BirdTrout
Stronach Creek, Michigan
11.6 mapped river miles, draining 28 square miles, in the Manistee River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 7.7 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 7.7 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: 04125550.
The character of the water
A medium stream in the Manistee River watershed, 11.6 mapped miles at second order, draining 27.82 square miles at a median width of 14.2 feet. MDNR types 2.8 miles, 24 percent coverage: 1.2 typed miles of Cold-transitional between river miles 9.4 and 7.2, and 1.6 typed miles of Cool from river mile 5.9 to the mouth, both at medium gradient. MDNR classes the valley segment, not the water: no measured temperature exists; the nearest gauge, on the Manistee River, is 7.7 miles away. Type 1 regulation covers 11.2 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, with terminal gear from August 1st through November 15th restricted to single-pointed hooks and jigs no more than half an inch. The Little Manistee River, 68.6 miles, is the water it joins at river mile 0.0, and the 8.0-mile Blue Ribbon reach between County Road 633 and the Manistee County line belongs to that river. Four public land units total 50,018 acres. No survey or stocking is 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 9.4–7.2 | 1.2 | cold-transitional | Cold transitional stream · medium gradient |
| RM 5.9–0.0 | 1.6 | cool | Warm transitional stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 2.8 of the 11.6 miles NHD carries for this stream — 24% of it. The typed water splits 1.6 mi cool, 1.2 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
- Stronach Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Stronach Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Stronach Creek — access, parking and public land
- Stronach Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 11.2 of the 11.6 mapped miles; 0.4 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 11.2 mi |
RM 11.6–0.0 | 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 natural bait types allowed. Aug 1–Nov 15: terminal fishing gear restricted to single-pointed hooks & jigs ≤½" from point to shank or treble hooks ≤⅜" from point to shank only when attached to artificial lures.
Blue Ribbon. Little Manistee River (BR 36), 8.0 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: County Road 633; downstream: Manistee Co. Line.
Public land on the river
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 50,018 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Manistee National Forest - Manistee Ranger District | United States Forest Service | 33,473 |
| Little Manistee, Michigan Wild And Scenic River Study Area | DESG | 9,579 |
| Manistee National Forest | U.S. Forest Service | 6,918 |
| Skinner Park | — | 48 |
Species
No species records for this water 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
2 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
Stronach Creek sits in HUC 8 04060103, the Manistee River watershed, and drains 28 square miles, Strahler order 2 at the mouth. 40 NHD reaches carry the name for 11.6 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.