BirdTrout
Paint Creek, Michigan
16.8 mapped river miles, draining 70 square miles across Oakland county, in the Clinton subbasin watershed. A USGS gauge stands in it, but its record is too short for a measured July mean, so what this page knows about its temperature is today's reading and 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 11.5 miles away, at Clinton River At Sterling Heights — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — USGS carries no water-temperature series for it at all, so no number here comes from it.
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.
The character of the water
Oakland County water in the Clinton subbasin, a medium stream of 16.8 mapped miles at a median width of 22.7 feet, fifth order, draining 69.5 square miles. Ten miles are Type 1, last Saturday in April through September 30th, artificial lures and all types of natural bait permitted, creel 5 fish with no more than 3 trout 15 inches or greater. MDNR types 2.0 miles, 12 percent, as cold-transitional, a cold transitional stream at medium gradient between river miles 13.2 and 3.0; that class describes the valley segment, not the water, and no temperature is measured here even though a gauge stands on the creek itself. Brown trout, mottled sculpin and rainbow trout are listed as stocked, and five brown trout sites run through 2026, from 1,086.5 per mile at Adams Road down to 268.8 at Village Park. The Clinton River is the receiving water at river mile 0.0; Trout Creek enters at 10.7. Twenty-one public units total 5,614 acres.
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 13.2–3.0 | 2.0 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 2.0 of the 16.8 miles NHD carries for this stream — 12% 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
- Paint Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Paint Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Paint Creek — access, parking and public land
- Paint Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Paint Creek good for brown trout?
- Is Paint Creek good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 10.0 of the 16.8 mapped miles; 6.8 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 10.0 mi |
RM 16.8–7.9 RM 2.3–0.0 |
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
20 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 5,580 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Bald Mountain State Recreation Area | — | 4,480 |
| Land | City | 445 |
| Clinton River Oaks Park | Oakland County Parks and Recreation | 282 |
| Clinton River Trail | — | 149 |
| Bald Mountain | Michigan DNR | 99 |
| Rochester Municipal Park | — | 37 |
| Lions Park | — | 36 |
| Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve | — | 17 |
| Paint Creek Heritage Area Wet Prairie | — | 10 |
| Halbach Field | — | 6 |
Species
- Brown trout stocked only
- Mottled sculpin stocked only
- Rainbow trout stocked only
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout, Mottled sculpin, Rainbow trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout at Tienken Road (Oakland Co., through 2026); Brown trout at Rochester City Park (Oakland Co., through 2026); Brown trout at Village Park (Oakland Co., through 2026).
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
3 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
Paint Creek sits in HUC 8 04090003, the Clinton subbasin, and drains 70 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 36 NHD reaches carry the name for 16.8 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.