BirdTrout
Au Gres River, Michigan
47 mapped river miles, draining 278 square miles across Arenac county, in the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 14.7 miles away, and what this page knows about its temperature is MDNR's classification of the water itself.
50°F and colder is cold, through cold-transitional and cool, to warm above 70°F — the same four bands, breaking at 58, 64 and 70°F, that the app paints. Grey is water nobody has measured.
The nearest live reading
The nearest gauge is 18.0 miles away, at Au Sable River — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — it has sent no water temperature for 720 days, since 8 October 2024, so no number here comes from it.
The character of the water
A fifth-order river draining 277.59 square miles of Arenac County, this is 46.7 mapped miles of water at a median width of 27.5 feet. MDNR types only 12.2 of them, 26 percent of the mapped length: 5.6 cool miles between river mile 42.4 and river mile 11.6, called a warm transitional stream on medium gradient, then 6.6 warm miles from river mile 10.0 down to 0.7, a warm small river on very low gradient. Those classes describe the valley segment rather than the water, so no measured temperature exists here; the nearest gauge, Rifle River near Sterling, sits 14.7 miles away. Johnson Creek comes in at river mile 17.0 carrying 16.1 miles of its own, Hope Creek at 28.4, Nester Creek at 38.7. Stocking is historical, Chinook salmon and walleye at Augres through 2005 and rainbow trout at Turner Road in 1984. Three public land units total 33,153 acres, with no access sites or launches recorded.
Thermal classification
MDNR types this water from its valley, not from a thermometer in it. A class, not a temperature — no July mean, because none was measured here.
| Reach | Typed miles | Band | MDNR type |
|---|---|---|---|
| RM 42.4–11.6 | 5.6 | cool | Warm transitional stream · medium gradient |
| RM 10.0–0.7 | 6.6 | warm | Warm small river · very low gradient |
MDNR has classified 12.2 of the 47 miles NHD carries for this stream — 26% of it. The typed water splits 6.6 mi warm, 5.6 mi cool. The untyped reaches are not warm water — they are water MDNR's inventory does not reach, and the mile ranges above span only the reaches it does.
Questions about this river
- Au Gres River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Au Gres River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Au Gres River — access, parking and public land
- Au Gres River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the Au Gres River good for rainbow trout?
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 33,153 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Au Sable State Forest - Gladwin Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 33,124 |
| City Park And Campground | City of Au Gres | 23 |
| City Park | City of Au Gres | 5 |
Species
- Chinook salmon stocked only
- Rainbow trout stocked only
- Walleye stocked only
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Chinook salmon, Rainbow trout, Walleye. The most recent plants are Chinook salmon, Walleye at Augres (Arenac Co., through 2005); Rainbow trout at Turner Road (Arenac Co., through 1984).
Hatches on this water
53 insects are recorded from northern lower Michigan, which is the region this river sits in. That is a claim about the region and not a survey of this stream: nobody has recorded which of them has been caught here. Open the river in the app and the hatch panel will narrow it to the ones whose temperature window today's reading is inside.
| Insect | Peak | Water | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fish Eggs Other |
October–January and April | 33–60°F | #10–16 |
| Little Black Stonefly Allocapnia / Capnia spp. |
January–April | 34–46°F | #16–18 |
| Little Brown Stonefly Taeniopteryx / Strophopteryx spp. |
February–April | 38–50°F | #12–16 |
| Blue-Winged Olive Baetis spp. |
March–May and September–November | 38–58°F | #16–22 |
| Blackfly Simulium spp. |
April–June | 40–65°F | #18–22 |
| Blue Quill Paraleptophlebia adoptiva |
April–May | 44–56°F | #16–18 |
| Cranefly Tipula spp. |
April–June and September–October | 40–65°F | #6–10 |
| Grannom Brachycentrus spp. |
April–May | 48–58°F | #14–16 |
| Green Rock Worm / Green Weenie Rhyacophila spp. |
April–June and September–October | 45–68°F | #10–14 |
| Hendrickson Ephemerella subvaria |
April–May | 45–58°F | #12–14 |
| Little Black Caddis Chimarra atterima |
April–May | 46–58°F | #16–20 |
| Alderfly Sialis spp. |
May–June | 52–66°F | #10–14 |
| Caterpillar Lepidoptera larvae |
May–September | 55–75°F | #8–14 |
| Crayfish Orconectes spp. |
May–October | 55–78°F | #4–8 |
And 39 more — the year-round records, mostly: midges, scuds and sculpins, which are in the water every day and are therefore never the news.
Tributaries and watershed
16 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Johnson Creek 16.1 mi · RM 17.0
- Cedar Creek Drain 11.3 mi · RM 9.3
- Hope Creek 11.1 mi · RM 28.4
- Elm Creek 8.7 mi · RM 12.8
- Bum Drain 8.2 mi · RM 8.8
- Nester Creek 8.2 mi · RM 38.7
- Scott Drain 7.5 mi · RM 10.1
- Porterfield Creek 7.2 mi · RM 23.9
- Old Channel East Branch Au Gres River 6.0 mi · RM 6.4
- Mongo Creek 5.6 mi · RM 17.0
- Latter Creek 5.4 mi · RM 25.2
- Kelchner Drain 3.2 mi · RM 11.7
Au Gres River sits in HUC 8 04080101, the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin, and drains 278 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 75 NHD reaches carry the name for 46.7 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.