BirdTrout
Baldwin River, Michigan
14.3 mapped river miles, draining 82 square miles across Lake county, in the Pere Marquette-White subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 17.7 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 17.7 miles away, at Pine River Near Hoxeyville — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The pills above go to USGS. These are this site's pages for the same gauges — a thirty-day chart, the monthly means, the record, and today's reading against the five-year normal for today: 04125460.
The character of the water
A medium stream of 14.3 mapped miles in Lake County, 19.7 feet wide at the median and draining 81.73 square miles, the Baldwin carries a blue ribbon designation over 12.4 miles from 24th Street down to the Pere Marquette River. Type 1 regulation covers 13.6 miles, open from the last Saturday in April through September 30th; from August 1 to November 15 terminal gear is restricted to single-pointed hooks and jigs no more than half an inch point to shank, or treble hooks no more than three-eighths of an inch when attached to artificial lures. The creel is 5 fish, no more than 3 trout 15 inches or greater. MDNR types only 2.2 miles, 15 percent of the length, as Cold stream with very low gradient, and that class describes the valley segment, not the water; the nearest gauge lies 17.7 miles off. Stocking of brown and rainbow trout at the hatchery site ran 1980 through 1990. One access site, one launch.
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 12.8–0.5 | 2.2 | cold | Cold stream · very low gradient |
MDNR has classified 2.2 of the 14.3 miles NHD carries for this stream — 15% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cold. 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
- Baldwin River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Baldwin River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Baldwin River — access, parking and public land
- Baldwin River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the Baldwin River good for brown trout?
- Is the Baldwin River good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 13.6 of the 14.3 mapped miles; 0.7 miles carry no type in this dataset. Always check the current Michigan Fishing Guide before you fish — this is a copy, and the Guide is the rule.
| Type | Where | Season | Minimum sizes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Type 1 13.6 mi |
RM 14.3–0.0 | Last Saturday in April–September 30th | Brook trout 7", Brown trout 8", Rainbow trout / steelhead 10", Lake trout 10", Chinook salmon 10", Coho salmon 10", Pink salmon 10", Atlantic salmon 10" |
Creel across all types: 5 fish, with no more than 3 trout 15“ or greater. Zero (0) Arctic Grayling. Tackle: Artificial lures and all natural bait types allowed. Aug 1–Nov 15: terminal fishing gear restricted to single-pointed hooks & jigs ≤½" from point to shank or treble hooks ≤⅜" from point to shank only when attached to artificial lures.
Blue Ribbon. Baldwin Creek (BR 19), 12.4 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: 24th Street; downstream: Pere Marquette River.
Access
1 mapped MDNR access site within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Baldwin Hatchery (RM 0.5). 0 walk-in, 1 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 28,378 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Cadillac Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 26,440 |
| Pere Marquette State Forest - Cadillac Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 1,922 |
| Baldwin Hatchery Boating Access Site | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 15 |
| Baldwin River (43-039) | Michigan DNR | 1 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout, Rainbow trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout, Rainbow trout at Hatchery (Lake Co., through 1990).
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
3 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Sanborn Creek 21.7 mi · RM 0.0
- Bray Creek 1.1 mi · RM 3.3
- Cole Creek 0.4 mi · RM 8.4
Baldwin River sits in HUC 8 04060101, the Pere Marquette-White subbasin, and drains 82 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 26 NHD reaches carry the name for 14.3 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.