BirdTrout
East Branch Au Gres River, Michigan
18.8 mapped river miles, draining 146 square miles, in the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 13.5 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 13.5 miles away, at Au Sable River — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The character of the water
Most of this stream is open year round: Type 3 regulations cover 15.6 of its 18.8 mapped miles, January 1st through December 31st, with Type 1 on the lowest 2.9 miles and a closure to fishing between the DNR lamprey weir and Legget Road from December 1 to the Friday before the last Saturday in April. Creel is five fish, no more than three 15 inches or greater. A 7.7-mile blue ribbon designation runs from the junction of Hale Creek and Smith Creek down to Whittemore Road. The channel carries a median width of 28.3 feet on a fifth-order drainage of 145.74 square miles. MDNR types 10.8 miles, 58 percent: 1.6 cold-transitional miles from river mile 18.8 to 15.7, then 9.2 cool miles from 14.3 to 4.8 on low gradient. Those classes describe the valley, not the water, and no measured temperature exists here; the nearest gauge is 13.5 miles away. 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 18.8–15.7 | 1.6 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional small river · medium gradient |
| RM 14.3–4.8 | 9.2 | cool | Warm transitional small river · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 10.8 of the 18.8 miles NHD carries for this stream — 58% of it. The typed water splits 9.2 mi cool, 1.6 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
- East Branch Au Gres River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the East Branch Au Gres River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the East Branch Au Gres River — access, parking and public land
- East Branch Au Gres River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 18.5 of the 18.8 mapped miles; 0.3 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 2.9 mi |
RM 18.8–15.8 | 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 3 15.6 mi |
RM 15.8–0.0 | 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.
Type 3: Closed to fishing December 1 - Friday before last Saturday in April: Between DNR lamprey weir and Legget Road.
Blue Ribbon. East Branch AuGres River (BR 14), 7.7 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: Junction of Hale Creek and Smith Creek; downstream: Whittemore Road.
Public land on the river
2 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 33,155 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Au Sable State Forest - Gladwin Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 33,124 |
| Singing Bridge | Michigan DNR | 31 |
Species
No species records for this water 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
10 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Smith Creek 15.4 mi · RM 18.8
- Old Channel East Branch Au Gres River 6.0 mi · RM 3.3
- Bear Creek 5.0 mi · RM 2.9
- Cooper Creek 4.9 mi · RM 17.3
- Alabaster Whitney Drain 4.0 mi · RM 0.5
- Parent Drain 3.3 mi · RM 5.8
- McMullen Drain 2.3 mi · RM 5.8
- Stowell Drain 1.4 mi · RM 3.8
- Guiley Creek 1.4 mi · RM 18.8
- Ray Drain 0.6 mi · RM 0.2
East Branch Au Gres River sits in HUC 8 04080101, the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin, and drains 146 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 27 NHD reaches carry the name for 18.8 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.