BirdTrout
Huron River, Michigan
130 mapped river miles, draining 867 square miles across Livingston, Oakland, Washtenaw, Wayne counties, in the Huron subbasin watershed. A USGS gauge stands in it, but its record is too short for a measured July mean, so what this page knows about its temperature is today's reading and 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 12.1 miles away, at Lower River Rouge At Wayne — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — it has sent no water temperature for 4745 days, since 1 October 2013, so no number here comes from it.
The character of the water
A river, sixth order, 129.5 mapped miles across Livingston, Oakland, Washtenaw and Wayne counties in the Huron subbasin, draining 866.64 square miles at a median width of 30.1 feet. MDNR types only 5.4 miles, 4 percent coverage: 0.7 typed miles of Cool between river miles 129.5 and 125.0, and 4.7 typed miles of Warm from river mile 117.9 down to 57.8. MDNR classes the valley segment, not the water: no measured temperature exists; a gauge at Ann Arbor sits on the river itself. Regulation splits between 3.8 miles of Type 1, last Saturday in April through September 30th, and 28.1 miles of Type 4 open year-round. A 2018 survey in Washtenaw County at a mean width of 125.52 feet recorded smallmouth bass under general regulation, with no trout or pounds per acre. Stocking runs through 2026 with brown and rainbow trout at 1,161.1 per mile and rainbow at Rockwood at 11,955.3 per mile. Eighty public land units total 30,179 acres; one access site, one launch.
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 129.5–125.0 | 0.7 | cool | Warm transitional stream · medium gradient |
| RM 117.9–57.8 | 4.7 | warm | Warm stream · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 5.4 of the 129 miles NHD carries for this stream — 4% of it. The typed water splits 4.7 mi warm, 0.7 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
- Huron River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Huron River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Huron River — access, parking and public land
- Huron River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the Huron River good for brown trout?
- Is the Huron River good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 31.9 of the 129.5 mapped miles; 97.6 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 3.8 mi |
RM 105.8–101.9 | 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 28.1 mi |
RM 28.6–0.0 | 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.
Access
1 mapped MDNR access site within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Portage Lake (RM 71.7). 0 walk-in, 1 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
75 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 29,949 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Kensington Metropark | — | 4,459 |
| Island Lake State Recreation Area | — | 4,050 |
| Pontiac Lake State Recreation Area | — | 3,224 |
| Proud Lake State Recreation Area | — | 3,033 |
| Indian Springs Metropark | — | 2,545 |
| Oakwoods Metropark | Huron Clinton Metro Authority | 1,682 |
| Huron Meadows Metropark | — | 1,562 |
| Hudson Mills Metropolitan Park | — | 1,507 |
| Lower Huron Metropark | — | 1,504 |
| Willow Metropark | — | 1,453 |
Species
MDNR's most recent survey on this river ran in 2018 at Huron River, Washtenaw County, in a channel averaging 125.52 feet: smallmouth bass. MDNR strata: medium, smallmouth bass; regulation at the station, general regulation.The station has been surveyed in 6 years since 2005.
- Smallmouth bass surveyed
- Brown trout stocked only
- Channel catfish stocked only
- Coho salmon stocked only
- Rainbow trout stocked only
- Walleye stocked only
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout, Channel catfish, Coho salmon, Rainbow trout, Walleye. The most recent plants are Brown trout, Rainbow trout at Huron River (Oakland Co., through 2026); Rainbow trout at Huron River In Rockwood (Wayne Co., through 2026); Channel catfish at Island Lake Recreation Area (Livingston Co., through 2011).
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
27 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Mill Creek 20.9 mi · RM 65.5
- South Ore Creek 18.1 mi · RM 81.4
- Honey Creek 16.9 mi · RM 57.8
- Silver Creek 13.5 mi · RM 0.7
- Arms Creek 8.8 mi · RM 73.4
- Fleming Creek 8.6 mi · RM 47.2
- Norton Creek 8.2 mi · RM 103.8
- Portage River 7.9 mi · RM 71.7
- Port Creek 6.7 mi · RM 6.1
- Pettibone Creek 6.6 mi · RM 101.8
- Woodruff Creek 6.5 mi · RM 91.3
- Cedar Creek 6.0 mi · RM 114.9
Huron River sits in HUC 8 04100013, the Huron subbasin, and drains 867 square miles, Strahler order 6 at the mouth. 230 NHD reaches carry the name for 129.4 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.