BirdTrout
Bear Creek, Minnesota
6.1 mapped river miles, draining 9 square miles, in the Buffalo Whitewater basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 8.5 miles away, and it is the only temperature evidence on this page — what Minnesota DNR publishes is the Chapter 6264 listing below — a land-use protection under Minnesota Rules, not a thermometer.
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, 8.5 miles away at Whitewater River Near Beaver, 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: 05376800.
Thermal classification
There isn't one. Minnesota DNR publishes no temperature classification for any water in Minnesota. What it publishes is the Chapter 6264 listing below — a land-use protection under Minnesota Rules, not a thermometer — so this river draws grey on the map above, and grey here means unmeasured rather than warm. The only temperature on this page is the live reading from the nearest USGS gauge, 8.5 miles away; it is a reading of that water, not this one.
Questions about this river
- Bear Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish Bear Creek — hatches, seasons and temperature
- Bear Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
MN DNR trout stream designation
MN DNR lists Bear Creek under Minnesota Rules Chapter 6264 as designated trout stream. Chapter 6264 is a land-use rule — its stated purpose is timber harvest and watershed permitting, with recreation second. It is not the season and creel rules, which change yearly and live with the agency, and it is not a statement about temperature.
MN DNR designated trout streams →
Species
Minnesota DNR designates this as trout water — Designated trout stream — without naming the species. No fish survey or stocking record for this water is in the files this site reads.
Hatches on this water
24 insects are recorded from southeast Minnesota, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Little Black Stonefly Allocapnia / Capnia spp. |
January–April | 34–46°F | #16–18 |
| Midge Chironomidae |
January–October | 33–75°F | #18–24 |
| Blue-Winged Olive Baetis spp. |
March–May and September–October | 38–58°F | #16–22 |
| Hendrickson Ephemerella subvaria |
April | 45–58°F | #12–14 |
| Little Brown Stonefly Taeniopteryx / Strophopteryx spp. |
April–May | 38–50°F | #12–16 |
| Little Sister Caddis Cheumatopsyche spp. |
April–July | 60–74°F | #16–20 |
| Giant Black Stonefly (Salmonfly) Pteronarcys dorsata |
May | 50–62°F | #4–6 |
| Grannom Brachycentrus spp. |
May–June | 48–58°F | #14–16 |
| Little Black Caddis Chimarra atterima |
May–June | 46–58°F | #16–20 |
| Little Yellow Sally Isoperla spp. |
May–July | 55–68°F | #14–16 |
| Spotted / Tan Caddis Hydropsyche spp. |
May–July | 55–70°F | #14–18 |
| Blue Quill Paraleptophlebia adoptiva |
June | 44–56°F | #16–18 |
| Brown Drake Ephemera simulans |
June | 55–65°F | #10–12 |
| Cranefly Tipula spp. |
June–July | 40–65°F | #6–10 |
And 10 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.
Bear Creek sits in HUC 8 07040003, the Buffalo Whitewater basin, and drains 9 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 17 NHD reaches carry the name for 6.2 miles in total — more than the 6.1 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.