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Platte River Weir, Michigan
Platte River Weir is the top of the Platte River run — 5 anadromous species stack below it out of Lake Michigan.
Open in BirdTrout44.66334, -85.93834. Tap the map to open this water in the live app.
What the runs do here
Platte River Weir is the anadromous ceiling for the Platte River — the top of the run out of Lake Michigan. Fish moving up from the lake stop here, which is 17.3 miles of river below this structure.
| Species | In the river | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Chinook salmon | Aug–Oct | Fish stage off the harbour through August and enter as the river cools; the run peaks in October. |
| Coho salmon | Sept–Nov | Overlaps the chinook run and holds later; peak October and November. |
| Steelhead | Oct–May | Two runs on one calendar — a fall push from October that winters in the river, and the spring run that peaks March through April. |
| Lake-run brown trout | Sept–Nov | Runs with the salmon and stays after them; peak October. |
| Coho salmon | Sept–Nov | The Platte is where Michigan's coho programme began and the weir at Honor is still the state's egg take; peak October. |
Curated calendar guidance from state run-timing prose, not regulation and not an observation of this river on any day. MDNR run-timing guidance and Michigan Fishing Guide prose, curated.
Ceiling cited as: EGLE Michigan Dam Inventory, DamName 'Platte River Weir', River 'Platte River'
The structure
This is not a dam and NID has no row for it — it is a natural falls or a weir that stops fish exactly as a dam does, which is why it appears on this surface. The engineering fields above are blank rather than guessed at.
The water above and below
No designated coldwater reach within a mile and a half of this structure.
Water right now
| Gauge | Distance | Temp | Flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Manistee River near Sherman, MI | 19.6 mi | 54.3 °F | 945 cfs |
| Crystal River at County Hwy 675 Nr Glen Arbor, MI | 16.6 mi | — | — |
| Boardman River at Traverse City, MI | 17.1 mi | — | — |
Live from USGS. A gauge miles away is a gauge miles away — the distance column is there so you can discount it. A hydro dam's releases move the flow below it on a schedule the gauge sees and this page does not. 2 of the gauges above are not sending water temperature at all — a stopped gauge still answers with the last value it ever sent and nothing to say so, so those rows carry a modelled figure where one can be fitted, marked as modelled, and a dash where it cannot.
Getting to it
The dam sits on or beside PLATTE RIVER, Michigan DNR.
- Veterans Memorial State Forest Campground 0.4 mi · canoe launch · Platte River
- Platte River State Forest Campground 2.4 mi · canoe launch · Platte River
- Turtle Lake 3.3 mi · boat launch · Turtle Lake
- Lake Ann State Forest Campground 5.2 mi · boat launch · Lake Ann
- Grass Lake State Forest Campground 6.7 mi · boat launch · Betsie River
- Lake Dubonnet State Forest Campground 7.0 mi · boat launch · Lake Dubonnet
Public access sites near the dam, straight-line distance. A dam itself is private property unless its owner says otherwise; these are the places the state lists as open.
Fly shops nearby
- The Northern Angler 16.7 mi · Traverse City · +1-231-933-4730
- Streamside Orvis 17.0 mi · Traverse City
- Hawkins Outfitters 17.3 mi · Traverse City
- Andy's Tackle Box 25.1 mi · Brethren
- Schmidt Outfitters 31.0 mi · Wellston