BirdTrout
Shiawassee River, Michigan
121 mapped river miles, draining 3,388 square miles across Genesee, Saginaw, Shiawassee counties, in the Shiawassee subbasin watershed. A USGS gauge stands in it, but its record is too short for a measured July mean, so what this page knows about its temperature is today's reading and 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 gauge, and why there is no reading from it
The nearest gauge, 0.0 miles away at Shiawassee River At Fish Lake Rd At Holly, Mi, is not reporting water temperature: USGS carries no water-temperature series for it at all. A stopped gauge repeats its last value in silence, so there is no live temperature here. Nor is there a model to put in its place: that gauge has too little record to fit one, and this site does not print a temperature it cannot stand behind.
The character of the water
Seventh-order water draining 3,387.98 square miles, the largest catchment in this set, running 120.7 mapped miles at a median width of 47.5 feet through Genesee, Saginaw, and Shiawassee counties. MDNR types 56.8 miles, 47 percent of the length: 4.3 miles at the top, from river mile 120.1 to 112.7, classed cool, then 52.5 miles from river mile 110.2 down to 10.0 classed warm at low gradient. A 2016 survey in Shiawassee County, at a mean width of 102.92 feet, recorded smallmouth bass under general regulation, with no trout-per-acre or pounds-per-acre figure. Lake sturgeon have been stocked at Chesaning since 2018, through 2024, at 38.0 fish per mile; the walleye records all end in 1985. Sixty-two public land units total 21,726 acres, led by the Shiawassee River State Game Area at 9,953 and the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge at 8,758, though no access sites or launches are recorded. No measured temperature exists for this river.
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 120.1–112.7 | 4.3 | cool | Warm transitional stream · medium gradient |
| RM 110.2–10.0 | 52.5 | warm | Warm stream · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 56.8 of the 121 miles NHD carries for this stream — 47% of it. The typed water splits 52.5 mi warm, 4.3 mi 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
- Shiawassee River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Shiawassee River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Shiawassee River — access, parking and public land
- Shiawassee River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Public land on the river
53 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 21,390 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Shiawassee River State Game Area | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 9,953 |
| Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge | United States Fish and Wildlife Service | 8,758 |
| Shiawassee Basin Preserve | Springfield Township | 577 |
| Shiawassee Basin Nature Preserve | Unknown Local | 461 |
| Springfield Oaks County Park | — | 320 |
| Land | City | 234 |
| Ponemah Lake | Michigan DNR | 124 |
| Devries Nature Conservancy | DeVries Nature Conservancy | 114 |
| Davisburg State Game Area | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 111 |
| Forest Reserve | Other State Land | 98 |
Species
MDNR's most recent survey on this river ran in 2016 at Shiawassee River, Shiawassee County, in a channel averaging 102.92 feet: smallmouth bass. MDNR strata: medium, smallmouth bass; regulation at the station, general regulation.The station has been surveyed in 6 years since 2008.
- Smallmouth bass surveyed
- Lake sturgeon stocked only
- Walleye stocked only
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Lake sturgeon, Walleye. The most recent plants are Lake sturgeon at Shiawassee River @ Chesaning (Saginaw Co., through 2024); Walleye at Shiawassee River (Genesee Co., through 1985); Walleye at Shiawassee River (Genesee Co., through 1985).
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
16 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- North Ore Creek 25.0 mi · RM 89.4
- Fairchild Creek 17.7 mi · RM 6.7
- Deer Creek 11.2 mi · RM 15.0
- Webb Creek 9.7 mi · RM 58.7
- Sixmile Creek 7.1 mi · RM 36.7
- Buckhorn Creek 6.0 mi · RM 111.9
- Holly Drain 4.2 mi · RM 60.4
- Ferguson Bayou 4.1 mi · RM 2.3
- Kanause Lake Drain 3.7 mi · RM 77.5
- Mickles Creek 3.5 mi · RM 31.7
- North State Drain 3.2 mi · RM 38.7
- Keller Drain 2.0 mi · RM 69.4
Shiawassee River sits in HUC 8 04080203, the Shiawassee subbasin, and drains 3,388 square miles, Strahler order 7 at the mouth. 152 NHD reaches carry the name for 120.6 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 3 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.