BirdTrout
Klacking Creek, Michigan
8.5 mapped river miles, draining 9 square miles across Ogemaw county, in the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 18.9 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 22.2 miles away, at Au Sable River — 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 720 days, since 8 October 2024, so no number here comes from it.
The character of the water
A small second-order stream on high gradient, 8.5 mapped miles with a median width of 8.9 feet and a drainage of only 9.47 square miles, running to the Rifle River at river mile 0.0. MDNR types 6.5 of those miles, 77 percent, and all of it comes back cold, a cold stream from river mile 6.5 down to the mouth. The class describes the valley segment rather than the water, so no temperature has been measured here, and the nearest gauge, Rifle River near Sterling, is 18.9 miles off. Type 1 regulations cover 8.2 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, artificial lures and all types of natural bait permitted, creel of five fish with no more than three 15 inches or greater and zero Arctic grayling. Little Klacking Creek adds 2.7 miles at river mile 4.7. Brown trout were stocked at Morrison Road in 1991 alone. Public land totals 20,140 acres. No access sites or launches are recorded.
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 6.5–0.0 | 6.5 | cold | Cold stream · high gradient |
MDNR has classified 6.5 of the 8.5 miles NHD carries for this stream — 77% 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
- Klacking Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Klacking Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Klacking Creek — access, parking and public land
- Klacking Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Klacking Creek good for brown trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 8.2 of the 8.5 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 8.2 mi |
RM 8.5–0.0 | 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.
Public land on the river
2 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 20,140 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Au Sable State Forest - Roscommon Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 20,136 |
| Rifle River | Michigan DNR | 4 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout at Morrison Road (Ogemaw 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
2 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Rifle River 68.0 mi · RM 0.0
- Little Klacking Creek 2.7 mi · RM 4.7
Klacking Creek sits in HUC 8 04080101, the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin, and drains 9 square miles, Strahler order 2 at the mouth. 10 NHD reaches carry the name for 8.5 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.