BirdTrout
Presque Isle River, Michigan
42 mapped river miles, draining 336 square miles, in the Black-Presque Isle subbasin watershed. 1 USGS gauge report water temperature on it, and this page reads it.
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.
Water temperature right now
Live from the USGS — every pill above is live, so the numbers you are reading are the latest continuous readings at each gauge. Provisional and unreviewed, as all real-time data is. If that fetch cannot happen — you are offline, or the USGS is down — the pills fall back to the last value we cached, 30 September 2026, 13:43 UTC.
The character of the water
The widest water in this subbasin at a median 43.3 feet, running 42.1 mapped miles, draining 336.27 square miles at fifth order, and gathering eight tributaries including two branches of over twenty miles each. Unlike its neighbors, this river has a temperature record: the gauge near Connorville sits at river mile 3.5, the downstream end of a 38.7-mile reach, and reports a July mean of 72.0 degrees with a July range of 16.9 degrees over three Julys of record, 2024 through 2026, at an uncertainty of 1.97 degrees. Groundwater influence there is listed as low, and because the gauge sits at the bottom of its reach, that mean represents the warmest water in it; everything upstream runs colder. Type 1 regulations cover 41.0 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, with 0.3 mile under year-round Type 3, both allowing artificial lures and all natural bait, creel 5 fish. Seven public units total 171,544 acres, including 9,175 acres of Wild and Scenic River.
Thermal classification
Each gauge carries a July mean built from its own daily record — 3 Julys, 2024–2026, measured rather than modelled. A July mean is what decides which of the four bands a stretch of water belongs to, because July is when a trout river either holds or does not.
| Reach | July mean | Band | Groundwater |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Connorville RM 42.1–0.0 |
72.0 °F | warm | low |
Every gauge sits at the bottom of its segment, so each number is the warm end and the water above it runs colder. ±1.97 °F on the fit.
Questions about this river
- Presque Isle River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Presque Isle River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Presque Isle River — access, parking and public land
- Presque Isle River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 41.3 of the 42.1 mapped miles; 0.8 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 41.0 mi |
RM 42.1–0.3 | 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 3 0.3 mi |
RM 0.3–0.0 | January 1st–December 31st | Brook trout 15", Brown trout 15", 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.
Fishable reaches
River miles are measured above the mouth, along the mapped mainstem. The reach breaks are the gauges, which is also how the temperature model divides the river.
| Reach | Miles | July mean | Access on it |
|---|---|---|---|
|
RM 42.1–0.0 down to Connorville |
55.9 | 72.0 °F | — |
0 mapped access sites on the mainstem: 0 walk-in, 0 boat or canoe launches.
USGS gauges
Every gauge on the mainstem, upstream first. Links go to the USGS monitoring-location page for the site.
-
Presque Isle River near Connorville
— 04032150 · RM 0.0
77 July days of record across 3 Julys (2024–2026) · 36 cfs at last read
Public land on the river
7 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 171,543 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Ottawa National Forest - Bergland Ranger District | United States Forest Service | 63,597 |
| Porcupine Mountains | Michigan DNR | 51,740 |
| Ottawa National Forest | United States Forest Service | 34,078 |
| Presque Isle, Michigan Wild and Scenic River | DESG | 9,175 |
| Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 8,886 |
| Presque Isle, Michigan Wild And Scenic River Study Area | DESG | 4,066 |
| Rail Trails | Michigan DNR | 2 |
Species
No species records for this water in the files this site reads.
Historical July mean
The measured record behind every temperature band on this page: the mean of the daily means for July, at each gauge, over the years USGS has one.
| Gauge | July mean | July range | Julys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Connorville | 72.0 °F | 16.9 °F | 3 |
Hatches on this water
42 insects are recorded from the Upper Peninsula, 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Giant Black Stonefly (Salmonfly) Pteronarcys dorsata |
May–June | 50–62°F | #4–6 |
| Green Sedge Rhyacophila spp. |
May–August | 48–64°F | #12–16 |
And 28 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
18 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- East Branch Presque Isle River 26.4 mi · RM 42.1
- Little Presque Isle River 21.3 mi · RM 26.0
- West Branch Presque Isle River 21.2 mi · RM 42.1
- Copper Creek 10.3 mi · RM 6.1
- Little Giant Creek 7.5 mi · RM 38.4
- Ledge Creek 4.3 mi · RM 9.4
- Schroeder Creek 3.6 mi · RM 15.7
- Tula Creek 3.5 mi · RM 16.9
- Sugar Camp Creek 3.4 mi · RM 11.2
- Peboan Creek 2.7 mi · RM 4.5
- Salt Pork Creek 2.6 mi · RM 11.4
- Copps Creek 2.5 mi · RM 32.2
Presque Isle River sits in HUC 8 04020101, the Black-Presque Isle subbasin, and drains 336 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 58 NHD reaches carry the name for 42.1 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.