BirdTrout
Rabbit River, Michigan
62 mapped river miles, draining 290 square miles across Allegan county, in the Kalamazoo subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 13.1 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 13.3 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
Sixty-one and six-tenths mapped miles make the Rabbit River the longest tributary entering the Kalamazoo, draining 289.76 square miles at a Strahler order of 5 and holding a median width of 31.6 feet. MDNR typing covers 30.4 miles, 49 percent, and the split is clean: the top 6.8 miles, from river mile 61.6 down to 51.9, are Cold stream on a medium gradient, and the 23.6 miles below river mile 51.9 are warm transitional stream, classed Cool, also medium gradient. The classes describe the valley segment rather than measured water; the nearest gauge lies 13.1 miles off. Regulations divide the same way, 9.8 miles of Type 1 open from the last Saturday in April through September 30th and 50.9 miles of Type 4 open year round. Brown and rainbow trout go in at 7th Street through 2026 at 6,317.2 per mile. Eight tributaries feed it, and a single 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 61.6–51.9 | 6.8 | cold | Cold stream · medium gradient |
| RM 51.9–0.0 | 23.6 | cool | Warm transitional stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 30.4 of the 62 miles NHD carries for this stream — 49% of it. The typed water splits 23.6 mi cool, 6.8 mi 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
- Rabbit River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Rabbit River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Rabbit River — access, parking and public land
- Rabbit River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the Rabbit River good for brown trout?
- Is the Rabbit River good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 60.7 of the 61.6 mapped miles; 0.9 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 9.8 mi |
RM 61.6–51.5 | 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 4 50.9 mi |
RM 51.5–0.0 | 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: George Schutmaat Park (RM 7.8). 1 walk-in, 0 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 9,550 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Allegan State Game Area | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 9,428 |
| Kalamazoo River Public Fishing Access Site | Michigan DNR | 95 |
| Rabbit River Nature Trail | City of Wayland | 24 |
| Trestle Park | Heath Township | 2 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout, Rainbow trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout, Rainbow trout at 7th Street (Allegan Co., through 2026); Brown trout at 5th Street (Allegan Co., through 2026); Rainbow trout at 133rd Avenue (Allegan Co., through 2015).
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
9 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Kalamazoo River 130.4 mi · RM 0.0
- Bear Creek 23.5 mi · RM 40.1
- Miller Creek 18.9 mi · RM 40.5
- Black Creek 12.8 mi · RM 20.2
- Little Rabbit River 11.0 mi · RM 23.3
- Pigeon Creek 10.6 mi · RM 26.9
- Buskirk Creek 4.7 mi · RM 44.5
- Winks Branch 2.2 mi · RM 31.2
- Fales Drain 2.1 mi · RM 52.9
Rabbit River sits in HUC 8 04050003, the Kalamazoo subbasin, and drains 290 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 70 NHD reaches carry the name for 61.6 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.