BirdTrout
Pine Creek, Michigan
10.1 mapped river miles, draining 80 square miles across Allegan, Van Buren counties, in the Kalamazoo subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 5.2 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 23.8 miles away, at Kalamazoo River At New Richmond — 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 character of the water
Pine Creek covers just 10.1 mapped miles between Van Buren and Allegan counties but drains 79.59 square miles, a large basin for a medium stream running 18.0 feet wide at the median. MDNR typing reaches only 3.2 miles, 32 percent: 3.1 miles of Cold stream on low gradient from river mile 10.1 down to 6.9, and a tenth of a mile of cool warm-transitional water near river mile 0.8. Those classes describe the valley segment, not measured water, and the nearest gauge lies 5.2 miles away. Type 4 regulations govern 5.7 miles, open January 1st through December 31st, permitting artificial lures and all types of natural bait with a creel of 5 fish and no more than 3 trout 15 inches or greater. Brown trout is the only stocked species; the County Road 388 site has run since 1981 through 2026 at 4,095.5 per mile. Three public land units total 27,611 acres, and two launches provide access.
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 10.1–6.9 | 3.1 | cold | Cold stream · low gradient |
| RM 0.8–0.7 | 0.1 | cool | Warm transitional small river · very low gradient |
MDNR has classified 3.2 of the 10.1 miles NHD carries for this stream — 32% of it. The typed water splits 3.1 mi cold, 0.1 mi cool. 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
- Pine Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Pine Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Pine Creek — access, parking and public land
- Pine Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Pine Creek good for brown trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 5.7 of the 10.1 mapped miles; 4.4 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 4 5.7 mi |
RM 10.1–4.2 | January 1st–December 31st | Brook trout 7", Brown trout 10", 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.
Access
2 mapped MDNR access sites within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Pine Creek Impoundment (RM 0.1), Jefferson Road (RM 0.0). 0 walk-in, 2 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 27,611 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Allegan | Michigan DNR | 26,797 |
| Kal-Haven Trail Sesq. State Park | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 639 |
| Public Water Access Site | Michigan DNR | 174 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout at County Road 388 (12th Ave) (Van Buren Co., through 2026); Brown trout at 101st Avenue (Allegan County) (Allegan Co., through 2024); Brown trout at 5th Avenue (Van Buren Co., through 2024).
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.
- Kalamazoo River 130.4 mi · RM 0.0
- Base Line Creek 7.5 mi · RM 4.2
Pine Creek sits in HUC 8 04050003, the Kalamazoo subbasin, and drains 80 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 16 NHD reaches carry the name for 10.1 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.