BirdTrout
Robinson Creek, Michigan
6.9 mapped river miles, draining 29 square miles across Roscommon county, in the Au Sable River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 4.9 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 12.2 miles away, at South Branch Au Sable River Near Luzerne — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — it has sent no water temperature for 1431 days, since 28 October 2022, so no number here comes from it.
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: 04135687.
The character of the water
A Roscommon County creek of 6.9 mapped miles, third order, a median 14.8 feet wide, draining 28.64 square miles to the South Branch Au Sable River at river mile 0.0. MDNR has typed only nine tenths of a mile, 13 percent of the length, a cold-transitional segment between river miles 5.3 and 4.4 on very low gradient. That class describes the valley segment rather than the water, and no measured temperature exists here; the nearest gauge, SB Au Sable River at Chase Bridge near Roscommon, is 4.9 miles off and carries no July mean. Brown trout are the only species stocked, a single 2017 planting at 0.5 fish per mile. Type 1 regulations cover 6.4 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, five fish with no more than three 15 inches or greater. Four public land units total 112,379 acres, including the 2,571-acre Robinson Creek Flooding State Wildlife Management Area. No access sites 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 5.3–4.4 | 0.9 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · very low gradient |
MDNR has classified 0.9 of the 6.9 miles NHD carries for this stream — 13% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cold-transitional. 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
- Robinson Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Robinson Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Robinson Creek — access, parking and public land
- Robinson Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Robinson Creek good for brown trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 6.4 of the 6.9 mapped miles; 0.5 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 6.4 mi |
RM 6.9–0.0 | 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
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 112,379 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Roscommon Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 103,956 |
| Forest Fire Experimental Station | Michigan DNR | 5,278 |
| Robinson Creek Flooding State Wildlife Management Area | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 2,571 |
| Robinson Lake | Michigan DNR | 574 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout at Robinson Creek (Roscommon Co., through 2017).
Hatches on this water
53 insects are recorded from northern 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 |
| 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 |
| Little Black Caddis Chimarra atterima |
April–May | 46–58°F | #16–20 |
| 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 |
And 39 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
1 named stream meets this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
Robinson Creek sits in HUC 8 04070007, the Au Sable River watershed, and drains 29 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 8 NHD reaches carry the name for 6.9 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.