option 8, updated daily during heavy activity.

Is fishing good at Little Manistee River 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

Big Manistee River20 miPere Marquette River23 miHamlin Lake27 miMuskegon River43 miBetsie River44 miPlatte River47 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 44.0500, -85.8500 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.