Travel Marquette
DNR Fishing Report
August 20, 2025
While fishing on the Great Lakes, be aware of commercial fishing activities ongoing near several popular ports. Commercial netting gear will be marked with tall buoys with orange flags, which may be a fair distance apart. Be aware of your surroundings and know that commercial nets and associated lines can cause entanglements with fishing gear or boat motors.
If you are entangled, cut yourself free and mark the location with GPS or attach a float or buoy and leave the net in the water. If fishing gear is lost, report GPS coordinates and location to enforcement agencies such as the Michigan Department of Natural Resources hotline, (800) 292-7800; Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, (715)-685-2113; or Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority, (906) 632-0043, as soon as possible.
For more information on Great Lakes nets, visit michiganseagrant.org/topics/
Fishing licenses can be purchased at Michigan.gov/DNRLicenses or by downloading the Michigan DNR Hunt Fish app and purchasing your license on the app.
All anglers 17 years of age and older are required to have a fishing license.
Ontonagon River: Fishing efforts on the river were low the past week. Angler reports showed that walleye were caught in fair numbers by those trolling and jigging alike. Recent weather had slightly diminished river conditions and occasionally limited reasonable fishing efforts.
Ontonagon/Silver City/Union Bay: Angling efforts in Ontonagon were fair over the past week. Efforts from Union Bay and Silver City were lower in comparison. Inclement weather occasionally limited reasonable lake access. When weather permitted, fishing on the lake was good, with anglers recently reporting catches consisting of lake trout in good numbers. Anglers found success when trolling across a variety of water depths.
Black River Harbor: Angling efforts out of the harbor were low over the past week. Weather conditions occasionally limited reasonable lake access. Reported catches recently consisted of lake trout in fair numbers. Anglers found success when trolling across a variety of water depths.
Little Bay de Noc: Anglers reported fair to good walleye fishing. Anglers fared well south of the Ford River, at Black Bottom, and around Minneapolis Shoals. Anglers trolled crankbaits and casted minnow- or goby-like artificial baits. Yellow perch anglers reported good success using night crawlers and minnows, with some achieving limit catches during the morning hours.
Fairport: Chinook salmon and steelhead continued to be caught. However, average sizes of catch were down, with fewer catches of large adult salmon. Anglers used spoons or flasher fly combos.
Keweenaw Bay/ Huron Bay: The bays saw a low amount of angling effort over the past week due to the weather. Anglers reported that lake trout fishing was fair, having had success trolling spoons and flasher flies in 80 to 140 feet of water. Salmon fishing was reported to be more productive that week, with more coho salmon reported to have been caught.
Traverse Bay/Portage Entry: Anglers reported catching fair amounts of lake trout when trolling spoons and flasher/flies. These were caught in 100 to 150 feet of water, with most fish caught near the bottom. Anglers also reported that salmon fishing had been poor, with only a few anglers seeing any success.
Grand Marais: The lake trout bite was great this past week, with boat anglers catching them while trolling and jigging at deeper depths. Coho salmon were also reported caught by boat anglers trolling at shallow depths east of the break wall.
St. Ignace: At the Carp River, early-run salmon were expected to be making their way into the river, with the surface temperature at 62 degrees. Anglers fishing from the cement footing pier cast spoons an hour before sunrise and just before sunset. Glow-in-the-dark presentations were used in the dark. In cloudy conditions, anglers used greens, yellows, and blues. In sunny conditions, reds, oranges, and purples were more effective. At the small rapids just upstream of the cement footing pier, anglers caught walleye and steelhead. For walleye, crankbaits and spinners produced success. For steelhead, spoons and spinners yielded good results.
Les Cheneaux/DeTour: Anglers in Hessel caught northern pike throughout the islands while trolling and casting. Some small pike were caught around the Middle Entrance. Anglers had been bass fishing and were having some luck, but the fish were still hard to find due to the warm waters. Temperatures inside the islands ranged from 76 to 83 degrees. A few anglers were out trolling for splake last week but had no luck. Lake trout were still being caught while jigging out of the Middle Entrance. In DeTour, the weather was a problem this week. When the wind was gusty, storms were rolling through. A few anglers were out walleye fishing without success, but overall, there was little activity in the big water due to the conditions.
Alger County: Strong inland lake fishing of bass and sunfish continued. Anglers did well near Munising Bay for lake trout, with some reporting of occasional Chinook salmon and coho salmon.
Delta County: Walleye and bass were caught at the head of Little Bay de Noc. Salmon and steelhead were caught on Lake Michigan, but the size of fish has gotten smaller as the year goes on. Anglers throughout Chippewa County experienced a very slow fishing season. The Atlantic salmon fishery near Sault Ste. Marie was extremely slow. Anglers targeting walleye and pike experienced slower than average catch numbers.
Fishing tip: August fishing
During late August, fish often move to deeper, cooler waters as surface temperatures remain warm. Focus your efforts during early morning or late evening hours when fish are more active. Use slow presentations like drop-shot rigs or jigging spoons near structure in 15 to 30 feet of water for species like walleye and smallmouth bass. Don’t forget to check your electronics for thermocline layers — fish often hold just above them this time of year.
This report is intended to give you an idea of what is going on around the state. Updates come from Fisheries staff and conservation officers. With more than 11,000 inland lakes, the Great Lakes and thousands of miles of rivers and streams, not all locations can be listed. However, it is safe to say if a species is being caught in some waters in the area, they are likely being caught in all waters in that section of the state that have that species.