BirdTrout

Joel Creek, Michigan

3.7 mapped river miles, draining 4 square miles, in the Betsy-Chocolay subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 13.8 miles away, and what this page knows about its temperature is MDNR's classification of the water itself.

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Public land — where the bank is open to walk and fish

USGS gauge — live water temperature

Water temperature — the colour of the river, and of every dot on it

58 64 70

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, 13.8 miles away at Miners River Nr Munising, Mi, 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. Nor is there a model to put in its place: that gauge has too little record to fit one, and this site does not print a temperature it cannot stand behind.

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: 04044755.

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.

MDNR has classified 0.5 of the 3.7 miles NHD carries for this stream — 14% 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

• Joel Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
• When to fish Joel Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
• How to get to Joel Creek — access, parking and public land
• Joel Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach

Regulations

MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 3.5 of the 3.7 mapped miles; 0.2 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.

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

1 unit of public or open-access land touches this river, 16,906 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.

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.

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.

• Au Train River 19.4 mi · RM 0.0

Joel Creek sits in HUC 8 04020201, the Betsy-Chocolay subbasin, and drains 4 square miles, Strahler order 2 at the mouth. 11 NHD reaches carry the name for 3.7 miles in total.

Other water nearby

The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.

• Cole Creek 1.2 mi
• Gongeau Creek 1.6 mi
• Hanson Creek 1.7 mi
• Anna River 2.3 mi
• Valley Spur Creek 3.0 mi
• Bohemian Creek 3.5 mi