BirdTrout
Mosquito Creek, Michigan
12.3 mapped river miles, draining 16 square miles, in the Muskegon River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 10.2 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 10.2 miles away, at Muskegon River At Big Rapids — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The pills above go to USGS. These are this site's pages for the same gauges — a thirty-day chart, the monthly means, the record, and today's reading against the five-year normal for today: 04121650.
The character of the water
A small stream in the Muskegon River watershed, 12.3 mapped miles at third order, narrow at a median width of 8.6 feet and draining 16.21 square miles; the NHD line is twice as long at 24.33 miles. MDNR types 2.5 miles, 10 percent coverage, a single Cool reach logged as warm transitional stream between river miles 12.3 and 9.9 at low gradient. MDNR classes the valley segment, not the water: no measured temperature exists; the nearest gauge, on the Muskegon River at Big Rapids, is 10.2 miles away. Type 1 regulation covers 11.7 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, five fish with no more than three trout 15 inches or greater. Spring Creek, 2.6 miles, sits at river mile 0.0, the water this creek joins. Five public land units total 25,289 acres, led by the Muskegon State Game Area at 15,278. The record covers no counties, no access sites, no stocking and no survey.
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 12.3–9.9 | 2.5 | cool | Warm transitional stream · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 2.5 of the 24 miles NHD carries for this stream — 10% 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
- Mosquito Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Mosquito Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Mosquito Creek — access, parking and public land
- Mosquito Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 11.7 of the 12.3 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 11.7 mi |
RM 12.3–0.0 | 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
5 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 25,289 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 County Wastewater System Management Area | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 8,413 |
| Michigan State University State Farm | Other State Land | 819 |
| Mosquito Creek Trails | Muskegon County | 525 |
| Muskegon | Michigan DNR | 253 |
Species
No species records for this water 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.
Mosquito Creek sits in HUC 8 04060102, the Muskegon River watershed, and drains 16 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 44 NHD reaches carry the name for 24.3 miles in total — more than the 12.3 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.