Alpena

Anglers in Thunder Bay continued to have success while targeting lake trout in 30 to 60 feet of water near north point and Thunder Bay Island. Orange, watermelon, and white spoons worked well throughout the water column. A handful of Atlantic salmon were caught while trolling high lead cores with gold, orange, and copper spoons. Walleye anglers reported action as hit and miss, while the best bite was after dark. Natural color crank baits trolled in 10 to 15 feet of water had the most success. Walleye, bass, pike, and a few Atlantic salmon were caught off the pier while casting spoons, crank baits, and plastic swim baits. Those fishing crawlers reported a few catfish moving into the river mouth.

Thunder Bay River

Walleye were caught from the river mouth as far as the 9th Street bridge. While some anglers had success using leeches and crawlers, others had mixed results casting crank baits in chartreuse, green, and natural colors. Those targeting smallmouth bass used jigs tipped with plastic swim baits with moderate success. Some nice northern pike were also caught while casting large spinnerbaits in bright colors.

Rockport

Little action was observed over the last week. Those who did venture out found very good lake trout fishing in depths of 20 to 40 feet of water while using dodger-spin-n-glo combinations. White, chartreuse, and watermelon were the best colors.

Cheboygan

All boat launches are available for use, but the cleaning station is closed. In the Cheboygan River, steelhead anglers had luck with floating beads at the Cheboygan Dam spillway. Walleye anglers had the best luck when drifting live bait, jigging soft plastic minnows, or using crank baits. Good spots to target walleye were at the Cheboygan Dam spillway, the drawbridge nearby the DNR field station, and nearby the pedestrian walkway bridge. A lot of suckers were caught from the drawbridge up to the Cheboygan Dam spillway. Lake trout anglers were running lines all over the water column while trolling dodgers or dipseys with spoons. Greens, silvers, whites, and purples produced the best results. Anglers targeting lake trout found them at Poe Reef and Reynolds Reef.

Oscoda/Au Sable River

Walleye fishing off the pier/catwalk at dusk and dawn produced decent numbers of fish. Most anglers were jigging plastics, drifting a crawler or casting deep crank baits for walleye. There were Atlantic salmon being caught in the lower river by anglers casting spoons and drifting minnows 4-5 feet under a bobber. There were still steelhead to be caught. Anglers bottom bouncing flies or beads took a decent number of steelhead. Lake trout were caught in 60 to 75 feet of water by those pulling spoons.

Tawas/Au Gres

Walleye fishing was still slow off the pier; the Tawas River only saw a few fish being caught. Walleye anglers from boats had success in both Tawas and Au Gres, with both artificial and natural bait. Au Gres perch fishing was still slow, with only one or two anglers reporting to have heard of people catching them. However, lake trout were caught in Tawas while fishing for walleye. The shore anglers caught carp, bowfin, and the occasional northern pike as well as a couple largemouth and smallmouth bass.