BirdTrout
Big Creek, Michigan
22 mapped river miles, draining 35 square miles, in the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 7.9 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, 7.9 miles away at Rifle River Near Sterling, is not reporting water temperature: it has sent no water temperature for 720 days, since 8 October 2024. A stopped gauge repeats its last value in silence, so there is no live temperature here. What is below is modelled from the years that gauge did report: this gauge's own fitted line, its intercept plus its slope against the 4-day mean air temperature over it, fitted on its own daily record, ±2.2 °F. The shape of the week at that gauge, not a thermometer in this stream.
The character of the water
A medium stream in the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin, 21.6 mapped miles at a median width of 10.9 feet, fourth order, draining 34.77 square miles. Regulations cover 10.5 miles as Type 1, last Saturday in April through September 30th, artificial lures and all types of natural bait permitted, creel 5 fish with no more than 3 trout 15 inches or greater. MDNR types 4.4 miles, 20 percent of the length, and that class describes the valley segment rather than the water: cool between river miles 10.4 and 7.0 at low gradient, then warm from 7.0 down to 0.4 at very low gradient. No temperature is measured here, and the nearest gauge stands 7.9 miles away. Chub Creek enters at river mile 10.4, Plains Creek at 9.2, Duck Lake Drain at 3.3. Five public units total 36,182 acres, the Au Sable State Forest Gladwin Unit accounting for 33,124. The record lists no access sites, no surveys and no stocking.
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 10.4–7.0 | 1.8 | cool | Warm transitional stream · low gradient |
| RM 7.0–0.4 | 2.6 | warm | Warm stream · very low gradient |
MDNR has classified 4.4 of the 22 miles NHD carries for this stream — 20% of it. The typed water splits 2.6 mi warm, 1.8 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
- Big Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Big Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Big Creek — access, parking and public land
- Big Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 10.5 of the 21.6 mapped miles; 11.1 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 10.5 mi |
RM 21.6–10.4 | 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
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 36,141 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Au Sable State Forest - Gladwin Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 33,124 |
| Wigwam Bay State Wildlife Area | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 2,892 |
| Township Of Clayton Park | City | 124 |
| Wigwam Bay State Wildlife Area | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 1 |
Species
No species records for this water 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
3 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Plains Creek 4.4 mi · RM 9.2
- Duck Lake Drain 3.4 mi · RM 3.3
- Chub Creek 3.4 mi · RM 10.4
Big Creek sits in HUC 8 04080101, the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin, and drains 35 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 38 NHD reaches carry the name for 21.5 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.