BirdTrout
Gilchrist Creek, Michigan
14.4 mapped river miles, draining 43 square miles across Montmorency county, in the Thunder Bay subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 15.4 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 15.4 miles away, at Au Sable River At Mio — 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: 04136500.
Questions about this river
- Gilchrist Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Gilchrist Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Gilchrist Creek — access, parking and public land
- Gilchrist Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Gilchrist Creek good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 14.1 of the 14.4 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 14.1 mi |
RM 14.4–0.0 | 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 types of natural bait may be used.
Blue Ribbon. Gilchrist Creek (BR 33), 8.0 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: Branch of Greasey Creek; downstream: Thunder Bay River.
Public land on the river
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 86,355 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Mackinac State Forest - Atlanta Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 69,120 |
| Au Sable State Forest - Grayling Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 8,649 |
| Atlanta State Forest Area | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 7,735 |
| Lumberlost Farms | — | 852 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Rainbow trout. The most recent plants are Rainbow trout at Gilchrist Creek, Below Co 612 (Montmorency Co., through 1991); Rainbow trout at Gilchrist Creek,above Rd. 612 (Montmorency Co., through 1991).
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
4 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Thunder Bay River 76.0 mi · RM 0.0
- Nugent Creek 2.5 mi · RM 5.1
- Lockwood Creek 2.4 mi · RM 4.3
- Greasy Creek 1.5 mi · RM 8.8
Gilchrist Creek sits in HUC 8 04070006, the Thunder Bay subbasin, and drains 43 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 17 NHD reaches carry the name for 14.4 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.