BirdTrout
West Branch Sturgeon River, Michigan
18.7 mapped river miles, draining 73 square miles across Cheboygan county, in the Cheboygan subbasin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 20.7 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 gauge, and why there is no reading from it
The nearest gauge, 20.7 miles away at Jordan River Near East Jordan, Mi, is not reporting water temperature: USGS carries no water-temperature series for it at all. A stopped gauge repeats its last value in silence, so there is no live temperature here. Nor is there a model to put in its place: that gauge has too little record to fit one, and this site does not print a temperature it cannot stand behind.
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: 04127800.
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 12.6–9.3 | 1.9 | cold | Cold stream · high gradient |
MDNR has classified 1.9 of the 18.6 miles NHD carries for this stream — 10% 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
- West Branch Sturgeon River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the West Branch Sturgeon River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the West Branch Sturgeon River — access, parking and public land
- West Branch Sturgeon River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
- Is the West Branch Sturgeon River good for brook trout?
- Is the West Branch Sturgeon River good for brown trout?
- Is the West Branch Sturgeon River good for rainbow trout?
Regulations
MDNR trout stream types, as designated. Types on file cover 18.1 of the 18.7 mapped miles; 0.6 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 18.1 mi |
RM 18.7–0.0 | 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 types of natural bait may be used.
Blue Ribbon. West Branch Sturgeon River (BR 48), 6.4 mapped miles. MDNR's limits, verbatim — upstream: Wildnerness Road; downstream: Sturgeon River.
Public land on the river
6 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 109,560 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Gaylord Management Unit | Michigan DNR | 69,111 |
| Mackinaw State Forest - Gaylord Unit | Michigan Department of Natural Resources | 40,405 |
| Eva And Vern Hanel, Jr. Nature Preserve | Little Traverse Conservancy | 18 |
| Sturgeon River | Michigan DNR | 16 |
| West Branch Of The Sturgeon River Roadside Park | Wilmot Township | 8 |
| Wolverine Village Park | — | 3 |
Species
MDNR's most recent survey on this river ran in 2019 at West Branch Sturgeon River, Cheboygan County, in a channel averaging 35.35 feet: brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, at 501 trout per acre and 34 pounds per acre. MDNR strata: small, land-locked, wild trout; regulation at the station, type 1.The station has been surveyed in 9 years since 2005.
- Brook trout surveyed
- Brown trout surveyed
- Rainbow trout surveyed
- Lake sturgeon stocked only
Stocked, per the MDNR record: Lake sturgeon. The most recent plants are Lake sturgeon at W Br Sturgeon River (Cheboygan Co., through 2017).
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
3 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Sturgeon River 40.8 mi · RM 0.0
- Marl Creek 4.2 mi · RM 3.6
- Allen Creek 3.0 mi · RM 2.5
West Branch Sturgeon River sits in HUC 8 04070004, the Cheboygan subbasin, and drains 73 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 19 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.