5/18/22 Southeast Lower Peninsula, Michigan DNR Fishing Report

 

Southeast Lower Peninsula

To access the original Michigan DNR fishing Report: Click Here!

Lake Erie: Walleye fishing was slow out from Sterling State Park. Walleye moved to deep water, over 20 feet. Anglers going out to the Michigan, Ohio and Canada border intersection and following the Michigan-Ohio line south on the Michigan side were using bottom bouncers with crawler harnesses provided some decent success. White perch and white bass were out in droves. Using crawlers resulted in catching more of those opposed to artificial lures on average. Green was the hot color.

• If you're planning on fishing any of the canals near Lake Erie Metro Park or Point Mouillee State Game Area you can get all of your bait & tackle needs met at  Bottom Line Bait & Tackle.

• If you're planning on fishing out of Sterling State Park or the Brest Bay area you can pick up tackle from the nice people at Jeff's Bait & Tackle

Detroit River: Many anglers on the river were bottom bouncing with crawlers but anglers jigging with artificial jigs, minnows, or a combination of both were having fair success. Anglers bottom bouncing near the Ambassador Bridge had the best luck in 25 to 30 feet using 3/4-ounce weights. Successful anglers downriver were trolling in 17 to 20 feet of water. Blue ice was still hot for anglers using artificial jigs. White bass were in thick downriver and were shallow in as little as 8 feet of water. Anglers fishing for them were limiting out. Ecorse was still pretty hot near the steel mill and Wyandotte near Fighting Island but still on the U.S. side. Anglers were releasing smallmouth.

• For more public lakes to fish in Wayne County: Click Here! 
  
  
  
• Wayne County Bait Shops: Click Here

Saginaw Bay: Anglers fishing on the east side of the bay out from Quanicassee reported slow activity. Walleye were caught in 8 to 10 feet of water and more fish were starting to be caught in 17 to 18 feet of water in the slot up towards Sunset and off Fish Point. Anglers had to cover a good amount of water to find active walleye. Walleye were caught on both body baits and crawler harnesses. At the Spark Plug, walleye were caught while tolling in 26 feet of water, at Sailboat Buoy A in 20 feet while trolling with crawlers and out in front of the State Park in 10 feet trolling with crawlers. Largemouth and smallmouth bass were caught in the marinas on the lower part of the Saginaw River. Bass anglers were casting all sorts of spinner baits and were doing very good averaging around 60 to 80 fish per boat.

• For a more accurate report on Saginaw Bay I suggest taking a look at the weekly Saginaw Bay Fishing Report given to you by Saginawbay.com

Tittabawassee River: Overall fishing was slow on the Tittabawassee River. The warm weather increased the water temperature causing a majority of the walleye to head downstream to deeper cooler water. The rain over the past week left the river muddy and difficult to fish. Many anglers switched to targeting white bass as the run usually peaks right now, but fishing for them was slow too.

Harbor Beach: Salmon and trout were caught in different depths of water 35 to 45 feet of water and deeper water 90 to 100 feet of water while using spoons with leadcore, downriggers and some long lines.

• Huron County Bait Shops: Click Here!

Lexington: Anglers were reporting slow action while trolling for salmon and trout. The fish were scattered and seemed to be in all different depths. The better catches were in 75 to 90 feet of water. Best results occurred while using leadcore with spoons.

Port Sanilac: Anglers were trolling and setting lines in about 25 feet of water and working their way out to deeper water to the northeast with downriggers, leadcore with spoons. A few salmon and trout were caught from the breakwalls while casting artificial lures and while fishing with minnows.

Port Austin: Anglers had success fishing from the break wall in the early morning catching walleye, Atlantic salmon, cohos, steelhead and catch and release smallmouth bass. Anglers were casting body baits and fishing with minnows.

Below are links to bait shop listings organized by county:  

• Wayne County Click Here!
• Washtenaw County Click Here!
• Bay County Click Here!
• Monroe County Click Here!
• Livingston County Click Here!
• Ingham County Click Here!
• Genesee County Click Here!

Your area may not be listed within this fishing report so below is a list of links to pages in Southeast Michigan to help guide you to public lakes in your county.

• Clinton County Public Lakes: Click Here!
• Genessee County Public Lakes: Click Here!
• Hillsdale County Public Lakes: Click Here!
• Jackson County Public Lakes: Click Here!
• Lapeer County Public Lakes: Click Here!
• Lenawee County Public Lakes: Click Here!
• Livingston County Public Lakes: Click Here!
• Oakland County Public Lakes Page 1: Click Here! 
• Oakland County Public Lakes Page 2: Click Here!
• Washtenaw County Public Lakes: Click Here!
• Wayne County Public Lakes: Click Here!