BirdTrout
Sand Creek, Michigan
23 mapped river miles, draining 55 square miles, in the Grand River basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 8.5 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 9.0 miles away, at Grand River At N Park St Ne, Grand Rapids — 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 683 days, since 14 November 2024, so no number here comes from it.
The character of the water
A medium stream of 23.2 mapped miles in the Grand River basin, fourth order, draining 54.92 square miles at a median width of 15.0 feet, with the NHD line at 23.13 miles. Regulations are the notable feature: 22.4 miles carry Type 4, open January 1st through December 31st, artificial lures and all types of natural bait permitted, five fish with no more than three trout 15 inches or greater. MDNR types only 7.0 miles, 30 percent coverage, and calls that stretch Cool — warm transitional stream from river mile 23.2 down to 11.2, gradient High — alongside a Cold-transitional entry carrying 0.0 typed miles. The class describes the valley segment, not the water, so there is no measured temperature; the nearest gauge, the Grand River at 6th Street in Grand Rapids, is 8.5 miles off. Three public land units total 423 acres, Aman Park holding 381 of them. One access site, a launch. The record covers no survey, no stocking and no county here.
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 23.2–11.2 | 7.0 | cool | Warm transitional stream · high gradient |
| RM 0.0–0.0 | 0.0 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 7.0 of the 23 miles NHD carries for this stream — 30% of it. The typed water splits 7.0 mi cool, 0.0 mi 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
- 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 22.4 of the 23.2 mapped miles; 0.8 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 22.4 mi |
RM 23.2–0.0 | 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
1 mapped MDNR access site within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Grand River Park (RM 0.0). 0 walk-in, 1 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 423 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Aman Park | — | 381 |
| Berlin Fairgrounds | City | 38 |
| Cole Park | — | 4 |
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
1 named stream meets this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
Sand Creek sits in HUC 8 04050004, 04050005, 04050006 and 04050007, the Grand River basin, and drains 55 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 23 NHD reaches carry the name for 23.1 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.