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The Fall Salmon Run, 2026

The 2026 run is on as of 1 October 2026 — August to November

Chinook first, coho behind them, steelhead and brown trout behind those — 104 rivers in Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, from August to the end of November. The order never changes; the dates move with the water.

Ninety-one rivers on this map carry a fall run, and the autumn moves them in an order. Pink salmon come first on 39 rivers, Aug–Sept, peaking September. Chinook overlap them on 43 rivers, Aug–Oct with an October peak, entering between 55.0 and 68.0°F. Coho follow on 69 rivers, Sept–Oct, peaking September into October, entering between 52.0 and 65.0°F. Lake-run browns run 70 rivers, Sept–Nov, peaking October, entering between 45 and 58°F. Lake trout are the narrowest at 7 rivers, Oct–Nov, entering between 42 and 55°F. Steelhead are on all 78, Oct–May, peaking March into April — the fall push is only the front half of their calendar.

The longest fall corridors are the Ford River in Michigan at 107.3 miles, the Nemadji in Wisconsin at 70.2, and Michigan's Cedar River in Menominee County at 66.2, ahead of the Pere Marquette at 59.5.

The order of the autumn

SpeciesEntersPeaksRivers
Chinook salmon Aug–Oct Oct 50
Coho salmon Sept–Oct Oct–Nov 76
Pink salmon Aug–Sept Sep 39
Steelhead Oct–May Mar–Apr 104
Lake-run brown trout Sept–Nov Oct 78
Lake trout Oct–Nov Oct–Nov 7

Windows are the most common curated window across the rivers that carry the species, not a rule — a Superior river runs three weeks behind a Lake Michigan one, and a cold Charlevoix trib takes kings weeks before the harbour rivers do. The per-river pages carry their own dates.

What temperature actually decides it

The calendar says whether a species is worth thinking about; the water says where the fish are. Kings hold off a warm mouth and come up as the river drops into the 60s F, coho enter a little cooler, and the autumn steelhead start as the water falls through the high 60s. That is the whole reason the live map colours a corridor rather than ticking a month off a list.

Where the fall run is longest

The most corridor miles of autumn run water, by river.

RiverStateLakeMilesFall species
Ford River MI Michigan 107.3 5
Nemadji River WI Superior 70.2 3
Cedar River (Menominee County) MI Michigan 66.2 4
Pere Marquette River MI Michigan 59.5 4
Little Manistee River MI Michigan 57.3 4
Conneaut Creek PA Erie 56.5 1
Rifle River MI Huron 55.0 4
Muskegon River MI Michigan 52.0 4
Amnicon River WI Superior 42.6 3
Carp River (Mackinac County) MI Huron 42.4 3
Grand River MI Michigan 42.2 4
Sturgeon River (Baraga County) MI Superior 41.3 5
Sheboygan River WI Michigan 40.7 4
Bois Brule River WI Superior 40.4 3
East Twin River WI Michigan 40.4 4
White River MI Michigan 36.6 4
Kalamazoo River MI Michigan 36.4 4
Cattaraugus Creek NY Erie 35.7 2
Grand River OH Erie 31.5 1
Elk Creek PA Erie 30.1 1
Manistee River MI Michigan 29.9 4
Milwaukee River WI Michigan 29.8 4
Days River MI Michigan 28.1 4
Chagrin River OH Erie 27.5 1

Every river with a fall run

What happens to this page

This is one page and it keeps one address. It is not archived at the end of the season and there is no 2025 version of it somewhere: on 30 November the last autumn window closes, and from the next morning this page is about the 2027 run — the same URL, rebuilt, with the year and the countdown moved on. The runs themselves repeat; a second page saying the same things under a different year would only split the readers between them.

Steelhead is on the table above because the autumn push is part of this run, but its window carries on into May and this page stops at the end of November. The whole-year calendar is where the winter and spring half of it lives.

The rest of the run

Open the lake-run map →Every run river, with where the fish are holding today.Or get BirdTrout on the App Store