Steelhead: World ClassBrowns: ExcellentCrowds: Moderate
The PM is fishing as well as it has all spring. Steelhead are stacked throughout the lower river. Swinging articulated streamers on sink tips has been most productive in the early morning. Evening sulphur hatches are excellent.
Live Flow Conditions
CFS
Current
536
CFS
Normal Today
°F
Water Temp
Loading live USGS data...
USGS Site: 04122500 • Pere Marquette River at Scottville • View full data ↗
Hatch Calendar
SpeciesJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
BWOBaetis spp.
HendricksonEphemerella subvaria
SulphurEphemerella dorothea
HexHexagenia limbata
Light CahillStenacron interpunctatum
Gear Recommendations
The PM is a world-class tailwater — powerful, wide, and demanding. Steelhead and big browns are the primary targets. Drift boat access is the standard approach.
Gear
Dry Fly
Nymphing
Euro Nymph
StreamerRecommended
Rod
9ft 5-weight
9ft 6-weight
11ft 3-weight or 4-weight
9ft 7-weight or 8-weight
Line
WF5F floating
WF floating
Euro mono rig
WF floating, intermediate, or Type 3 sink tip
Leader
10–12ft tapered to 4X
9ft to 3X
Long mono rig 20ft+
6ft tapered to 0X–1X
Tippet
4X–5X fluorocarbon
4X–5X fluorocarbon
5X–6X fluorocarbon
0X–2X fluorocarbon or 15–20lb mono
Waders
Chest waders with wading belt (mandatory — powerful current)
Chest waders with wading belt
Chest waders with wading belt
Chest waders with wading belt
Boots
Felt-soled boots with studs, or rubber with aggressive studs
Felt-soled with studs (mandatory)
Felt with studs
Felt with studs
Dry Fly Tips
Dry fly fishing on the PM peaks in May (Hendrickson) and June (Sulphur, Brown Drake). The river is big — fish the softer edges near the banks and slow inside seams.
Wading staff — highly recommended on the PMDry fly selection (Hendricksons, Sulphurs, Brown Drakes)Floatant
Nymphing Tips
Deep nymphing with heavier rigs than most Michigan rivers. The PM's powerful current requires more weight to get flies down. Swinging soft hackles through runs is highly effective for steelhead.
Euro nymphing works well on the PM's classic pool-riffle-run structure. Focus on the inside seams of runs and the tail-outs of pools. Heavier tungsten beads needed to reach the bottom in the PM's flows.
Heavy bead-head nymphs size 10–14Tungsten bead flies for depth
Streamer Tips
Streamer fishing is the PM's signature — particularly for steelhead on the swing. A sink-tip line and a large intruder-style or Wooly Bugger fished on a downstream swing is the classic PM steelhead approach.
Large articulated streamers size 2/0–4 (Zoo Cougars, Drunk and Disorderly)Stripping basket for drift boat fishingHeavy-duty tippet
Find Your Guide
Pere Marquette River Lodge Guide Service
Orvis Endorsed
📍 Baldwin, MIFloat (Hyde drift boat)
The PM's most celebrated lodge-based guide service. Guides include Jeff, Casey, Westley, and Jory — each with a decade+ on the river.
Specialties
PM steelheadBrown troutSalmonDry fly and nymph
Pricing (2 anglers unless noted)
Full Day$600 (1–2 anglers) / $700 salmon season
Half Day$450 (off-season only)
GroupNo half-day trips Sept 1–Oct 31 or Mar 1–May 1
What's Included
Lunch/dinner (full day)
Tackle and transportation
Licensed, insured, federally permitted guides
What to Bring
Chest waders
Wading boots (felt or rubber)
Rain gear
Polarized sunglasses
Michigan fishing license
Warm layers — PM corridor can be cold
Orvis-endorsed outfitter of the year finalist. Request a specific guide when booking.
Four sets of rules over the forty miles this page covers — and two of them change with the date, not the place.
M-37 → Gleason's Landing — 8.5 miles (the flies-only water)
Gear Restricted. Fishing open all year, possession closed all year — zero trout and salmon. Artificial flies only. Children under 12 may keep one, 8" to 12".
Gleason's Landing → Rainbow Rapids — 10.5 miles
Sep. 1 through the Friday before the last Saturday in April: Type 4 rules, one rainbow trout a day at 10" minimum, no brook or brown trout kept at all. Last Saturday in April through Aug. 31: Gear Restricted, artificial lures only, two trout or salmon with no more than one brown 18"+ and no more than one rainbow; harvest of brook and brown trout between 14" and 18" is prohibited.
Rainbow Rapids → Reek Rd. (Indian Bridge) — Type 4
Open all year. The daily limit may not include more than one rainbow trout.
Aug. 1 – Nov. 15, all waters of the PM
Terminal tackle restricted to single-pointed hooks or jigs ½" or less point to shank, or trebles ⅜" or less and only when attached to a body bait, plug, spinner or spoon.
On the flies-only reach it is unlawful to use or possess bait, organic or processed food, or scented material, on the water or on the bank. A bead is not a fly and is not allowed there — though a bead is a legal lure elsewhere, pegged no more than four inches above the eye.
Run status is rebuilt twice a day from the live gauge and the DNR's own run windows. The windows are typical timing, not a forecast — what actually moves fish is water temperature and a rise, and the run tracker carries both for every river at once.
Kings Chinook Salmon
Tailing off
Typical: Aug 27 – Oct 27, peak Sep 17 – Oct 7
Coho Coho Salmon
Building
Typical: Sep 12 – Nov 14, peak Sep 30 – Oct 27
Steelhead Steelhead
Building
Typical: Sep 25 – Apr 15, peak Oct 25 – Dec 20
The flies-only water above Gleason’s Landing is the most famous steelhead fly water in the Midwest.
Browns Lake-run Brown
Building
Typical: Sep 15 – Nov 15, peak Oct 1 – Oct 31
Access
Gleason’s Landing, Green Cottage, Rainbow Rapids, Bowman Bridge, Sulak, Upper Branch Bridge, Custer. Both. The flies-only stretch wades well; below Bowman it is float water.
Crowding
Heavy in the flies-only water during the salmon push, and the etiquette is taken seriously — step in above someone here and you will hear about it.
Regulations
Flies-only, no-kill water from M-37 down to Gleason’s Landing. Know exactly where that boundary is before you rig up.
What to throw
Kings: chartreuse and black tubes, big rubber-legged nymphs. Steelhead: eggs, stones, small streamers on the swing.
DNR The state's weekly fishing report of Oct 14 named salmon on this water. Read the report.
The Pere Marquette River was designated one of America's first Wild and Scenic Rivers in 1978. Named after French Jesuit missionary Father Jacques Marquette, it flows through Ottawa National Forest and Baldwin State Forest. The river is celebrated for its world-class steelhead fishery and exceptional brown trout habitat. It has been a destination fishery since the late 1800s when wealthy anglers from Chicago built private fishing clubs along its banks. The PM runs cold and clear year-round thanks to abundant spring seeps throughout its watershed.
Did you know
The PM is widely regarded as the single best steelhead river in Michigan — it has produced state records and attracts fly fishers from across North America who make annual pilgrimages.
Did you know
Ernest Hemingway fished the Pere Marquette and nearby rivers extensively in the early 1920s, which partly inspired his Nick Adams fishing stories set in northern Michigan — most famously "Big Two-Hearted River."