Great Lakes Run Calendar

When each species runs, across 104 rivers on Lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior in Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Windows are curated from MDNR, WDNR and MNDNR run-timing guidance — calendar guidance, not regulation, and not an observation of any river on any day.

Ninety-one rivers are drawn on this map — 37 to Lake Superior, 32 to Lake Michigan, 13 to Lake Erie and 9 to Lake Huron — and steelhead are the only species on all 91, usually October through May with a March–April peak. Lake-run brown trout follow on 70 rivers, coho on 69 and chinook on 43. Below that the list thins fast: pink salmon on 39, coaster brook trout on 37, lake sturgeon on 8, lake trout on 7, and Atlantic salmon on a single river.

The year has one hole in it. July carries no species in a window on any river, and June narrows to 11 rivers, coaster brook trout and lake sturgeon alone. September and October are the widest months, seven species each across all 59 rivers. January through March, and December, are steelhead alone. The windows here are the usual ones across the whole set; individual rivers carry their own.

Lake Michigan — 32 rivers

MI, WI. The salmon lake. Michigan's west coast and Wisconsin's east coast run the same fish on the same calendar from opposite shores.

Chinook salmon — 32 rivers

Coho salmon — 32 rivers

Steelhead — 32 rivers

Lake-run brown trout — 32 rivers

Lake sturgeon — 5 rivers

Lake trout — 3 rivers

JFMAMJJASOND

in the window at peak — outlined cell is the month this page was built in.

Lake Superior — 37 rivers

MI, MN, WI. Colder, later, and the only shore on this map with coasters and pink salmon on it. A steelhead lake before it is a salmon lake.

Steelhead — 37 rivers

Coho salmon — 37 rivers

Lake-run brown trout — 37 rivers

Coaster brook trout — 37 rivers

Pink salmon — 30 rivers

Lake trout — 4 rivers

Chinook salmon — 2 rivers

Lake sturgeon — 2 rivers

JFMAMJJASOND

in the window at peak — outlined cell is the month this page was built in.

Lake Erie — 19 rivers

NY, OH, PA. The steelhead shore. Three states run it — Pennsylvania's Erie tributaries, Ohio's Seasonal Salmonid Habitat rivers and New York's south-western creeks — and almost none of it is a salmon fishery. Shallow, flashy water that comes up on autumn rain and drops fast.

Steelhead — 19 rivers

Lake-run brown trout — 1 river

JFMAMJJASOND

in the window at peak — outlined cell is the month this page was built in.

Lake Huron — 9 rivers

MI. Michigan's east coast. The chinook fishery here collapsed with the alewife and what is left is a steelhead and Atlantic salmon shore.

Steelhead — 9 rivers

Chinook salmon — 9 rivers

Pink salmon — 9 rivers

Atlantic salmon — 1 river

Lake sturgeon — 1 river

Lake-run brown trout — 1 river

JFMAMJJASOND

in the window at peak — outlined cell is the month this page was built in.

Lake Ontario — 7 rivers

NY. New York's lake, and the deepest run water on this map. The Salmon River carries one of the largest chinook runs in the Great Lakes off the hatchery at Altmar, and the lake holds Atlantic salmon and brown trout alongside the Pacific fish.

Chinook salmon — 7 rivers

Coho salmon — 7 rivers

Steelhead — 7 rivers

Lake-run brown trout — 7 rivers

Atlantic salmon — 7 rivers

JFMAMJJASOND

in the window at peak — outlined cell is the month this page was built in.

Month by month

Month	What is in a window	Rivers
January	Steelhead, Lake-run brown trout	85
February	Steelhead, Lake-run brown trout	85
March	Steelhead, Lake-run brown trout	104
April	Steelhead, Lake sturgeon	104
May	Steelhead, Coaster brook trout, Lake sturgeon	104
June	Coaster brook trout, Lake sturgeon	12
July	—	0
August	Pink salmon, Chinook salmon	71
September	Steelhead, Coho salmon, Lake-run brown trout, Coaster brook trout, Pink salmon, Chinook salmon, Atlantic salmon	99
October	Steelhead, Coho salmon, Lake-run brown trout, Coaster brook trout, Chinook salmon, Atlantic salmon, Lake trout	104
November	Steelhead, Lake-run brown trout, Atlantic salmon, Coho salmon, Lake trout, Chinook salmon	104
December	Steelhead, Lake-run brown trout	85

"Rivers" counts a river once however many species it has in a window that month.

By species

By lake

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