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Saginaw weekend fly fishing trip
4 waters in the Saginaw watershed, Michigan, have a page here, the largest of them Saginaw River, Cheboyganing Creek and Tittabawassee River. June, July and August carry the most recorded hatches, 19 insects in June, 21 insects in July and 18 insects in August. In range: 8 blocks of public land with a page of their own, 6 state-forest campgrounds and 1 fly shops. Everything below is measured or published — no ranking on this page is ours.
The water
| Water | Miles | July mean |
|---|---|---|
| Saginaw River | 22.3 | — |
| Cheboyganing Creek | 22.2 | — |
| Tittabawassee River | 0.2 | — |
| Shiawassee River | 0.1 | — |
Ordered by mapped length. July mean is measured at the USGS gauges standing in each river; a dash means no gauge on it reports temperature.
A 3-day plan
Saginaw River
Nearest listed access: Veterans Park (boat launch), 1.3 mi, or Veterans Memorial Park (boat launch), 5.6 mi.
Cheboyganing Creek
Nearest listed access: Veterans Park (boat launch), 7.5 mi, or Rust Avenue (boat launch), 8.2 mi.
Tittabawassee River
Nearest listed access: Rust Avenue (boat launch), 0.5 mi, or Leonard Boers III Riverfront Park (boat launch), 3.0 mi.
Assembled, not written: the days are the largest waters in range, longest first, and each one carries the nearest site in Michigan's own access file — measured from the middle of the water, so it is a place to start looking rather than a landing on that river. Fish them in whatever order the weather gives you.
Hatches to hit
The months with the most recorded hatches in southern lower Michigan: June (19), July (21), August (18).
| Insect | Months | Hook |
|---|---|---|
| Fish Eggs | October–January and April | #10–16 |
| Little Black Stonefly | January–April | #16–18 |
| Little Brown Stonefly | February–April | #12–16 |
| Blue-Winged Olive | March–May and September–November | #16–22 |
| Blackfly | April–June | #18–22 |
| Blue Quill | April–May | #16–18 |
| Cranefly | April–June and September–October | #6–10 |
| Grannom | April–May | #14–16 |
| Hendrickson | April–May | #12–14 |
| Little Black Caddis | April–May | #16–20 |
| Caterpillar | May–September | #8–14 |
| Crayfish | May–October | #4–8 |
| Light Cahill | May–July | #12–16 |
| Little Sulphur | May–July | #16–20 |
Recorded from southern lower Michigan, earliest first. The year-round records sit at the bottom because they are true and they are not news.
Public land in range
- Crow Island State Game Area — 4.5 mi
- Quanicassee State Wildlife Area — 8.1 mi
- Saginaw River Headwaters Recreation Area — 10.3 mi
- Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge — 12.1 mi
- Bay City State Park — 14.5 mi
- Vassar State Game Area — 16.5 mi
- Fish Point State Wildlife Area — 17.5 mi
- Shiawassee River State Game Area — 18.3 mi
Blocks of ground with a page of their own, nearest first. Ownership from PAD-US as Michigan publishes it.
Camping and lodging
| Campground | Distance | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| Bay City-Group Use Area (fee) | 12.6 mi | MDNR |
| Bay City-Pop-up camper (fee) | 12.6 mi | MDNR |
| Bay City-Modern (fee) | 12.7 mi | MDNR |
| Black Creek State Forest Campground (fee) | 32.8 mi | MDNR |
| Metamora-Hadley-Modern (fee) | 44.6 mi | MDNR |
| Metamora-Hadley Camper Cabin (fee) | 44.7 mi | MDNR |
State-forest and state-park campgrounds from Michigan's own file. This site holds no hotel or motel data and does not pretend to: what it can tell you is where the public ground is.
Fly shops
- Frank's Great Outdoors — 18.8 mi, Linwood
From OpenStreetMap and a curated list, across all five states on this site. Call before you drive — a shop in a file is not a shop that is open.
Before you go
- Michigan regulations
- Michigan fishing report
- Saginaw watershed
- Saginaw River
- Cheboyganing Creek
- Tittabawassee River
- Shiawassee River