BirdTrout
Portage Creek, Michigan
11.2 mapped river miles, draining 53 square miles across Kalamazoo county, in the Kalamazoo subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 20.6 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 24.1 miles away, at Kalamazoo River — 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
Portage Creek runs 11.2 mapped miles entirely within Kalamazoo County, a medium stream 15.1 feet wide at the median draining 52.7 square miles at a Strahler order of 3. MDNR has typed 6.3 miles, 56 percent, all of it a single Cool reach running the full length from river mile 11.2 to the mouth and classed warm transitional stream on a low gradient. That class describes the valley segment rather than the water, and the nearest gauge is 20.6 miles off, so no measured temperature applies. Type 4 regulations cover 6.4 miles, open January 1st through December 31st, with artificial lures and all types of natural bait permitted and a creel of 5 fish, no more than 3 of them 15 inches or greater. Brown trout have been planted at Milham Road and Center Road since 1980 and 1981 and continue through 2026. Twelve public land units total 1,446 acres, led by Gourdneck State Game Area at 835. One walk-in access site is mapped.
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 11.2–0.0 | 6.3 | cool | Warm transitional stream · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 6.3 of the 11.2 miles NHD carries for this stream — 56% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, 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
- Portage Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Portage Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Portage Creek — access, parking and public land
- Portage Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Portage Creek good for brown trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 6.4 of the 11.2 mapped miles; 4.8 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 4 6.4 mi |
RM 11.2–4.8 | 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
1 mapped MDNR access site within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Portage Creek Celery Flats (RM 7.8). 1 walk-in, 0 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
12 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 1,446 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Gourdneck State Game Area | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 835 |
| Portage Creek Bicentennial Park | City of Portage Parks and Recreation | 212 |
| Milham Golf Course | City | 142 |
| Milham Park | — | 125 |
| Portage Creek Bicentennial Park | City | 83 |
| Portage Creek Bicentennial Park - Milham Entrance | — | 20 |
| Upjohn Park | — | 18 |
| Kalamazoo Farmers Market | City | 4 |
| Liberty Park | City of Portage Parks and Recreation | 3 |
| Central Park | City of Portage Parks and Recreation | 2 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout at Milham Road (Kalamazoo Co., through 2026); Brown trout at Center Road (Kalamazoo Co., through 2026); Brown trout at Garden Lane (Kalamazoo Co., through 2021).
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
- West Fork Portage Creek 8.7 mi · RM 4.1
Portage Creek sits in HUC 8 04050003, the Kalamazoo subbasin, and drains 53 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 17 NHD reaches carry the name for 11.2 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.