BirdTrout
North Branch Belle River, Michigan
8.6 mapped river miles, draining 26 square miles, in the St. Clair subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 23.0 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, 23.0 miles away at Paint Creek At Rochester, 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 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: 04161540.
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 8.0–3.1 | 2.4 | cool | Warm transitional stream · medium gradient |
| RM 3.1–1.9 | 1.2 | warm | Warm stream · very low gradient |
MDNR has classified 3.6 of the 8.6 miles NHD carries for this stream — 42% of it. The typed water splits 2.4 mi cool, 1.2 mi 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
- North Branch Belle River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the North Branch Belle River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the North Branch Belle River — access, parking and public land
- North Branch Belle River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Public land on the river
2 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 40 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| City Of Imlay City Park | City | 30 |
| Lion's Park | Imlay City | 11 |
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
6 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Belle River 73.8 mi · RM 0.0
- Hunt Drain 6.5 mi · RM 3.1
- Heenan Drain 3.8 mi · RM 0.1
- Brinker Drain 3.2 mi · RM 0.5
- Pennell Drain 3.1 mi · RM 2.9
- Long Lake Drain 2.8 mi · RM 8.6
North Branch Belle River sits in HUC 8 04090001, the St. Clair subbasin, and drains 26 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 11 NHD reaches carry the name for 8.6 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.