BirdTrout
Belle River, Michigan
74 mapped river miles, draining 228 square miles across Saint Clair county, in the St. Clair subbasin watershed. A USGS gauge stands in it, but its record is too short for a measured July mean, so what this page knows about its temperature is today's reading and 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 19.9 miles away, at Clinton River At Mount Clemens — 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
Seventy-one point nine of this river's 73.8 mapped miles fall under Type 4 regulation, open January 1 through December 31, which makes it a year-round fishery along nearly its entire length in Saint Clair County. It is fifth-order water, a median 32.3 feet wide, draining 228.07 square miles of the St. Clair subbasin. MDNR types 39.4 miles, 53 percent: a 1.2-mile cold-transitional reach at high gradient between river mile 73.0 and 67.7, a short cool stretch below that, then 37.3 miles from river mile 62.1 to 1.8 classed warm at very low gradient. Those classes describe the valley segment, not the water, so no measured temperature applies; a gauge sits on the river itself. Rainbow trout have been stocked at Big Hand Rd. since 1991, continuing through 2026, at 1,810.4 fish per mile. Public land is thin: seven units, 694 acres total, and no access sites or launches are recorded.
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 73.0–67.7 | 1.2 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · high gradient |
| RM 65.0–64.1 | 0.9 | cool | Warm transitional stream · medium gradient |
| RM 62.1–1.8 | 37.3 | warm | Warm small river · very low gradient |
MDNR has classified 39.4 of the 74 miles NHD carries for this stream — 53% of it. The typed water splits 37.3 mi warm, 1.2 mi cold-transitional, 0.9 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
- Belle River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Belle River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Belle River — access, parking and public land
- Belle River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the Belle River good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 71.9 of the 73.8 mapped miles; 1.9 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 71.9 mi |
RM 73.8–0.3 | 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" |
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
7 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 694 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Columbus County Park | St Clair County | 427 |
| General Squier Memorial Park | Lapeer County Parks | 85 |
| Local Forest | County | 81 |
| East China Township Park | — | 77 |
| Belle River Park | — | 12 |
| Riseman Refuge | Six Rivers land Conservancy | 11 |
| Region 3 | Michigan DNR | 1 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Rainbow trout. The most recent plants are Rainbow trout at Big Hand Rd (Saint Clair Co., through 2026); Rainbow trout at Belle River (Saint Clair Co., through 2012).
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
12 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- North Branch Belle River 8.6 mi · RM 63.0
- Cox Doty Drain 7.4 mi · RM 51.2
- Jerome Creek 6.4 mi · RM 22.4
- Baird Drain 4.7 mi · RM 2.3
- Harris Drain 4.3 mi · RM 7.6
- Weston Drain 3.7 mi · RM 65.6
- Sage Creek 2.8 mi · RM 39.1
- Corneil Drain 2.6 mi · RM 61.2
- Eschenburg Drain 2.0 mi · RM 16.6
- Ashery Creek 1.9 mi · RM 35.6
- Schneider China Drain 1.8 mi · RM 9.4
- Kreusel Drain 1.7 mi · RM 10.5
Belle River sits in HUC 8 04090001, the St. Clair subbasin, and drains 228 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 105 NHD reaches carry the name for 73.8 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.