BirdTrout
South Branch Battle River, Minnesota
30 mapped river miles, draining 78 square miles, in the Red River North basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 36.6 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, 36.6 miles away at Big Fork River Abv Sturgeon River Below Big Falls, 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.
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, 36.6 miles away; it is a reading of that water, not this one.
Questions about this river
- South Branch Battle River fishing report — what it reads right now
- How to get to the South Branch Battle River — access, parking and public land
- South Branch Battle River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
MN DNR trout stream designation
MN DNR lists South Branch Battle River 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 →
Public land on the river
2 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 102,183 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Red Lake | Minnesota DNR | 72,545 |
| Miscellaneous | Minnesota DNR | 29,638 |
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.
Tributaries and watershed
South Branch Battle River sits in HUC 8 09020106, 09020302 and 09020314, the Red River North basin, and drains 78 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 22 NHD reaches carry the name for 30.7 miles in total — more than the 30.5 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.