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As summer winds down and thoughts turn to fall, area sport anglers often turn their attention to the Grand River.  September is prime time for salmon runs. The city’s downtown fishery is next to none, drawing anglers from all over Michigan who come looking for an exciting urban fishing experience.  What’s not to love about hooking a 6-pound coho salmon; its orange-red meat is excellent table fare. Then there are some 20-pound chinooks. They're called King salmon for a reason. Hooking one is guaranteed to be a memorable angling moment.   An angler fishes from the rocks near the east bank immediately below Sixth St. Dam. Photo by Howard Meyerson. State fisheries experts say the Grand River’s 2015 fall runs could bring 10,000 coho salmon through Grand Rapids’ riverfront as they head upstream to spawn. Far fewer of the chinooks are expected because fewer have been raised at state hatcheries and stocked in recent years. Some of each will travel upstream as far as Lansing, having migrated from Lake Michigan where they spent most of their adult life.  “The biggest thing about timing is water temperature. If temperatures are in the 60’s the fish will come upstream,” explains Jay Wesley, a fisheries biologist and the state’s Lake Michigan Basin coordinator with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “If it’s really warm, they will delay… Based on historical data we get at Webber Dam (upstream from Grand Rapids), the first peak (of the coho run) typically is in mid to late September. We get a second peak during the first two weeks of November. They come and move through fairly quickly. ... Read More ›