BirdTrout
Harding Creek, Michigan
2.3 mapped river miles, draining 3 square miles, in the Menominee subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 20.5 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 gauge, and why there is no reading from it
The nearest gauge, 20.5 miles away at Menominee River, is not reporting water temperature: its water-temperature series is empty, and was last stamped 11 June 2026. A stopped gauge repeats its last value in silence, so there is no live temperature here. What is below is modelled from the years that gauge did report: this gauge's own fitted line, its intercept plus its slope against the 3-day mean air temperature over it, fitted on its own daily record, ±2.8 °F. The shape of the week at that gauge, not a thermometer in this stream.
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 2.3–2.3 | 1.0 | cold | Cold stream · high gradient |
MDNR has classified 1.0 of the 3.5 miles NHD carries for this stream — 29% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cold. 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
- Harding Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Harding Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Harding Creek — access, parking and public land
- Harding Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Public land on the river
1 unit of public or open-access land touches this river, 93,118 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal Falls Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 93,118 |
Species
Trout water by MDNR's classification, which types it cold — 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
42 insects are recorded from the Upper Peninsula, 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Giant Black Stonefly (Salmonfly) Pteronarcys dorsata |
May–June | 50–62°F | #4–6 |
| Green Sedge Rhyacophila spp. |
May–August | 48–64°F | #12–16 |
And 28 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.
- Phillips Creek 11.2 mi · RM 0.0
Harding Creek sits in HUC 8 04030108, the Menominee subbasin, and drains 3 square miles, Strahler order 2 at the mouth. 7 NHD reaches carry the name for 3.5 miles in total — more than the 2.3 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.