BirdTrout
Sand Creek, Michigan
11.5 mapped river miles, draining 9 square miles, in the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 12.3 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 12.3 miles away, at Au Sable River — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The character of the water
Sand Creek is a small stream in the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin, 11.5 miles mapped against 11.45 miles in the NHD, with a median width of 10.2 feet and a drainage of only 9.33 square miles at Strahler order 3. MDNR coverage is unusually complete here at 79 percent, 9.0 typed miles split in two: 4.1 miles of Cold water from river mile 11.4 to 6.3, a cold stream on medium gradient, then 4.9 miles of Cool from river mile 4.9 to 0.0, a warm transitional stream on the same gradient. Those classes describe the valley segment, not the water; no measured temperature exists, and the nearest gauge on the Au Sable River sits 12.3 miles away. Type 1 regulations run 4.9 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, artificial lures and all types of natural bait, 5 fish with no more than 3 trout 15" or greater. Three public land units total 85,309 acres. No access sites or launches are listed.
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 11.4–6.3 | 4.1 | cold | Cold stream · medium gradient |
| RM 4.9–0.0 | 4.9 | cool | Warm transitional stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 9.0 of the 11.4 miles NHD carries for this stream — 79% of it. The typed water splits 4.9 mi cool, 4.1 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
- Sand Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Sand Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Sand Creek — access, parking and public land
- Sand Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 4.9 of the 11.5 mapped miles; 6.6 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 4.9 mi |
RM 11.5–6.3 | 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
2 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 84,751 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Huron National Forest | United States Forest Service | 51,627 |
| Au Sable State Forest - Gladwin Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 33,124 |
Species
No species records for this water 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
3 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Saddler Creek 8.4 mi · RM 0.0
- Manary Creek 2.9 mi · RM 6.3
- McMullen Drain 2.3 mi · RM 0.0
Sand Creek sits in HUC 8 04080101, the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin, and drains 9 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 18 NHD reaches carry the name for 11.4 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.