BirdTrout
Cedar River, Michigan
67 mapped river miles, draining 375 square miles, in the Cedar-Ford subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 13.9 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 live reading
The nearest gauge is 21.4 miles away, at Escanaba River — 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
The Cedar River runs 67.2 mapped miles through the Cedar-Ford subbasin, matching 67.11 in the NHD, a river 39.6 feet wide at the median draining 374.61 square miles at Strahler order 5. Regulations split it: 21.7 miles of Type 1, open the last Saturday in April through September 30th, and 43.6 miles of Type 4, open January 1st through December 31st, both allowing artificial lures and all types of natural bait under a creel of 5 fish with no more than 3 trout 15" or greater. MDNR types 22.9 miles, 34 percent, as 8.0 miles of Cool warm transitional small river from river mile 46.6 to 31.6 and 14.9 miles of Warm small river from 19.2 to 0.5, both low gradient. No measured temperature exists; the Ford River gauge is 13.9 miles off. Seven public land units total 79,078 acres. Eight tributaries enter, the longest Fortyseven Mile Creek at 20.2 miles. 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 46.6–31.6 | 8.0 | cool | Warm transitional small river · low gradient |
| RM 19.2–0.5 | 14.9 | warm | Warm small river · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 22.9 of the 67 miles NHD carries for this stream — 34% of it. The typed water splits 14.9 mi warm, 8.0 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.
The lake run
The Cedar River (Menominee County) is a Lake Michigan tributary with 66.2 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 Cedar River (Menominee County) →
Questions about this river
- Cedar River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Cedar River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Cedar River — access, parking and public land
- Cedar River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 65.3 of the 67.2 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 1 21.7 mi |
RM 67.2–44.5 | 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 4 43.6 mi |
RM 44.5–0.0 | 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, 79,078 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Escanaba Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 56,723 |
| Escanaba River State Forest - Escanaba Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 21,307 |
| J.W. Wells State Park | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 718 |
| Cedar River | Michigan DNR | 251 |
| Menominee County | County | 40 |
| Veterans Memorial Park | Spalding Township | 38 |
| Islands | Michigan DNR | 1 |
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
18 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Fortyseven Mile Creek 20.2 mi · RM 34.0
- Crooked Creek 15.4 mi · RM 19.2
- Walton River 12.2 mi · RM 0.3
- Devils Creek 11.8 mi · RM 11.5
- Elwood Creek 11.5 mi · RM 2.7
- Wilson Creek 11.4 mi · RM 38.1
- West Branch Cedar River 9.4 mi · RM 48.4
- Advent Creek 5.0 mi · RM 22.4
- Degraves Creek 4.5 mi · RM 17.5
- Mashek Creek 4.3 mi · RM 28.7
- Houle Creek 4.1 mi · RM 33.4
- Reed Brook 3.6 mi · RM 41.3
Cedar River sits in HUC 8 04030109, the Cedar-Ford subbasin, and drains 375 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 54 NHD reaches carry the name for 67.1 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.