BirdTrout
Bear Creek, Michigan
10.0 mapped river miles, draining 20 square miles across Allegan county, in the Kalamazoo subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 7.2 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 22.0 miles away, at Kalamazoo River At New Richmond — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — USGS carries no water-temperature series for it at all, so no number here comes from it.
The character of the water
A small stream in the Kalamazoo subbasin, 10.0 mapped miles in Allegan County, fourth order, draining 20.1 square miles at a median width of 10.8 feet; the NHD line runs 23.54 miles. Regulation is Type 1 over 9.3 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, artificial lures and all types of natural bait permitted, five fish with no more than three trout 15 inches or greater. MDNR types 13.1 miles, 56 percent coverage, splitting the water between Cold-transitional stream reaches of 7.2, 0.6 and 0.1 miles at low gradient and Cool warm-transitional reaches of 2.7, 1.7 and 0.8 miles at high gradient. The class describes the valley segment, not the water, so no measured temperature exists; the nearest gauge on the Kalamazoo River near Allegan is 7.2 miles away. Brown trout stocking continues through 2026 at 41st Street and M-40, begun in 1981; brook trout plantings ended in 1992. Four access sites, all walk-in. No survey covers this creek.
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 10.0–10.0 | 0.1 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · low gradient |
| RM 10.0–10.0 | 0.8 | cool | Warm transitional stream · high gradient |
| RM 10.0–10.0 | 0.6 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · low gradient |
| RM 10.0–10.0 | 2.7 | cool | Warm transitional stream · high gradient |
| RM 10.0–10.0 | 7.2 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · low gradient |
| RM 7.3–5.7 | 1.7 | cool | Warm transitional stream · high gradient |
MDNR has classified 13.1 of the 24 miles NHD carries for this stream — 56% of it. The typed water splits 7.9 mi cold-transitional, 5.2 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
- 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?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 9.3 of the 10.0 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 9.3 mi |
RM 10.0–0.0 | 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.
Access
4 mapped MDNR access sites within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Bear Creek 34th Street (RM 8.7), Bear Creek 38th Street (RM 5.7), Bear Creek 127th Avenue (RM 3.1), Bear Creek 126th Avenue (RM 1.6). 4 walk-in, 0 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
5 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 36,241 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Allegan | Michigan DNR | 26,797 |
| Allegan State Game Area | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 9,428 |
| North Park | Village of Hopkins | 8 |
| Hopkins Soccer Fields | — | 4 |
| Saylor's Landing | Calhoun County Conservation District | 3 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brook trout, Brown trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout at 41st Street (Allegan Co., through 2026); Brown trout at M-40 (Allegan Co., through 2026); Brook trout at Bear Creek (Allegan Co., through 1992).
Hatches on this water
47 insects are recorded from southern 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 |
| Hendrickson Ephemerella subvaria |
April–May | 45–58°F | #12–14 |
| Little Black Caddis Chimarra atterima |
April–May | 46–58°F | #16–20 |
| Caterpillar Lepidoptera larvae |
May–September | 55–75°F | #8–14 |
| Crayfish Orconectes spp. |
May–October | 55–78°F | #4–8 |
| Light Cahill Maccaffertium ithaca |
May–July | 55–68°F | #12–16 |
| Little Sulphur Ephemerella dorothea |
May–July | 50–62°F | #16–20 |
And 33 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.
Bear Creek sits in HUC 8 04050003, the Kalamazoo subbasin, and drains 20 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 22 NHD reaches carry the name for 23.5 miles in total — more than the 10.0 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.