BirdTrout
North Channel Muskegon River, Michigan
7.0 mapped river miles, draining 65 square miles across Muskegon county, in the Muskegon River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 19.3 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, 19.3 miles away at Grand River Near Eastmanville, is not reporting water temperature: it has sent no water temperature for 727 days, since 1 October 2024. A stopped gauge repeats its last value in silence, so there is no live temperature here. What is below is modelled from the years that gauge did report: this gauge's own fitted line, its intercept plus its slope against the 4-day mean air temperature over it, fitted on its own daily record, ±2.4 °F. The shape of the week at that gauge, not a thermometer in this stream.
Questions about this river
- North Channel Muskegon River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the North Channel Muskegon River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the North Channel Muskegon River — access, parking and public land
- North Channel Muskegon River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the North Channel Muskegon River good for rainbow trout?
Public land on the river
5 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 15,620 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 | Michigan DNR | 253 |
| Veterans Memorial Park | — | 32 |
| Muskegon Nature Preserve | City | 29 |
| Muskegon Lake Nature Preserve | — | 27 |
Species
- Chinook salmon stocked only
- Lake trout stocked only
- Rainbow trout stocked only
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Chinook salmon, Lake trout, Rainbow trout. The most recent plants are Chinook salmon, Lake trout, Rainbow trout at Us-31-A (Muskegon Co., through 1989).
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
2 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
North Channel Muskegon River sits in HUC 8 04060102, the Muskegon River watershed, and drains 65 square miles, Strahler order 6 at the mouth. 8 NHD reaches carry the name for 7.0 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.