BirdTrout
Little Cedar Creek, Michigan
9.2 mapped river miles, draining 10 square miles, in the Muskegon River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 20.9 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 21.8 miles away, at Muskegon 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 727 days, since 1 October 2024, so no number here comes from it.
The character of the water
Nine and two-tenths mapped miles of third-order water at a median width of 9.1 feet, draining 9.91 square miles into Cedar Creek at that stream's mouth. The regulation split is unusual on paper: 8.6 miles of Type 1, open the last Saturday in April through September 30th, plus a Type 3 entry open January 1st through December 31st that carries 0.0 miles, so the year-round designation applies to no measured length here. Both allow artificial lures and all types of natural bait. MDNR types 1.1 miles as cold stream at medium gradient, between river mile 8.2 and 0.4, covering 12 percent of the channel; the class describes the valley segment rather than the water, and no temperature has been measured. The nearest gauge, on the Grand River near Eastmanville, is 20.9 miles off, far enough to say little about this creek. Two public land units total 15,532 acres, chiefly the Muskegon State Game Area. No access sites, surveys or stocking are listed.
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 8.2–0.4 | 1.1 | cold | Cold stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 1.1 of the 9.2 miles NHD carries for this stream — 12% 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
- Little Cedar Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Little Cedar Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Little Cedar Creek — access, parking and public land
- Little Cedar Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 8.6 of the 9.2 mapped miles; 0.6 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 8.6 mi |
RM 9.2–0.0 | 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" |
|
Type 3 0.0 mi |
RM 0.0–0.0 | 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
2 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 15,532 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Muskegon State Game Area | Michigan DNR - Wildlife Division | 15,278 |
| Muskegon | Michigan DNR | 253 |
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
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
1 named stream meets this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
Little Cedar Creek sits in HUC 8 04060102, the Muskegon River watershed, and drains 10 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 12 NHD reaches carry the name for 9.2 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.