BirdTrout
Barker Creek, Michigan
4.7 mapped river miles, draining 13 square miles, in the Au Sable River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 4.7 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 4.7 miles away, at North Branch Au Sable River At Kelloggs Br — 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: 04135800.
The character of the water
Short and cold-typed: 4.7 mapped miles, of which MDNR types 2.8, 60 percent, all of it a cold stream on medium gradient from the head down to river mile 0.3, where the creek meets the Au Sable River. The class describes the valley segment rather than the water, so no temperature has been measured here; the nearest gauge, North Branch Au Sable River at Kelloggs Br, is 4.7 miles off. The channel runs a median width of 12.1 feet on a second-order drainage of 13.11 square miles. Type 1 regulations cover 4.5 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, artificial lures and all types of natural bait permitted, five fish with no more than three 15 inches or greater. A 10.7-mile blue ribbon stretch of the main branch Au Sable is associated with this water. Public land is vast around it, six units totalling 224,246 acres, and one walk-in access site is recorded with no 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 4.7–0.3 | 2.8 | cold | Cold stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 2.8 of the 4.7 miles NHD carries for this stream — 60% 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
- Barker Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Barker Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Barker Creek — access, parking and public land
- Barker Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 4.5 of the 4.7 mapped miles; 0.2 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 4.5 mi |
RM 4.7–0.0 | 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 types of natural bait may be used.
Blue Ribbon. Main Branch AuSable River (BR 15), 10.7 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: Upper Section: Co. 612, Lower Section: Mio Dam; downstream: Upper Section: Luzerne Co. Pk., Lower Section: Alcona Line.
Access
1 mapped MDNR access site within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Au Sable River At Lower Trout Unlimited Research Station (RM 0.5). 1 walk-in, 0 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 224,225 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Grayling Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 130,704 |
| Au Sable State Forest - Grayling Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 89,732 |
| Camp Grayling Military Reservation | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 3,790 |
Species
Trout water by MDNR's classification, which types it cold — a statement about the water's temperature, not a fish record. No MDNR survey or stocking record for this river is in the files this site reads.
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
1 named stream meets this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
Barker Creek sits in HUC 8 04070007, the Au Sable River watershed, and drains 13 square miles, Strahler order 2 at the mouth. 12 NHD reaches carry the name for 4.7 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.