BirdTrout
Kalamazoo River, Michigan
130 mapped river miles, draining 1,940 square miles across Allegan, Calhoun, Kalamazoo counties, in the Kalamazoo subbasin watershed. 2 USGS gauges report water temperature on it, and this page reads all 2.
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.
Water temperature right now
Live from the USGS — every pill above is live, so the numbers you are reading are the latest continuous readings at each gauge. Provisional and unreviewed, as all real-time data is. If that fetch cannot happen — you are offline, or the USGS is down — the pills fall back to the last value we cached, 30 September 2026, 13:43 UTC.
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: 041035285, 04108660.
The character of the water
A river of 1,939.72 square miles and Strahler order 6, the Kalamazoo runs 130.4 mapped miles at a median width of 75.6 feet. Two gauges anchor its temperature, each sitting at the downstream end of its reach, so each July mean represents the warmest water in that stretch and everything above runs colder. Dickinson Creek near Ceresco, at river mile 62.2 over a 68.2-mile reach, averaged 65.0 degrees in July with a 7.9-degree range, drawn from a single July of record in 2026 in high-groundwater country. The New Richmond gauge, at river mile 7.3 over 54.9 miles, averaged 77.6 degrees with an 11.2-degree range across eight Julys from 2019 through 2026, groundwater low. Both carry 2.0 degrees of uncertainty. Type 3 regulations cover 28.9 miles, open year round. Stocking at Allegan Dam runs coho, rainbow, and walleye through 2025. Fourteen access sites include ten launches, and 62 public land units total 41,951 acres.
Thermal classification
Each gauge carries a July mean built from its own daily record — 1 Julys, 2026–2026, measured rather than modelled. A July mean is what decides which of the four bands a stretch of water belongs to, because July is when a trout river either holds or does not.
| Reach | July mean | Band | Groundwater |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dickinson Creek near Ceresco RM 130.4–21.8 |
65.0 °F | cool | high |
|
New Richmond RM 21.8–0.0 |
77.6 °F | warm | low |
Every gauge sits at the bottom of its segment, so each number is the warm end and the water above it runs colder. ±2.0 °F on the fit.
The lake run
The Kalamazoo River is a Lake Michigan tributary with 36.4 miles of run corridor on it — salmon, steelhead and lake-run brown trout, on their own calendar and under their own rules. Run timing, species and access on the Kalamazoo River →
Questions about this river
- Kalamazoo River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Kalamazoo River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Kalamazoo River — access, parking and public land
- Kalamazoo River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the Kalamazoo River good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 28.9 of the 130.4 mapped miles; 101.5 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 3 28.9 mi |
RM 26.4–3.8 | January 1st–December 31st | Brook trout 15", Brown trout 15", 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.
Fishable reaches
River miles are measured above the mouth, along the mapped mainstem. The reach breaks are the gauges, which is also how the temperature model divides the river.
| Reach | Miles | July mean | Access on it |
|---|---|---|---|
|
RM 130.4–21.8 down to Dickinson Creek near Ceresco |
108.6 | 65.0 °F | 10 sites — River Park and 9 more |
|
RM 21.8–0.0 down to New Richmond |
54.9 | 77.6 °F | 4 sites — New Richmond and 3 more |
14 mapped access sites on the mainstem: 4 walk-in, 10 boat or canoe launches. Source: MDNR.
USGS gauges
Every gauge on the mainstem, upstream first. Links go to the USGS monitoring-location page for the site.
-
Dickinson Creek near Ceresco
— 041035285 · RM 21.8
31 July days of record across 1 Julys (2026–2026) · 3 cfs at last read -
Kalamazoo River at New Richmond
— 04108660 · RM 0.0
248 July days of record across 8 Julys (2019–2026) · 1,510 cfs at last read
Public land on the river
59 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 41,912 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Allegan | Michigan DNR | 26,797 |
| Allegan State Game Area | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 9,428 |
| Fort Custer Recreation Area | — | 2,087 |
| Fort Custer | Michigan DNR | 1,355 |
| Augusta Floodplain Nature Preserve | Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy | 345 |
| River Oaks County Park | — | 268 |
| Public Water Access Site | Michigan DNR | 174 |
| Markin Glen County Park | — | 161 |
| Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area | Saugatuck | 131 |
| Tallmadge Woods Nature Preserve | Saugatuck | 121 |
Species
MDNR's most recent survey on this river ran in 2022 at Kalamazoo River, Calhoun County, in a channel averaging 140.08 feet: smallmouth bass. MDNR strata: medium, smallmouth bass; regulation at the station, general regulation.The station has been surveyed in 6 years since 2014.
- Smallmouth bass surveyed
- Channel catfish stocked only
- Chinook salmon stocked only
- Coho salmon stocked only
- Lake sturgeon stocked only
- Northern pike stocked only
- Rainbow trout stocked only
- Tiger muskellunge stocked only
- Walleye stocked only
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Channel catfish, Chinook salmon, Coho salmon, Lake sturgeon, Northern pike, Rainbow trout, Smallmouth bass, Tiger muskellunge, Walleye. The most recent plants are Coho salmon, Rainbow trout, Walleye at Kalamazoo River Allegan Dam (Allegan Co., through 2025); Chinook salmon, Lake sturgeon at New Richmond (Allegan Co., through 2024); Walleye at 15 1/2 Mile Road (Calhoun Co., through 2023).
Historical July mean
The measured record behind every temperature band on this page: the mean of the daily means for July, at each gauge, over the years USGS has one.
| Gauge | July mean | July range | Julys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dickinson Creek near Ceresco | 65.0 °F | 7.9 °F | 1 |
| New Richmond | 77.6 °F | 11.2 °F | 8 |
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
37 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Rabbit River 61.6 mi · RM 12.0
- Battle Creek 49.6 mi · RM 100.7
- South Branch Kalamazoo River 47.4 mi · RM 130.4
- North Branch Kalamazoo River 26.2 mi · RM 130.4
- Wabascon Creek 24.9 mi · RM 96.0
- Bear Creek 23.5 mi · RM 20.2
- Swan Creek 20.3 mi · RM 24.5
- Augusta Creek 17.7 mi · RM 88.3
- Gun River 15.1 mi · RM 54.6
- Spring Brook 12.8 mi · RM 67.3
- Sand Creek 11.8 mi · RM 22.8
- Portage Creek 11.2 mi · RM 72.4
Kalamazoo River sits in HUC 8 04050003, the Kalamazoo subbasin, and drains 1,940 square miles, Strahler order 6 at the mouth. 123 NHD reaches carry the name for 130.4 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.