BirdTrout
Crockery Creek, Michigan
39 mapped river miles, draining 161 square miles across Muskegon, Newaygo counties, in the Grand River basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 10.0 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 18.4 miles away, at Grand River At N Park St Ne, Grand Rapids — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — it has sent no water temperature for 727 days, since 1 October 2024, so no number here comes from it.
The character of the water
Thirty-eight and six tenths of mapped miles through Muskegon and Newaygo counties, a median 29.5 feet wide, draining 160.75 square miles at Strahler order 5 in the Grand River basin. MDNR types 9.2 miles, from river mile 20.0 to 0.0, as Cool, a warm transitional small river on very low gradient, which is 24 percent coverage; the class describes the valley segment rather than the water, so no measured temperature exists here, and the nearest gauge, on the Grand River near Eastmanville, is 10.0 miles off. Regulation is 7.2 miles Type 1 and 33.4 miles Type 4, the latter open January 1st through December 31st. Stocking is substantial and ongoing: Ravenna Park at 2,366.4 per mile with brown and rainbow trout, Ellis Road at 266.3, Laketon Ave at 246.4, and Moore Road at 151.1, all running through 2026 from starts in 1979 and 1981. Public land is limited, four units totaling 377 acres.
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 20.0–0.0 | 9.2 | cool | Warm transitional small river · very low gradient |
MDNR has classified 9.2 of the 39 miles NHD carries for this stream — 24% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, 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
- Crockery Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Crockery Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Crockery Creek — access, parking and public land
- Crockery Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Crockery Creek good for brook trout?
- Is Crockery Creek good for brown trout?
- Is Crockery Creek good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 40.6 of the 38.6 mapped miles; 0.0 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.
| Type | Where | Season | Minimum sizes |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Type 1 7.2 mi |
RM 38.6–34.8 | 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 33.4 mi |
RM 34.8–0.1 | 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
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 337 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Crockery Creek Natural Area | Ottawa County | 320 |
| Ravenna School Forest | City | 9 |
| Thatcher Park | — | 9 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brook trout, Brown trout, Rainbow trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout, Rainbow trout at Ravenna Park (Muskegon Co., through 2026); Brown trout at Ellis Road (Muskegon Co., through 2026); Brown trout, Rainbow trout at Moore Road (Muskegon Co., through 2026).
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.
| 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 |
| Hendrickson Ephemerella subvaria |
April–May | 45–58°F | #12–14 |
| Little Black Caddis Chimarra atterima |
April–May | 46–58°F | #16–20 |
| Caterpillar Lepidoptera larvae |
May–September | 55–75°F | #8–14 |
| Crayfish Orconectes spp. |
May–October | 55–78°F | #4–8 |
| Light Cahill Maccaffertium ithaca |
May–July | 55–68°F | #12–16 |
| Little Sulphur Ephemerella dorothea |
May–July | 50–62°F | #16–20 |
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
10 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Grand River 189.8 mi · RM 0.0
- Rio Grande Creek 10.8 mi · RM 14.5
- North Branch Crockery Creek 10.1 mi · RM 20.0
- Brandy Creek 4.9 mi · RM 4.7
- Indian Run 4.5 mi · RM 33.1
- Sanford Drain 4.1 mi · RM 7.5
- Ovidhall Lake Creek 4.0 mi · RM 32.2
- Eastland Drain 3.1 mi · RM 20.8
- Tidioute Drain 1.9 mi · RM 18.4
- DeVries Drain 1.6 mi · RM 4.1
Crockery Creek sits in HUC 8 04050004, 04050005, 04050006 and 04050007, the Grand River basin, and drains 161 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 47 NHD reaches carry the name for 38.5 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.