BirdTrout
Rice Creek, Michigan
7.0 mapped river miles, draining 98 square miles across Calhoun county, in the Kalamazoo subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 9.8 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 9.8 miles away, at Kalamazoo River — 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: 041035285.
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 7.0–6.3 | 0.7 | cool | Warm transitional stream · medium gradient |
| RM 6.3–0.0 | 6.3 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional small river · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 7.0 of the 7.1 miles NHD carries for this stream — 99% of it. The typed water splits 6.3 mi cold-transitional, 0.7 mi 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
- Rice Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Rice Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Rice Creek — access, parking and public land
- Rice Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Rice Creek good for brown trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 7.0 of the 7.0 mapped miles; 0.0 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 7.0 mi |
RM 7.0–0.0 | 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
2 mapped MDNR access sites within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Rice Creek Partello Road (RM 3.5), Rice Creek Ketchum Park (RM 0.6). 2 walk-in, 0 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 133 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Plainwell | Michigan DNR | 60 |
| Holt-Rice Creek Property | Calhoun Conservation District | 52 |
| Ketchum Park | City of Marshall | 22 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout at 20 Mile Road (Calhoun Co., through 2026); Brown trout at Ketchum Park (Calhoun Co., through 2026); Brown trout at 22 1/2 Mile Road (Calhoun Co., through 2019).
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
4 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Kalamazoo River 130.4 mi · RM 0.0
- South Branch Rice Creek 15.0 mi · RM 7.0
- North Branch Rice Creek 13.2 mi · RM 7.0
- Eaton and Baker Drain 3.6 mi · RM 6.3
Rice Creek sits in HUC 8 04050003, the Kalamazoo subbasin, and drains 98 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 12 NHD reaches carry the name for 7.1 miles in total — more than the 7.0 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.