BirdTrout
Silver River, Michigan
31 mapped river miles, draining 53 square miles, in the Sturgeon subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 3.0 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 3.0 miles away, at Sturgeon River (Baraga) — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The pills above go to USGS. These are this site's pages for the same gauges — a thirty-day chart, the monthly means, the record, and today's reading against the five-year normal for today: 04041500.
The character of the water
Thirty-one and four-tenths mapped miles that stay narrow the whole way, 7.3 feet wide at the median while draining 52.75 square miles at Strahler order 5. Eight tributaries enter along its length, among them Boulder Creek at 10.5 miles and Pine Creek at 7.4, and it meets the Sturgeon River at the mouth. MDNR coverage here is thin: 1.1 typed miles, 4 percent of the stream, classed as a high-gradient cold stream between river mile 31.3 and 25.6, leaving the remaining thirty miles untyped. The class describes the valley segment, not the water, and no measured temperature exists for this river; the nearest gauge, on the Sturgeon River near Baraga, is 3.0 miles away. Type 1 regulations cover 29.4 miles, open from the last Saturday in April through September 30th, artificial lures and all types of natural bait, five fish with no more than three trout 15 inches or greater. Two Ottawa National Forest units total 38,208 acres; no access sites or launches are listed.
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 31.3–25.6 | 1.1 | cold | Cold stream · high gradient |
MDNR has classified 1.1 of the 31 miles NHD carries for this stream — 4% 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
- Silver River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Silver River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Silver River — access, parking and public land
- Silver River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 29.4 of the 31.4 mapped miles; 2.0 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 29.4 mi |
RM 31.4–0.0 | 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
2 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 38,208 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Ottawa National Forest | United States Forest Service | 33,152 |
| Ottawa National Forest | United States Forest Service | 5,056 |
Species
Trout water by MDNR's classification, which types it cold — 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
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
10 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Sturgeon River 98.3 mi · RM 0.0
- Boulder Creek 10.5 mi · RM 20.9
- Pine Creek 7.4 mi · RM 1.2
- Cliche Creek 5.6 mi · RM 17.7
- Gurgle Creek 5.4 mi · RM 24.3
- Wiggle Creek 5.2 mi · RM 19.3
- Tradition Creek 4.2 mi · RM 26.8
- Farce Creek 4.0 mi · RM 9.1
- Posse Creek 3.3 mi · RM 12.1
- Sullivan Creek 2.9 mi · RM 17.1
Silver River sits in HUC 8 04020104, the Sturgeon subbasin, and drains 53 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 55 NHD reaches carry the name for 31.4 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.