BirdTrout
Mill Creek, Michigan
17.1 mapped river miles, draining 29 square miles, in the Ontonagon subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 10.6 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 14.0 miles away, at Mineral River Ds Of Native Ck Nr Silver City, Mi — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — USGS carries no water-temperature series for it at all, so no number here comes from it.
The character of the water
This Mill Creek is a medium stream in the Ontonagon subbasin, 17.1 mapped miles against 24.25 in the NHD, a median 9.6 feet wide, draining 29.05 square miles at Strahler order 5. It enters the West Branch Ontonagon River, 49.8 miles long, at river mile 0.0, and gathers Shoemaker Creek at river mile 7.7, Brown Creek at 9.6, Livingston Creek at 4.5, and Bebo Creek at 3.6. MDNR types 13.2 miles, 54 percent of the length, as Cool, a high-gradient warm transitional stream from river mile 17.1 down to 0.0; the class describes the valley segment, not measured water; the nearest gauge on the Ontonagon River is 10.6 miles off. Eight public land units totaling 68,889 acres surround it, chiefly the Ottawa National Forest's Bergland and Ontonagon ranger districts at 22,225 and 18,899 acres, plus 5,252 acres of the Ontonagon Wild and Scenic River. No access sites or launches are recorded, no special trout regulation type is listed, and no surveys or stocking are on record.
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 17.1–0.0 | 13.2 | cool | Warm transitional stream · high gradient |
MDNR has classified 13.2 of the 24 miles NHD carries for this stream — 54% 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
- Mill Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Mill Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Mill Creek — access, parking and public land
- Mill Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Public land on the river
7 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 68,738 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Ottawa National Forest - Bergland Ranger District | United States Forest Service | 22,225 |
| Ottawa National Forest | United States Forest Service | 18,899 |
| Ottawa National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 13,288 |
| Ontonagon Wild And Scenic River | United States Forest Service | 5,253 |
| Copper Country State Forest- Baraga Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 4,668 |
| Norwich Plains Revised Roadless Area Roadless Area | DESG | 4,361 |
| Baraga Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 44 |
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.
- West Branch Ontonagon River 49.8 mi · RM 0.0
- Bebo Creek 6.3 mi · RM 3.6
- Shoemaker Creek 6.3 mi · RM 7.7
- Brown Creek 2.5 mi · RM 9.6
- Livingston Creek 1.6 mi · RM 4.5
Mill Creek sits in HUC 8 04020102, the Ontonagon subbasin, and drains 29 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 72 NHD reaches carry the name for 24.2 miles in total — more than the 17.1 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.