BirdTrout
Pine River, Michigan
104 mapped river miles, draining 419 square miles across Gratiot, Isabella, Montcalm counties, in the Pine subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 11.8 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 11.8 miles away, at Wolf Creek At Pine Grove Road Near Vestaburg, Mi — 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: 04154612.
The character of the water
A full river of 104.3 mapped miles through Gratiot, Isabella, and Montcalm counties, the Pine River of the Pine subbasin runs a median 37.7 feet wide and drains 419.32 square miles at Strahler order 5 before reaching the Chippewa River at river mile 0.0. MDNR types 46.9 miles, 45 percent of it: 32.1 miles of Cool, low-gradient warm transitional water from river mile 99.6 to 46.3, and 14.8 miles of Warm, very-low-gradient large river from 42.1 to 22.7. Those are valley classes, not measured water; the nearest gauge, Wolf Creek at Pine Grove Road near Vestaburg, is 11.8 miles off. Type 1 regulations cover 28.1 miles. Brown trout have gone in at Blanchard Rd. at 887.2 per mile and Remick Road at 621.3 per mile, both from 1980 through 2026; walleye at Coldwater/Fremont ran 1981 to 2017 at 769.0 per mile. Public land is thin for the length: 23 units, 5,902 acres, largest the 2,407-acre Edmore State Game Area. No access sites and no surveys are recorded.
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 99.6–46.3 | 32.1 | cool | Warm transitional stream · low gradient |
| RM 42.1–22.7 | 14.8 | warm | Warm large river · very low gradient |
MDNR has classified 46.9 of the 104 miles NHD carries for this stream — 45% of it. The typed water splits 32.1 mi cool, 14.8 mi warm. 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 28.1 of the 104.3 mapped miles; 76.2 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 28.1 mi |
RM 101.2–71.8 | 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
22 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 5,764 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Edmore State Game Area | Michigan DNR - Wildlife Division | 2,407 |
| Vestaburg State Game Area | Michigan DNR Wildlife Division | 1,451 |
| Chippewa Nature Center | — | 991 |
| City of Midland Park | City | 563 |
| Gravel Pit | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 69 |
| Edmore | Michigan DNR | 69 |
| Pine River Park | — | 64 |
| Lumberjack & Rivermen's Park | Lumberjack Rivermens Association | 48 |
| City Park | City | 20 |
| Euclid Ball Fields | City of Alma | 16 |
Species
- Brook trout stocked only
- Brown trout stocked only
- Rainbow trout stocked only
- Walleye stocked only
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brook trout, Brown trout, Rainbow trout, Walleye. The most recent plants are Brown trout at Blanchard Rd. (Isabella Co., through 2026); Brown trout at Remick Road (Isabella Co., through 2026); Walleye at Coldwater/fremont (Isabella Co., through 2017).
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
16 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Chippewa River 91.8 mi · RM 0.0
- Bush Creek 16.3 mi · RM 17.5
- Pony Creek 16.1 mi · RM 92.8
- Sucker Creek 11.6 mi · RM 13.2
- North Branch Pine River 7.1 mi · RM 72.4
- Honeyoey Creek 7.0 mi · RM 42.1
- Carpenter Creek 6.7 mi · RM 59.0
- Skunk Creek 6.6 mi · RM 87.4
- South Branch Pine River 5.7 mi · RM 90.6
- Wolf Creek 5.1 mi · RM 80.7
- Mud Creek 4.7 mi · RM 71.5
- Frost Drain 4.7 mi · RM 4.0
Pine River sits in HUC 8 04080202, the Pine subbasin, and drains 419 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 93 NHD reaches carry the name for 104.2 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.