BirdTrout
Weldon Creek, Michigan
13.2 mapped river miles, draining 28 square miles across Mason county, in the Pere Marquette-White subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 14.4 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 14.4 miles away, at Little Manistee River — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
The character of the water
Thirteen and two tenths of mapped miles of medium stream in the Pere Marquette-White subbasin, 13.14 by NHD measure, a median 13.0 feet wide, draining 28.31 square miles at Strahler order 3, all of it in Mason County. MDNR types one short reach: 0.8 miles between river mile 11.9 and 6.2 as Cold, a cold stream on medium gradient. That is 6 percent of the length, the thinnest sort of coverage, and the class describes the valley segment rather than the water, so no measured temperature exists here; the nearest gauge, on the Little Manistee River, is 14.4 miles off. Type 1 regulation covers 12.4 miles, last Saturday in April through September 30th, with single-pointed hook and jig restrictions from August 1 through November 15 and a creel of 5 fish, no more than 3 trout 15" or greater. Brook trout were stocked at Benson Road in Mason County from 1994 through 1995. Two public units total 73,993 acres. No surveys are on record.
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 11.9–6.2 | 0.8 | cold | Cold stream · medium gradient |
MDNR has classified 0.8 of the 13.1 miles NHD carries for this stream — 6% 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
- Weldon Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Weldon Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to Weldon Creek — access, parking and public land
- Weldon Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is Weldon Creek good for brook trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 12.4 of the 13.2 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 12.4 mi |
RM 13.2–0.0 | 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.
Public land on the river
2 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 73,993 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Manistee National Forest - Baldwin Ranger District | United States Forest Service | 66,846 |
| Pere Marquette, Michigan Wild and Scenic River | DESG | 7,147 |
Species
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Brook trout. The most recent plants are Brook trout at Benson Road (Mason Co., through 1995).
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
Weldon Creek sits in HUC 8 04060101, the Pere Marquette-White subbasin, and drains 28 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 31 NHD reaches carry the name for 13.1 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.