BirdTrout
Freeman Creek, Michigan
11.4 mapped river miles, draining 19 square miles, in the Pere Marquette-White subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 19.4 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 19.4 miles away, at Little Manistee River — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The character of the water
A small stream in the Pere Marquette-White subbasin, 11.4 mapped miles against 17.3 in the NHD, a median 9.8 feet wide, draining 18.93 square miles at Strahler order 3. It ends at the Big South Branch Pere Marquette River, listed at 52.2 miles and met at river mile 0.0 — the receiving water, not a feeder. MDNR types 1.7 miles at river mile 10.5 as Cold-transitional, a cold transitional stream on medium gradient — 10 percent of the length, and the class describes the valley segment rather than the water, so no measured temperature exists here; the nearest gauge, on the Little Manistee River, is 19.4 miles off. Type 1 regulation covers 10.9 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, with single-pointed hook and jig restrictions from August 1 through November 15 and a creel of 5 fish, no more than 3 trout 15" or greater. Four public units total 94,964 acres, led by the Manistee National Forest's Baldwin Ranger District at 66,846.
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 10.5–10.5 | 1.7 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 1.7 of the 17.3 miles NHD carries for this stream — 10% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, 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
- Freeman Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Freeman Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Freeman Creek — access, parking and public land
- Freeman Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 10.9 of the 11.4 mapped miles; 0.5 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 10.9 mi |
RM 11.4–0.0 | 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" |
Creel across all types: 5 fish, with no more than 3 trout 15“ or greater. Zero (0) Arctic Grayling. Tackle: Artificial lures and all natural bait types allowed. Aug 1–Nov 15: terminal fishing gear restricted to single-pointed hooks & jigs ≤½" from point to shank or treble hooks ≤⅜" from point to shank only when attached to artificial lures.
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 94,887 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Manistee National Forest - Baldwin Ranger District | United States Forest Service | 66,846 |
| Manistee National Forest - Manistee Ranger District | United States Forest Service | 28,002 |
| Walkerville School Forest | Walkerville Rural Community Schools | 40 |
Species
Trout water by MDNR's classification, which types it cold-transitional — a statement about the water's temperature, not a fish record. No MDNR survey or stocking record for this river is 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
1 named stream meets this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Big South Branch Pere Marquette River 52.2 mi · RM 0.0
Freeman Creek sits in HUC 8 04060101, the Pere Marquette-White subbasin, and drains 19 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 27 NHD reaches carry the name for 17.3 miles in total — more than the 11.4 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.