BirdTrout
Bear River, Michigan
19.6 mapped river miles, draining 105 square miles across Charlevoix, Emmet counties, in the Boardman-Charlevoix subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 16.6 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 gauge, and why there is no reading from it
The nearest gauge, 16.6 miles away at Jordan River Near East Jordan, Mi, is not reporting water temperature: USGS carries no water-temperature series for it at all. A stopped gauge repeats its last value in silence, so there is no live temperature here. Nor is there a model to put in its place: that gauge has too little record to fit one, and this site does not print a temperature it cannot stand behind.
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: 04127800.
The character of the water
Charlevoix and Emmet county water, 19.6 mapped miles with a median width of 27.2 feet, draining 104.77 square miles at fifth order in the Boardman-Charlevoix subbasin. Most of it, 14.0 miles, falls under year-round Type 4 regulations, January 1st through December 31st, with a further 0.1 mile under Type 1; both allow artificial lures and all types of natural bait, creel 5 fish with no more than 3 trout 15 inches or greater. Stocking at the City Park site in Emmet County has continued from 1980 through 2026, brown and rainbow trout at 4,266.4 per mile, while four other sites stopped in 2004. MDNR types 5.5 miles, 28 percent, as cool, a warm transitional stream at very low gradient between river miles 14.6 and 3.1; that class describes the valley segment and no temperature is measured here. Twelve public units total 54,544 acres, nearly all of it the Gaylord Management Unit. Hay Marsh Creek enters at river mile 13.5, Spring Brook at 12.2.
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 14.6–3.1 | 5.5 | cool | Warm transitional stream · very low gradient |
MDNR has classified 5.5 of the 19.6 miles NHD carries for this stream — 28% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, 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.
The lake run
The Bear River is a Lake Michigan tributary with 0.1 miles of run corridor on it — salmon, steelhead and lake-run brown trout, on their own calendar and under their own rules. Run timing, species and access on the Bear River →
Questions about this river
- Bear River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Bear River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Bear River — access, parking and public land
- Bear River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the Bear River good for brook trout?
- Is the Bear River good for brown trout?
- Is the Bear River good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 14.1 of the 19.6 mapped miles; 5.5 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 4 14.0 mi |
RM 14.6–0.1 | January 1st–December 31st | Brook trout 7", Brown trout 10", Rainbow trout / steelhead 10", Lake trout 10", Chinook salmon 10", Coho salmon 10", Pink salmon 10", Atlantic salmon 10" |
|
Type 1 0.1 mi |
RM 0.1–0.0 | 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.
Public land on the river
12 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 54,545 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Gaylord Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 53,985 |
| Mnrtf Parcel 121 | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 217 |
| Schoof's Creek Natural Area | — | 163 |
| River Road Sports Complex | City of Petoskey | 89 |
| Bayfront Park | — | 39 |
| Bear River Valley Recreation Area | — | 35 |
| Riverbend Park | City | 5 |
| Melrose Township Park | — | 4 |
| River Bend Park | — | 4 |
| Mineral Well Park | — | 2 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brook trout, Brown trout, Rainbow trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout, Rainbow trout at City Park (Emmet Co., through 2026); Brook trout, Brown trout at Springvale Road (Charlevoix Co., through 2004); Brook trout, Brown trout at Us 131 Bridge (Charlevoix Co., through 2004).
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.
Bear River sits in HUC 8 04060105, the Boardman-Charlevoix subbasin, and drains 105 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 39 NHD reaches carry the name for 19.6 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.