BirdTrout
Big Creek, Michigan
4.5 mapped river miles, draining 168 square miles, in the Au Sable River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 1.5 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 7.2 miles away, at Au Sable River At Mio — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — it reported on only 16 of the last 30 days, so no number here comes from it.
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: 04136000.
The character of the water
A median width of 34.1 feet across a drainage of 168.33 square miles makes this a fourth-order medium stream, and it enters the Au Sable River at river mile 0.0. Mapping covers 4.5 miles against 5.87 miles in the NHD. The West and East Branches, 33.8 and 25.6 miles, both arrive at river mile 4.5; Red Creek adds 2.8 miles at river mile 1.1. MDNR types only 2.5 miles, 43 percent of the length, calling the reach from river mile 1.1 down to the mouth cold-transitional, a cold transitional small river on medium gradient. That class describes the valley segment rather than the water, and no measured temperature exists here; the nearest gauge, Au Sable River near Red Oak, sits 1.5 miles off. Type 1 regulations cover 4.3 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, five fish with no more than three 15 inches or greater. 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 1.1–0.0 | 2.5 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional small river · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 2.5 of the 5.9 miles NHD carries for this stream — 43% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cold-transitional. 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 4.3 of the 4.5 mapped miles; 0.2 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 4.3 mi |
RM 4.5–0.0 | 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.
Blue Ribbon. Middle, West, and East Branches Big Creek (BR 22), 8.9 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: West Branch: Junction with Hunt Creek, East Branch: T25N, R2E, Sec. 6; downstream: Main Branch AuSable, Main Branch AuSable.
Public land on the river
1 unit of public or open-access land touches this river, 89,732 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Au Sable State Forest - Grayling Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 89,732 |
Species
Trout water by MDNR's classification, which types it cold-transitional — a statement about the water's temperature, not a fish record. No MDNR survey or stocking record for this river is 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
4 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Au Sable River 137.7 mi · RM 0.0
- West Branch Big Creek 33.8 mi · RM 4.5
- East Branch Big Creek 25.6 mi · RM 4.5
- Red Creek 2.8 mi · RM 1.1
Big Creek sits in HUC 8 04070007, the Au Sable River watershed, and drains 168 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 4 NHD reaches carry the name for 5.9 miles in total — more than the 4.5 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.