BirdTrout
Big Iron River, Michigan
28 mapped river miles, draining 99 square miles, in the Black-Presque Isle subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 12.7 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 12.7 miles away, at Mineral River Ds Of Native Ck Nr Silver City, Mi — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The character of the water
Twenty-seven and a half mapped miles of narrow water in the Black-Presque Isle subbasin, 27.48 in the NHD, with a median width of just 12.2 feet against a 98.95-square-mile drainage and fifth-order Strahler ranking. Eight tributaries enter along the way, the largest being the West Branch Iron River, 21.4 miles long, at river mile 7.6. MDNR types 11.5 miles, 42 percent of the length, and splits the river cleanly: 4.3 cold-transitional miles at high gradient in the headwaters between river miles 27.2 and 18.1, and 7.2 warm miles, typed as warm small river, from river mile 7.2 to the mouth. Those classes describe the valley segment, not the water; no temperature has been measured here, and the nearest gauge on the Presque Isle River is 16.3 miles off. Regulations divide too, 9.7 miles under Type 1 with an April-to-September 30th season and 16.7 miles under year-round Type 3, both allowing artificial lures and all natural bait, with a creel of 5 fish.
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 27.2–18.1 | 4.3 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · high gradient |
| RM 7.2–0.0 | 7.2 | warm | Warm small river · high gradient |
MDNR has classified 11.5 of the 27 miles NHD carries for this stream — 42% of it. The typed water splits 7.2 mi warm, 4.3 mi 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.
The lake run
The Big Iron River is a Lake Superior tributary with 24.6 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 Big Iron River →
Questions about this river
- Big Iron River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Big Iron River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Big Iron River — access, parking and public land
- Big Iron River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 26.4 of the 27.5 mapped miles; 1.1 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 9.7 mi |
RM 27.5–17.1 | 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" |
|
Type 3 16.7 mi |
RM 17.1–0.0 | January 1st–December 31st | Brook trout 15", Brown trout 15", 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
2 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 63,597 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Ottawa National Forest - Bergland Ranger District | United States Forest Service | 63,597 |
| Big Iron River | Michigan DNR | 0 |
Species
No species records for this water in the files this site reads.
Hatches on this water
42 insects are recorded from the Upper Peninsula, 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Giant Black Stonefly (Salmonfly) Pteronarcys dorsata |
May–June | 50–62°F | #4–6 |
| Green Sedge Rhyacophila spp. |
May–August | 48–64°F | #12–16 |
And 28 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
9 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- West Branch Iron River 21.4 mi · RM 7.6
- White Deer Creek 7.6 mi · RM 17.1
- Anderson Creek 7.5 mi · RM 7.2
- Aldridge Creek 5.5 mi · RM 14.8
- Amundsan Creek 4.8 mi · RM 21.3
- Rapid River 4.5 mi · RM 22.8
- Nugget Creek 4.0 mi · RM 12.9
- Mourning Creek 1.7 mi · RM 11.1
- Crazy Creek 1.2 mi · RM 22.0
Big Iron River sits in HUC 8 04020101, the Black-Presque Isle subbasin, and drains 99 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 50 NHD reaches carry the name for 27.5 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.