BirdTrout
Vermillion River, Minnesota
15.4 mapped river miles, draining 124 square miles, in the Rush Vermillion basin watershed. A USGS gauge stands in it, but its record is too short for a measured July mean, so what this page knows about its temperature is today's reading and Minnesota DNR'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 32.1 miles away, at St. Croix River At Stillwater — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — USGS carries no water-temperature series for it at all, so no number here comes from it.
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: 05345000.
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, 0.0 miles away; it is a reading of that water, not this one.
Questions about this river
- Vermillion River fishing report — what it reads right now
- When to fish the Vermillion River — hatches, seasons and temperature
- How to get to the Vermillion River — access, parking and public land
- Vermillion River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
MN DNR trout stream designation
MN DNR lists Vermillion 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
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 648 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Vermillion Falls Park | city land | 119 |
| Vermillion River Ama (Dakota) | Minnesota DNR | 449 |
| Old Mill Park | city land | 14 |
| Hastings | Minnesota DNR | 65 |
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.
Vermillion River sits in HUC 8 07040001, the Rush Vermillion basin, and drains 124 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 49 NHD reaches carry the name for 46.6 miles in total — more than the 15.4 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.