BirdTrout
The Cut, Michigan
18.7 mapped river miles, draining 66 square miles across Roscommon county, in the Muskegon River watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 9.4 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 17.1 miles away, at South Branch Au Sable River Near Luzerne — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — it has sent no water temperature for 1431 days, since 28 October 2022, so no number here comes from it.
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: 04135687.
Questions about this river
- The Cut fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish The Cut — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to The Cut — access, parking and public land
- The Cut fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 69,551 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Roscommon Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 68,170 |
| South Higgins Lake State Park | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 1,358 |
| South Higgins Lake | Michigan DNR | 23 |
Species
- Walleye stocked only
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Walleye. The most recent plants are Walleye at Cut River (Roscommon Co., through 2022).
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
1 named stream meets this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Backus Creek 14.4 mi · RM 0.0
The Cut sits in HUC 8 04060102, the Muskegon River watershed, and drains 66 square miles, Strahler order 2 at the mouth. 9 NHD reaches carry the name for 18.6 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.