BirdTrout
North Branch Manistee River, Michigan
19.4 mapped river miles, draining 102 square miles across Kalkaska county, in the Manistee River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 9.1 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 9.1 miles away, at Manistee River Near Grayling — 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: 04123500.
The character of the water
Nineteen and four-tenths mapped miles of fourth-order water in Kalkaska County, 28.4 feet of median width, and a 101.96-square-mile drainage feeding the Manistee River. Seven miles carry blue-ribbon designation, from Mecum Road down to the junction with the Big Manistee. MDNR types 7.4 miles as cold-transitional stream at medium gradient, from river mile 16.9 to the mouth, or 38 percent of the length; that class describes the valley segment, not measured water, and no temperature exists here. The nearest gauge is 9.1 miles off. Regulations run 18.5 miles of Type 1, open the last Saturday in April through September 30th, with artificial lures and all types of natural bait allowed. A 2022 survey at a mean width of 38.94 feet returned 209 trout per acre and 15 pounds per acre, brook and brown trout. Four public land units total 116,448 acres, including 113,281 in the Traverse City Management Unit. No access sites or launches are listed. Morrison Creek, 3.3 miles, enters at river mile 11.6.
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 16.9–0.0 | 7.4 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 7.4 of the 19.4 miles NHD carries for this stream — 38% 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
- North Branch Manistee River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the North Branch Manistee River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the North Branch Manistee River — access, parking and public land
- North Branch Manistee River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the North Branch Manistee River good for brook trout?
- Is the North Branch Manistee River good for brown trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 18.5 of the 19.4 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 1 18.5 mi |
RM 19.4–0.0 | 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.
Blue Ribbon. North Branch Manistee River (BR 38), 7.0 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: Mecum Road; downstream: Junction with Big Manistee.
Public land on the river
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 116,448 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Traverse City Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 113,281 |
| MNRTF Parcel | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 1,701 |
| Upper Manistee Headwaters: The Milock Family Preserve | Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy | 1,307 |
| Mnrtf Parcel 49 | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 159 |
Species
MDNR's most recent survey on this river ran in 2022 at North Branch Manistee River, Kalkaska County, in a channel averaging 38.94 feet: brook trout, brown trout, at 209 trout per acre and 15 pounds per acre. MDNR strata: small, land-locked, wild trout; regulation at the station, type 1.The station has been surveyed in 11 years since 2002.
Hatches on this water
53 insects are recorded from northern 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 |
| 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 |
| Little Black Caddis Chimarra atterima |
April–May | 46–58°F | #16–20 |
| 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 |
And 39 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.
North Branch Manistee River sits in HUC 8 04060103, the Manistee River watershed, and drains 102 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 45 NHD reaches carry the name for 19.4 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.