BirdTrout

Brooks Creek, Michigan

18.1 mapped river miles, draining 53 square miles across Newaygo county, in the Muskegon River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 14.2 miles away, and what this page knows about its temperature is MDNR's classification of the water itself.

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Public land — where the bank is open to walk and fish

USGS gauge — live water temperature

Water temperature — the colour of the river, and of every dot on it

58 64 70

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 14.2 miles away, at Muskegon River — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.

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.

MDNR has classified 4.0 of the 22 miles NHD carries for this stream — 18% of it. The typed water splits 3.9 mi cool, 0.1 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.

Questions about this river

• Brooks Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
• When to fish Brooks Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
• How to get to Brooks Creek — access, parking and public land
• Brooks Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
• Is Brooks Creek good for brown trout?

Regulations

MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 17.1 of the 18.1 mapped miles; 1.0 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.

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, 21 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.

Species

• Brown trout stocked only

Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout at 112th Avenue (Newaygo Co., through 1988); Brown trout at 64th Avenue (Newaygo Co., through 1988); Brown trout at 72nd Avenue (Newaygo Co., through 1988).

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.

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

4 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.

• Muskegon River 231.0 mi · RM 0.0
• Graham Creek 4.7 mi · RM 4.9
• Butler Creek 3.9 mi · RM 11.2
• Cow Creek 2.8 mi · RM 3.9

Brooks Creek sits in HUC 8 04060102, the Muskegon River watershed, and drains 53 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 31 NHD reaches carry the name for 21.9 miles in total — more than the 18.1 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.

• Maple River 1.9 mi
• Sweeter Creek 2.2 mi
• Little Henna Creek 2.2 mi
• Little Cedar Creek 2.3 mi
• Butler Creek 2.6 mi
• Sand Creek 2.6 mi