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What fish run in the Grand River?

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The run corridor The mouth Sixth Street Dam — the run stops here The piers — 41% The mouth — 9%
The pale water is where chinook were holding on 2026-09-30 — 50% of the run was still out on Lake Michigan, which this picture does not reach. That day's gauge and lake readings were measured. Drawn 30 September 2026, north up, and it is a map of the river rather than of the lake it runs from.

5 species run the Grand River out of Lake Michigan — chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead, lake-run brown trout and lake sturgeon. The corridor is 42.2 miles of run water over 60 NHD reaches, from the harbour mouth up to Sixth Street Dam. As of 30 September 2026, chinook salmon is at peak run, coho salmon is at peak run and steelhead is at staging. Lake sturgeon is on this water under protection rather than as a fishery — read the regulations page before making a cast at one.

42.2 corridor miles · Lake Michigan · windows curated from MDNR guidance · page built 30 September 2026

The run species, one by one

Every species the corridor file records on this river, with the field mark that calls it at the net. Windows are MDNR's curated guidance; a species that runs twice on one calendar carries both entries.

Chinook salmon — king salmon

A dark, heavy salmon with a black gum line and black spots on both lobes of the tail. The gum line is the field mark that separates it from a coho at the net. Kings hold off the mouth until the river cools into the 60s F and then move on a rise. They stop feeding as they ripen, so a take is territorial rather than hungry.

Window on this river
15 Aug – 31 Oct · peak 15 Aug – 15 Oct
Size
Eight to twenty pounds in the run, and the occasional thirty.
Latin
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
Stage as of 30 September 2026
Peak run

Chinook salmon in Michigan — every river with a run →

Coho salmon — silver salmon

White gums with a dark tongue, and spots on the upper lobe of the tail only. Smaller and brighter than a king of the same date. Coho run behind the kings and further into the autumn, and they stay aggressive longer — a fish that will still chase a spoon three weeks into the river.

Window on this river
1 Sep – 30 Nov · peak 15 Sep – 15 Nov
Size
Four to twelve pounds.
Latin
Oncorhynchus kisutch
Stage as of 30 September 2026
Peak run

Coho salmon in Michigan — every river with a run →

Steelhead — lake-run rainbow trout

A chrome rainbow off the lake, the stripe faint on a fresh fish and loud on one that has wintered in the river. Two runs on one calendar: a fall push that winters in the river and a spring run onto the gravel. The fall fish are the reason a January river is not empty.

Window on this river
1 Oct – 31 Dec · peak 15 Oct – 15 Dec
Size
Five to twelve pounds, and bigger on the Manistee-type rivers.
Latin
Oncorhynchus mykiss
Stage as of 30 September 2026
Staging, 1 day out

Steelhead in Michigan — every river with a run →

Lake-run brown trout — coaster brown, on Superior

Buttery flanks with black and red spots, and no spotting on the tail worth the name — the mark that separates it from everything else in the run at the net. Runs with the autumn steelhead and behind the salmon, and is the most nocturnal fish in the corridor. Many hold over into February and March.

Window on this river
20 Oct – 31 Jan · peak 1 Nov – 15 Jan
Size
Three to fifteen pounds.
Latin
Salmo trutta
Stage as of 30 September 2026
Off-season

Lake-run brown trout in Michigan — every river with a run →

Lake sturgeon — namé

Unmistakable: a shark-shaped fish in armour, with a protrusible underslung mouth and four barbels ahead of it. Runs to the first hard gravel it can reach and spawns there. The trigger is temperature rather than the date — the run starts around 55°F and is finished above about 64°F.

Window on this river
Apr–June · peak May
Size
Three to six feet, and a century of life behind the big ones.
Entry temperature
55–64 °F
Latin
Acipenser fulvescens
Stage as of 30 September 2026
Off-season

Lake sturgeon is a Michigan state-threatened species. Possession is closed on this water and the fishery is catch-and-release. The MDNR rehabilitation strategy and the Fishing Guide are the rules; this page is not.

Lake sturgeon in Michigan — every river with a run →

More on the Grand River

Nearby run rivers

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