BirdTrout
Smith Creek, Michigan
13.4 mapped river miles, draining 53 square miles, in the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 7.8 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 7.8 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
Four miles of this creek fall inside a blue ribbon designation that runs from the junction of Hale Creek and Smith Creek down to Whittemore Road. MDNR types 7.6 of the 13.4 mapped miles, 49 percent: 5.2 cold miles on high gradient from river mile 13.1 to 4.1, then 2.4 cold-transitional miles from 3.4 to 1.0 where the gradient drops to low. Those classes describe the valley segment rather than the water, so there is no measured temperature for this creek, and the nearest gauge, on the Au Sable River, is 7.8 miles away. The channel is narrow for its drainage, a median width of 9.6 feet against 52.72 square miles at fourth order, and it enters the East Branch Au Gres River at river mile 0.0. Hale Creek adds 14.8 miles at river mile 4.1. Type 1 regulations cover 12.6 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th. Public land totals 52,129 acres; no access sites or launches are 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 13.1–4.1 | 5.2 | cold | Cold stream · high gradient |
| RM 3.4–1.0 | 2.4 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 7.6 of the 15.4 miles NHD carries for this stream — 49% of it. The typed water splits 5.2 mi cold, 2.4 mi cold-transitional. 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
- Smith Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Smith Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Smith Creek — access, parking and public land
- Smith Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 12.6 of the 13.4 mapped miles; 0.8 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 12.6 mi |
RM 13.4–0.0 | 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.
Blue Ribbon. East Branch AuGres River (BR 14), 4.0 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: Junction of Hale Creek and Smith Creek; downstream: Whittemore Road.
Public land on the river
2 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 51,762 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 |
| Loon Lake Nature Park | Plainfield Township | 135 |
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
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.
- East Branch Au Gres River 18.8 mi · RM 0.0
- Hale Creek 14.8 mi · RM 4.1
- Maggie Creek 3.7 mi · RM 13.4
- Mitchell Creek 3.4 mi · RM 1.0
- Guiley Creek 1.4 mi · RM 0.0
Smith Creek sits in HUC 8 04080101, the Au Gres-Rifle subbasin, and drains 53 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 29 NHD reaches carry the name for 15.4 miles in total — more than the 13.4 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.