BirdTrout
Slagle Creek, Michigan
17.7 mapped river miles, draining 36 square miles across Wexford county, in the Manistee River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 5.0 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 5.0 miles away, at Manistee River — 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: 04124200.
The character of the water
Seventeen and seven-tenths mapped miles of fourth-order water in Wexford County, a median width of 15.4 feet, and a 35.98-square-mile drainage feeding the Manistee River. MDNR types 6.2 miles as cold stream at high gradient, running nearly the whole channel from river mile 17.2 down to 0.2, 35 percent coverage and a steep reading for a tributary this long. The class applies to the valley segment rather than measured water, so no temperature exists for this creek; the nearest gauge, on the Manistee River, is 5.0 miles off. Regulations cover 16.4 miles as Type 1, open the last Saturday in April through September 30th, artificial lures and all types of natural bait allowed. Rainbow trout were stocked at the Slagel Creek Trout Club from 2004 through 2019 at 102.8 per mile. Four public land units total 26,070 acres, nearly all of it the Manistee National Forest Cadillac Ranger District. Dead Creek enters at river mile 0.2, Perkins Creek at 15.4. No access sites 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 17.2–0.2 | 6.2 | cold | Cold stream · high gradient |
MDNR has classified 6.2 of the 17.7 miles NHD carries for this stream — 35% 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
- Slagle Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Slagle Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Slagle Creek — access, parking and public land
- Slagle Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Slagle Creek good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 16.4 of the 17.7 mapped miles; 1.3 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 16.4 mi |
RM 17.7–0.0 | 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
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 26,070 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Manistee National Forest - Cadillac Ranger District | United States Forest Service | 25,547 |
| Consumers Power Co. | OTHF | 333 |
| Harrietta | Michigan DNR | 175 |
| Oliver Family Nature Preserve Trail | Cadillac Area Land Conservancy | 15 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Rainbow trout. The most recent plants are Rainbow trout at Slagel Creek Trout Club (Wexford Co., through 2019).
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
3 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Manistee River 190.1 mi · RM 0.0
- Dead Creek 2.4 mi · RM 0.2
- Perkins Creek 1.7 mi · RM 15.4
Slagle Creek sits in HUC 8 04060103, the Manistee River watershed, and drains 36 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 33 NHD reaches carry the name for 17.7 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.