BirdTrout
Sanborn Creek, Michigan
22 mapped river miles, draining 117 square miles, in the Pere Marquette-White subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 19.8 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 19.8 miles away, at Pine River Near Hoxeyville — 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: 04125460.
The character of the water
A fourth-order stream of 21.7 mapped miles, 13.0 feet wide at the median, draining 117.13 square miles to the Pere Marquette River, with the Baldwin River joining it at river mile 5.8. Type 1 regulation covers 20.2 miles, open from the last Saturday in April through September 30th; from August 1 to November 15 terminal gear is restricted to single-pointed hooks and jigs no more than half an inch point to shank, or treble hooks no more than three-eighths of an inch when attached to artificial lures. The creel is 5 fish, no more than 3 trout 15 inches or greater. MDNR types 4.3 miles, 20 percent of the length, as Cold stream with medium gradient, from river mile 21.1 down to 5.8 — a class describing the valley segment rather than the water, and no gauge measures the creek, the nearest being 19.8 miles away. Five public land units total 95,524 acres. One access site, one launch. No stocking record.
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 21.1–5.8 | 4.3 | cold | Cold stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 4.3 of the 22 miles NHD carries for this stream — 20% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, 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
- Sanborn Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Sanborn Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Sanborn Creek — access, parking and public land
- Sanborn Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 20.2 of the 21.7 mapped miles; 1.5 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 20.2 mi |
RM 21.7–0.0 | 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 natural bait types allowed. Aug 1–Nov 15: terminal fishing gear restricted to single-pointed hooks & jigs ≤½" from point to shank or treble hooks ≤⅜" from point to shank only when attached to artificial lures.
Blue Ribbon. Pere Marquette River (BR 41), 6.8 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: Broadway Road (USFS Road 5132); downstream: Indian Bridge.
Access
1 mapped MDNR access site within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Wagon Wheel (RM 4.1). 0 walk-in, 1 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
5 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 95,524 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Manistee National Forest - Baldwin Ranger District | United States Forest Service | 66,846 |
| Cadillac Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 26,440 |
| Pere Marquette State Forest - Cadillac Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 1,922 |
| Public Water Access Site | Michigan DNR | 288 |
| Baldwin River Boating Access Site | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 28 |
Species
Trout water by MDNR's classification, which types it cold — a statement about the water's temperature, not a fish record. No MDNR survey or stocking record for this river is in the files this site reads.
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
2 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
Sanborn Creek sits in HUC 8 04060101, the Pere Marquette-White subbasin, and drains 117 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 39 NHD reaches carry the name for 21.7 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.