BirdTrout
Silver Creek, Michigan
16.7 mapped river miles, draining 60 square miles, in the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 8.6 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 8.6 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
Silver Creek runs 16.7 mapped miles in the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin against 24.31 miles in the NHD, a medium stream 10.7 feet wide at the median draining 60.11 square miles at Strahler order 4. MDNR types 7.1 miles, 29 percent of it, in four disjointed pieces: 0.3 miles of Cool at the top from river mile 16.7 to 16.5, 1.3 miles of Cold from 15.3 to 10.0, 5.2 miles of Cold-transitional from 6.9 to 1.6, and another 0.3 miles of Cool from 0.8 to 0.5, all on medium gradient. Those classes describe the valley segment, and no measured temperature exists for this water; the nearest gauge on the Au Sable River is 8.6 miles off. Type 1 regulations cover 16.1 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, 5 fish with no more than 3 trout 15" or greater. Five public land units total 73,079 acres, with no access sites, walk-in access, or launches recorded.
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 16.7–16.5 | 0.3 | cool | Warm transitional stream · medium gradient |
| RM 15.3–10.0 | 1.3 | cold | Cold stream · medium gradient |
| RM 6.9–1.6 | 5.2 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · medium gradient |
| RM 0.8–0.5 | 0.3 | cool | Warm transitional stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 7.1 of the 24 miles NHD carries for this stream — 29% of it. The typed water splits 5.2 mi cold-transitional, 1.3 mi cold, 0.6 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
- Silver Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Silver Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Silver Creek — access, parking and public land
- Silver Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 16.1 of the 16.7 mapped miles; 0.6 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 16.1 mi |
RM 16.7–0.0 | 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
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 71,911 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 - Roscommon Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 20,136 |
| Public Water Access Site | Michigan DNR | 148 |
Species
Trout water by MDNR's classification, which types it cold-transitional — a statement about the water's temperature, not a fish record. No MDNR survey or stocking record for this river is 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
5 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Tawas River 6.1 mi · RM 0.0
- Fountain Creek 4.5 mi · RM 2.2
- Tuttle Ditch 4.4 mi · RM 1.6
- Stanton Creek 2.9 mi · RM 9.8
- Buck Creek 2.7 mi · RM 8.9
Silver Creek sits in HUC 8 04080101, the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin, and drains 60 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 40 NHD reaches carry the name for 24.3 miles in total — more than the 16.7 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.