BirdTrout
Sand Creek, Michigan
6.8 mapped river miles, draining 18 square miles across Kalamazoo county, in the Kalamazoo subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 3.5 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 15.3 miles away, at Kalamazoo River At New Richmond — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — USGS carries no water-temperature series for it at all, so no number here comes from it.
The character of the water
A small stream of 6.8 mapped miles in the Kalamazoo subbasin, Kalamazoo County, second order, draining 18.36 square miles at a median width of 7.5 feet; the NHD line runs 11.76 miles. MDNR types 6.3 miles, 54 percent coverage, and the entire typed length is Cold — cold stream, high gradient, from river mile 4.4 down to 0.0. That class describes the valley segment rather than the water, so there is no measured temperature for this creek; the nearest gauge, on the Kalamazoo River near Allegan, is 3.5 miles away. The whole 6.8 miles carry Type 1 regulation, last Saturday in April through September 30th, artificial lures and all types of natural bait permitted, five fish with no more than three trout 15 inches or greater. Brown trout stocking runs at De Avenue from 1979 through 2026, 773.7 per mile; the 2nd Street site ended in 2007. Four public land units total 27,626 acres. There are no access sites, no launches, no walk-in points, and no survey 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 4.4–0.0 | 6.3 | cold | Cold stream · high gradient |
MDNR has classified 6.3 of the 11.8 miles NHD carries for this stream — 54% 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
- 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
- Is Sand Creek good for brown trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 6.8 of the 6.8 mapped miles; 0.0 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 6.8 mi |
RM 6.8–0.0 | 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, 27,626 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Allegan | Michigan DNR | 26,797 |
| Kal-Haven Trail Sesq. State Park | State Dept. of Natural Resources | 639 |
| Sand Creek Preserve | Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy | 113 |
| Alamo Township Park | Alamo Township | 76 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brown trout. The most recent plants are Brown trout at De Avenue (Kalamazoo Co., through 2026); Brown trout at 2nd Street (Kalamazoo Co., through 2007).
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
Sand Creek sits in HUC 8 04050003, the Kalamazoo subbasin, and drains 18 square miles, Strahler order 2 at the mouth. 10 NHD reaches carry the name for 11.8 miles in total — more than the 6.8 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.