BirdTrout

Norris Creek, Michigan

12.6 mapped river miles, draining 34 square miles across Muskegon county, in the Grand River basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 9.5 miles away, and what this page knows about its temperature is MDNR's classification of the water itself.

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Public land — where the bank is open to walk and fish

USGS gauge — live water temperature

Water temperature — the colour of the river, and of every dot on it

58 64 70

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 23.9 miles away, at Grand River At N Park St Ne, Grand Rapids — 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.

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.

MDNR has classified 9.4 of the 12.6 miles NHD carries for this stream — 75% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cold-transitional. 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

• Norris Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
• When to fish Norris Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
• How to get to Norris Creek — access, parking and public land
• Norris Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
• Is Norris Creek good for brown trout?

Regulations

MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 12.1 of the 12.6 mapped miles; 0.5 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.

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, 18 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.

Species

• Brown trout stocked only

Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout at Sullivan Road (Muskegon Co., through 1998); Brown trout at Sternberg Road (Muskegon Co., through 1998); Brown trout at Farr Road (Muskegon Co., through 1998).

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.

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

2 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.

• Vincent Creek 6.1 mi · RM 1.2
• Rhymer Creek 3.6 mi · RM 3.7

Norris Creek sits in HUC 8 04050004, 04050005, 04050006 and 04050007, the Grand River basin, and drains 34 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 16 NHD reaches carry the name for 12.6 miles in total.

Other water nearby

The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.

• Cranberry Creek 2.5 mi
• Muskegon Newaygo Drain 3.1 mi
• Crockery Creek 3.9 mi
• Rio Grande Creek 5.0 mi
• Tidioute Drain 5.1 mi
• Stearns Bayou 6.4 mi