BirdTrout
Fish Creek, Michigan
42 mapped river miles, draining 196 square miles across Ionia, Montcalm counties, in the Grand River basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 17.0 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 17.0 miles away, at Wolf Creek At Pine Grove Road Near Vestaburg, Mi — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The pills above go to USGS. These are this site's pages for the same gauges — a thirty-day chart, the monthly means, the record, and today's reading against the five-year normal for today: 04154612.
The character of the water
A medium stream of 41.5 mapped miles across Montcalm and Ionia counties, Fish Creek runs 31.0 feet wide at the median and drains 195.85 square miles to a Strahler order of 4. MDNR typing covers 39.6 miles, 86 percent of it: the upper 19.8 miles, from river mile 41.5 down to 20.9, are Cold stream on a medium gradient, and the 19.8 miles below river mile 20.9 are warm transitional small river, classed Cool. Those classes describe the valley segment rather than measured water, and the nearest gauge sits 17.0 miles off. Thirteen miles carry Type 1 regulations, open the last Saturday in April through September 30th; 27.0 miles are Type 4, open year round. Brown trout have gone in at Sloan and Vickeryville roads since 1983, rainbows at Stoudt Road since 1990, all through 2026. Eleven public land units hold 16,331 acres, led by Maple River State Game Area at 9,779. No access sites or launches are mapped.
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 41.5–20.9 | 19.8 | cold | Cold stream · medium gradient |
| RM 20.9–0.0 | 19.8 | cool | Warm transitional small river · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 39.6 of the 46 miles NHD carries for this stream — 86% of it. The typed water splits 19.8 mi cold, 19.8 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.
Questions about this river
- Fish Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Fish Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Fish Creek — access, parking and public land
- Fish Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Fish Creek good for brown trout?
- Is Fish Creek good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 40.0 of the 41.5 mapped miles; 1.5 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 13.0 mi |
RM 41.5–28.0 | 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 27.0 mi |
RM 28.0–0.0 | 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
10 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 16,312 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Maple River State Game Area | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 9,779 |
| Stanton State Game Area | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 4,617 |
| Vestaburg State Game Area | Michigan DNR Wildlife Division | 1,509 |
| Maple River | Michigan DNR | 308 |
| Haradine Memorial Park | CIty of Carson City | 27 |
| West Park | City of Carson City | 24 |
| City Of Carson City Park | City | 22 |
| Grove Park | City of Carson City | 14 |
| Ballfield | City | 8 |
| Mill Pond Park | — | 3 |
Species
- Bluegill stocked only
- Brown trout stocked only
- Channel catfish stocked only
- Fathead minnow stocked only
- Rainbow trout stocked only
- Yellow Perch stocked only
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Bluegill, Brown trout, Channel catfish, Fathead minnow, Rainbow trout, Yellow Perch. The most recent plants are Rainbow trout at Stoudt Rd (Ionia Co., through 2026); Brown trout at Sloan Rd. (Montcalm Co., through 2026); Brown trout at Vickeryville Rd. (Montcalm 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
5 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Maple River 74.2 mi · RM 0.0
- Butternut Creek 16.3 mi · RM 13.5
- West Branch Fish Creek 15.1 mi · RM 28.0
- Fifield Creek 4.5 mi · RM 5.5
- Connor Drain 3.2 mi · RM 1.8
Fish Creek sits in HUC 8 04050004, 04050005, 04050006 and 04050007, the Grand River basin, and drains 196 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 42 NHD reaches carry the name for 46.1 miles in total — more than the 41.5 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.