BirdTrout
West Branch Ford River, Michigan
14.5 mapped river miles, draining 48 square miles, in the Cedar-Ford subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 14.7 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 14.7 miles away, at Escanaba River — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
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 4.9–0.0 | 4.9 | cool | Warm transitional stream · low gradient |
MDNR has classified 4.9 of the 14.5 miles NHD carries for this stream — 34% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cool. 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
- West Branch Ford River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the West Branch Ford River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the West Branch Ford River — access, parking and public land
- West Branch Ford River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
Public land on the river
1 unit of public or open-access land touches this river, 21,307 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Escanaba River State Forest - Escanaba Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 21,307 |
Species
No species records for this water in the files this site reads.
Hatches on this water
42 insects are recorded from the Upper Peninsula, 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Giant Black Stonefly (Salmonfly) Pteronarcys dorsata |
May–June | 50–62°F | #4–6 |
| Green Sedge Rhyacophila spp. |
May–August | 48–64°F | #12–16 |
And 28 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
3 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Ford River 107.8 mi · RM 0.0
- South Branch Ford River 7.3 mi · RM 9.9
- Skidmore Creek 7.1 mi · RM 7.8
West Branch Ford River sits in HUC 8 04030109, the Cedar-Ford subbasin, and drains 48 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 8 NHD reaches carry the name for 14.5 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.