BirdTrout
Little Carp River, Michigan
14.0 mapped river miles, draining 16 square miles, in the Black-Presque Isle subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 7.7 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 7.7 miles away, at Presque Isle River — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The character of the water
Small water by every measure: 14.0 mapped miles, 13.94 in the NHD, a median width of 9.1 feet, and a drainage of only 16.08 square miles at third order. The entire public land figure, 51,740 acres in a single unit, is the Porcupine Mountains, and the river gathers five short tributaries inside it, none longer than the 2.4-mile Wabeno Creek at river mile 3.1. Regulations put 13.0 miles under Type 1, open the last Saturday in April through September 30th, and 0.3 mile under year-round Type 3; both permit artificial lures and all types of natural bait, with a creel of 5 fish, no more than 3 trout 15 inches or greater. MDNR types 4.2 miles, 30 percent, as cool, a warm transitional stream at high gradient from river mile 13.1 down to 3.7. That class applies to the valley segment rather than the water, and no temperature has been measured; the nearest gauge, on the Presque Isle River, is 7.7 miles away.
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 13.1–3.7 | 4.2 | cool | Warm transitional stream · high gradient |
MDNR has classified 4.2 of the 13.9 miles NHD carries for this stream — 30% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, 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
- Little Carp River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Little Carp River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Little Carp River — access, parking and public land
- Little Carp River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 13.3 of the 14.0 mapped miles; 0.7 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 13.0 mi |
RM 14.0–0.3 | 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 3 0.3 mi |
RM 0.3–0.0 | 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.
Public land on the river
1 unit of public or open-access land touches this river, 51,740 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Porcupine Mountains | Michigan DNR | 51,740 |
Species
No species records for this water 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
5 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Wabeno Creek 2.4 mi · RM 3.1
- Blowdown Creek 2.2 mi · RM 5.8
- Memengwa Creek 2.1 mi · RM 0.9
- Beaver Creek 2.0 mi · RM 6.6
- Trail Creek 1.4 mi · RM 12.4
Little Carp River sits in HUC 8 04020101, the Black-Presque Isle subbasin, and drains 16 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 25 NHD reaches carry the name for 13.9 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.