BirdTrout
Pine River, Michigan
54 mapped river miles, draining 248 square miles across Osceola, Wexford counties, in the Manistee River 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
This gauge stands in the Pine River. Its record is too short for a July mean, so the class below is MDNR's — but the reading is this water.
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: 04125460.
The character of the water
A river in the Manistee River watershed, 53.5 mapped miles through Osceola and Wexford counties, fifth order, draining 247.75 square miles at a median width of 36.0 feet. Blue Ribbon designation runs 42.1 miles, from the juncture of the North and East Branch of the Pine down to Tippy Pond. Regulation splits between 28.0 miles of Type 1 and 21.0 miles of Type 2, both last Saturday in April through September 30th. A 2019 survey in Osceola County at a mean width of 36.45 feet under Type 1 regulation found brook, brown and rainbow trout at 238 trout per acre and 36 pounds per acre. MDNR types 2.2 miles, 4 percent coverage, Cold, cold small river at low gradient between river miles 52.9 and 9.7; MDNR classes the valley segment, not the water: no measured temperature exists. Rainbow trout were stocked at Oxbow Lake from 2003 through 2006. Nine public land units total 173,222 acres, and four access sites are all launches.
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 52.9–9.7 | 2.2 | cold | Cold small river · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 2.2 of the 53 miles NHD carries for this stream — 4% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cold. 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 River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Pine River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Pine River — access, parking and public land
- Pine River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the Pine River good for brook trout?
- Is the Pine River good for brown trout?
- Is the Pine River good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 49.0 of the 53.5 mapped miles; 4.5 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 28.0 mi |
RM 53.5–24.2 | 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" |
|
Type 2 21.0 mi |
RM 24.2–2.5 | Last Saturday in April–September 30th | Brook trout 10", Brown trout 12", 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. Pine River (BR 44), 42.1 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: Juncture of North and East Branch of Pine; downstream: Tippy Pond.
Access
4 mapped MDNR access sites within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Skookum - North Bank (RM 36.7), Skookum - South Bank (RM 36.2), Silver Creek State Forest Campground (RM 30.2), Lincoln Bridge State Forest Campground (RM 27.6). 0 walk-in, 4 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
9 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 173,222 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Cadillac Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 59,656 |
| Pere Marquette State Forest - Cadillac Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 49,904 |
| Manistee National Forest - Manistee Ranger District | United States Forest Service | 33,473 |
| Cadillac State Forest Area | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 24,323 |
| Pine, Michigan Wild and Scenic River | DESG | 5,385 |
| Consumers Power Co. | OTHF | 333 |
| Pine River | Michigan DNR | 124 |
| Cooley Bridge Roadside Park | — | 12 |
| Silver Creek State Forest Campground | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 12 |
Species
MDNR's most recent survey on this river ran in 2019 at Pine River, Osceola County, in a channel averaging 36.45 feet: brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, at 238 trout per acre and 36 pounds per acre. MDNR strata: medium, land-locked, wild trout; regulation at the station, type 1.The station has been surveyed in 9 years since 2005.
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Rainbow trout. The most recent plants are Rainbow trout at Oxbow Lake (Wexford Co., through 2006).
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
10 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Manistee River 190.1 mi · RM 0.0
- Silver Creek 17.9 mi · RM 29.9
- Beaver Creek 16.5 mi · RM 46.1
- Coe Creek 13.8 mi · RM 39.1
- North Branch Pine River 12.9 mi · RM 53.5
- Poplar Creek 9.1 mi · RM 22.3
- East Branch Pine River 8.4 mi · RM 53.5
- Hoxey Creek 3.9 mi · RM 20.2
- Sprague Creek 3.2 mi · RM 51.7
- Sellers Creek 1.8 mi · RM 33.8
Pine River sits in HUC 8 04060103, the Manistee River watershed, and drains 248 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 38 NHD reaches carry the name for 53.5 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.