BirdTrout
Salt Creek, Michigan
37 mapped river miles, draining 103 square miles, in the Pine subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 19.3 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 19.3 miles away, at Wolf Creek At Pine Grove Road Near Vestaburg, Mi — 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: 04154612.
The character of the water
Thirty-six point nine mapped miles of fourth-order water at a median width of 21.6 feet, draining 103.2 square miles of the Pine subbasin before reaching the Chippewa River. MDNR types 13.7 miles, 37 percent of the length, and the single classified reach, from river mile 32.3 down to 18.0, is warm: a warm stream at medium gradient. The class describes the valley segment rather than the water, so no measured temperature applies to this creek, and the nearest gauge, 19.3 miles off, carries no July mean. Four public land units total 8,675 acres, dominated by the Gladwin Unit of the Au Sable State Forest at 8,224 acres, with Little Salt River Park at 20 and the Steiner Preserve at 13. No access sites, walk-in sites, or launches are recorded, and no trout regulation, survey, or stocking record is listed. Potter Creek, 15.8 miles long, enters at river mile 11.4, with Figg Drain higher up at river mile 34.3.
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 32.3–18.0 | 13.7 | warm | Warm stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 13.7 of the 37 miles NHD carries for this stream — 37% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, warm. 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
- Salt Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Salt Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Salt Creek — access, parking and public land
- Salt Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Public land on the river
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 8,676 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Au Sable State Forest - Gladwin Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 8,224 |
| Gladwin Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 418 |
| Little Salt River Park | Village of Shepherd | 20 |
| Steiner Preserve | Non-Governmental Organization | 13 |
Species
No species records for this water in the files this site reads.
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
8 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Chippewa River 91.8 mi · RM 0.0
- Potter Creek 15.8 mi · RM 11.4
- Figg Drain 5.1 mi · RM 34.3
- Black Creek 4.0 mi · RM 11.1
- Childs Creek 3.6 mi · RM 24.6
- Kirch Drain 3.3 mi · RM 5.5
- Wyant Drain 2.6 mi · RM 35.3
- Thrasher Creek 1.2 mi · RM 7.4
Salt Creek sits in HUC 8 04080202, the Pine subbasin, and drains 103 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 27 NHD reaches carry the name for 36.9 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.