BirdTrout
Bear Creek, Michigan
33 mapped river miles, draining 188 square miles across Manistee county, in the Manistee River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 8.5 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 8.5 miles away, at Manistee River — 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: 04125550.
The character of the water
A medium stream of 33.2 mapped miles in the Manistee River watershed, Manistee County, fifth order, draining 188.11 square miles at a median width of 32.4 feet. MDNR types 19.6 miles, 59 percent coverage: 4.0 miles of Cold stream at medium gradient from river mile 33.2 to 24.7, then 15.6 miles of Cold-transitional small river at low gradient down to river mile 0.6. The class describes the valley segment, not the water, so no measured temperature applies; the nearest gauge on the Manistee River is 8.5 miles away. A 12.9-mile Blue Ribbon designation runs from the junction with 3rd Creek down to Nine Mile Road. Regulation is 25.5 miles of Type 3, open year round, with a one-rainbow sublimit, and 8.9 miles of Type 1; both restrict terminal gear from August 1 to November 15. A 2019 survey at a site averaging 36.77 feet wide returned 2,226 trout per acre and 62 pounds per acre, with brook, brown and rainbow trout, Chinook and coho salmon.
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 33.2–24.7 | 4.0 | cold | Cold stream · medium gradient |
| RM 24.7–0.6 | 15.6 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional small river · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 19.6 of the 33 miles NHD carries for this stream — 59% of it. The typed water splits 15.6 mi cold-transitional, 4.0 mi 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
- Bear Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Bear Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Bear Creek — access, parking and public land
- Bear Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Bear Creek good for brook trout?
- Is Bear Creek good for brown trout?
- Is Bear Creek good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 34.4 of the 33.2 mapped miles; 0.0 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 8.9 mi |
RM 33.2–24.0 | 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" |
|
Type 3 25.5 mi |
RM 24.0–0.0 | January 1st–December 31st | Brook trout 15", Brown trout 15", 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. Bear Creek (BR 20), 12.9 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: Junction with 3rd Creek; downstream: Nine Mile Road.
Public land on the river
6 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 181,868 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Traverse City Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 113,281 |
| Manistee National Forest - Manistee Ranger District | United States Forest Service | 33,473 |
| Pere Marquette State Forest - Traverse City Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 25,982 |
| Manistee National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 6,918 |
| Bear Creek, Michigan Wild and Scenic River | DESG | 1,882 |
| Consumers Power Co. | OTHF | 333 |
Species
MDNR's most recent survey on this river ran in 2019 at Bear Creek - Manistee, Manistee County, in a channel averaging 36.77 feet: brook trout, brown trout, chinook salmon, coho salmon, rainbow trout, at 2,226 trout per acre and 62 pounds per acre. MDNR strata: small, great lakes accessible, wild trout; regulation at the station, type 1.The station has been surveyed in 10 years since 1997.
- Brook trout surveyed
- Brown trout surveyed
- Chinook salmon surveyed
- Coho salmon surveyed
- Rainbow trout surveyed
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
15 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Manistee River 190.1 mi · RM 0.0
- Beaver Creek 16.5 mi · RM 18.0
- Cedar Creek 12.5 mi · RM 12.0
- Lemon Creek 9.0 mi · RM 24.4
- First Creek 7.5 mi · RM 33.2
- Dutchman Creek 7.2 mi · RM 30.7
- Little Beaver Creek 6.3 mi · RM 14.6
- Little Bear Creek 6.2 mi · RM 24.7
- Third Creek 4.6 mi · RM 32.1
- Horseshoe Creek 4.4 mi · RM 18.0
- Second Creek 4.2 mi · RM 33.2
- Boswell Creek 2.6 mi · RM 9.0
Bear Creek sits in HUC 8 04060103, the Manistee River watershed, and drains 188 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 58 NHD reaches carry the name for 33.1 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.