BirdTrout
Mill Creek, Michigan
34 mapped river miles, draining 184 square miles across Saint Clair county, in the St. Clair subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 7.5 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 gauge, and why there is no reading from it
The nearest gauge, 7.5 miles away at Black River Near Jeddo, Mi, is not reporting water temperature: USGS carries no water-temperature series for it at all. A stopped gauge repeats its last value in silence, so there is no live temperature here. Nor is there a model to put in its place: that gauge has too little record to fit one, and this site does not print a temperature it cannot stand behind.
The character of the water
This Mill Creek is a medium stream of 33.7 mapped miles in Saint Clair County, part of the St. Clair subbasin, running a median 34.3 feet wide and draining 183.5 square miles at Strahler order 5. It is the largest feeder of the 81.2-mile Black River, entering at river mile 0.0, and its own North and South branches, 11.8 and 9.3 miles, both come in at river mile 33.7. MDNR types 14.9 miles, 44 percent of the length, as Warm, a low-gradient warm small river from river mile 32.4 to 3.7; the class describes the valley segment, not measured water; the nearest gauge, on the Black River near Jeddo, is 7.5 miles off. Type 4 regulations cover 32.8 miles and run January 1st through December 31st. Rainbow trout have been stocked at Yale from 1984 through 2026 at 2,822.6 per mile; smallmouth bass plantings ended in 1984. Seven public units total 7,084 acres, nearly all the Port Huron State Game Area. No access sites or surveys 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 32.4–3.7 | 14.9 | warm | Warm small river · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 14.9 of the 34 miles NHD carries for this stream — 44% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, warm. 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
- Is Mill Creek good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 32.8 of the 33.7 mapped miles; 0.9 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 4 32.8 mi |
RM 33.7–0.0 | January 1st–December 31st | Brook trout 7", Brown trout 10", 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
5 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 7,014 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Port Huron State Game Area | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 6,914 |
| Fairgrounds | City | 38 |
| Brockway Park | — | 33 |
| Yale Park | — | 15 |
| Alton D. Mcgaw Memorial Plant Preserve | Michigan Nature Association | 14 |
Species
- Rainbow trout stocked only
- Smallmouth bass stocked only
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Rainbow trout, Smallmouth bass. The most recent plants are Rainbow trout at Yale (Saint Clair Co., through 2026); Smallmouth bass at M-19 (Saint Clair Co., through 1984); Smallmouth bass at Bricker Road (Saint Clair Co., through 1984).
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
11 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Black River 81.2 mi · RM 0.0
- North Branch Mill Creek 11.8 mi · RM 33.7
- South Branch Mill Creek 9.3 mi · RM 33.7
- Sanilac and Saint Clair Drain 8.6 mi · RM 28.0
- Thompson Drain 5.3 mi · RM 23.8
- Meharg Drain 5.2 mi · RM 33.1
- White Drain 4.9 mi · RM 16.1
- Sheehy Drain 4.3 mi · RM 22.5
- Gleason Drain 4.0 mi · RM 14.6
- Middleton Drain 3.4 mi · RM 31.7
- Ohmer Drain 1.8 mi · RM 29.4
Mill Creek sits in HUC 8 04090001, the St. Clair subbasin, and drains 184 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 36 NHD reaches carry the name for 33.7 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 5 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.