Trout Scout charters fishes for chinook salmon, coho salmon, brown trout, steelhead, (rainbow trout), year round from "ice out" in the spring on Lake Michigan and then moving into the Big Manistee river in the Fall and Winter. Refer to the chart below for the best fishing times of the year.

World Record Brown Trout

The Big Manistee River is known around the world for one of the finest steelhead, salmon, and trout rivers in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. From its headwaters to the Lake Michigan estuary at Manistee, the Big Manistee river is nearly 250 miles long. The Big Manistee has fast moving currents which carve deep channels into the river and leave calm pools where fish congregate. Combined with the river's rocky bottom and clear cold water, the Big Manistee is the perfect habitat for spawners. In 2009 a new world record brown trout (pictured above) was caught by Tom Healy fishing the Manistee.

On Lake Michigan, the port of Manistee is Michigan's premier fishing port. There have been many trophy brown trout and salmon caught from this area. Manistee's proximity on Lake Michigan is just south of the deepest water in the lake, known as the Chippewa basin. Deep water and fast moving tributary waters make it home to some of the largest "trophy" fish on the Great Lakes and is home to many fishing tournaments throughout the year.