BirdTrout
South Branch White River, Michigan
59 mapped river miles, draining 276 square miles, in the Pere Marquette-White subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 14.3 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 14.3 miles away, at Muskegon River — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The character of the water
Fifth-order water carrying 59.4 mapped miles at a median width of 37.4 feet, this South Branch drains 276.17 square miles of the Pere Marquette-White subbasin. MDNR types only 14.9 of those miles, 25 percent of the length: 4.6 miles between river mile 55.3 and 50.6 as a cold small river at medium gradient, and 10.3 miles between river mile 45.7 and 2.9 as cold-transitional at low gradient. Those classes describe the valley segment rather than the water itself, and no measured temperature exists here; the nearest gauge is 14.3 miles off. Regulation splits the river, with 37.6 miles under Type 1, open the last Saturday in April through September 30, and 21.3 miles under Type 4, open year round. A 7.9-mile blue ribbon reach runs from USFS Road 5276 down to Baseline Road at White Cloud. Fourteen public land units total 57,940 acres, 50,225 of them Manistee National Forest. One access site, one launch.
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 55.3–50.6 | 4.6 | cold | Cold small river · medium gradient |
| RM 45.7–2.9 | 10.3 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional small river · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 14.9 of the 59 miles NHD carries for this stream — 25% of it. The typed water splits 10.3 mi cold-transitional, 4.6 mi 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
- South Branch White River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the South Branch White River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the South Branch White River — access, parking and public land
- South Branch White River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 58.9 of the 59.4 mapped miles; 0.5 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 37.6 mi |
RM 59.4–46.4 RM 44.8–18.3 |
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" |
|
Type 4 21.3 mi |
RM 18.3–0.0 | January 1st–December 31st | Brook trout 7", Brown trout 10", 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. White River (BR 49), 7.9 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: USFS Road 5276; downstream: Baseline Road at White Cloud.
Access
1 mapped MDNR access site within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Sengs (RM 14.6). 0 walk-in, 1 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
13 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 57,925 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Manistee National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 50,224 |
| White, Michigan Wild And Scenic River Study Area | DESG | 7,254 |
| Public Water Access Site | Michigan DNR | 288 |
| White River | Michigan DNR | 63 |
| White Cloud County Park | — | 61 |
| Flowing Wells Park | City of White Cloud | 9 |
| Oxbow Park | Newfield Township | 8 |
| White River Roadside Park | Michigan Department of Transportation | 5 |
| Rotary Park | City of White Cloud | 4 |
| Smith Park | City of White Cloud | 3 |
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
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
17 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Black Creek 31.4 mi · RM 30.4
- North Branch White River 25.7 mi · RM 0.0
- White River 23.6 mi · RM 0.0
- Mena Creek 11.3 mi · RM 27.1
- Fivemile Creek 10.4 mi · RM 47.0
- Skeel Creek 9.2 mi · RM 2.6
- Robinson Creek 9.2 mi · RM 32.5
- Cushman Creek 8.4 mi · RM 5.9
- Martin Creek 8.3 mi · RM 23.0
- Flinton Creek 7.3 mi · RM 46.0
- Brayton Drain 6.2 mi · RM 12.3
- Mullen Creek 5.6 mi · RM 50.6
South Branch White River sits in HUC 8 04060101, the Pere Marquette-White subbasin, and drains 276 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 151 NHD reaches carry the name for 59.4 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.