BirdTrout
Sandstone Creek, Michigan
6.2 mapped river miles, draining 6 square miles, in the Ontonagon subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 4.2 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 20.8 miles away, at Mineral River Ds Of Native Ck Nr Silver City, Mi — 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 in the Ontonagon subbasin, 6.2 mapped miles and 6.21 by NHD measure, a median 7.9 feet wide, draining 5.86 square miles at Strahler order 4. It meets the Ontonagon River, listed at 32.9 miles and joined at river mile 0.0, which makes that larger water the receiving river rather than a tributary. MDNR types a single reach: 1.3 miles from river mile 2.6 down to the mouth as Cool, a warm transitional stream on high gradient. That is 21 percent of the length, and the class describes the valley segment rather than the water, so no measured temperature exists here; the nearest gauge, on the Ontonagon River, is 4.2 miles off. Three public units total 36,076 acres, led by the Ontonagon, Michigan Wild and Scenic River at 34,412 and Military Hill Purchase Unit at 1,619. No access sites, walk-in access, or launches are recorded, and the record covers no regulations, surveys, or stocking.
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 2.6–0.0 | 1.3 | cool | Warm transitional stream · high gradient |
MDNR has classified 1.3 of the 6.2 miles NHD carries for this stream — 21% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cool. 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
- Sandstone Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Sandstone Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Sandstone Creek — access, parking and public land
- Sandstone Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 36,076 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Ontonagon, Michigan Wild and Scenic River | DESG | 34,412 |
| Military Hill Purchase Unit | U.S. Forest Service | 1,619 |
| Baraga Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 44 |
Species
No species records for this water in the files this site reads.
Hatches on this water
42 insects are recorded from the Upper Peninsula, 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Giant Black Stonefly (Salmonfly) Pteronarcys dorsata |
May–June | 50–62°F | #4–6 |
| Green Sedge Rhyacophila spp. |
May–August | 48–64°F | #12–16 |
And 28 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.
Sandstone Creek sits in HUC 8 04020102, the Ontonagon subbasin, and drains 6 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 33 NHD reaches carry the name for 6.2 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.