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Rainbow trout in Michigan
Oncorhynchus mykiss — introduced to Michigan, holding water between 55 and 65°F. Michigan's own fisheries records name 20 waters here.
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Michigan's rainbow trout is a Pacific fish that has been here since the 1880s, and the rivers MDNR records it from are largely the rivers steelhead run — the Au Sable, the Pere Marquette and its middle branch, the Little Manistee, the Pine, the Platte, the Boardman, Bear Creek. Twenty waters with a page here carry a survey or a stocking record; twenty more are named without one. The resident fish and the lake-run one are the same species, and MDNR's file does not separate them.
Eight to sixteen inches for the river fish, holding 55 to 65°F and tolerating 75. It takes the faster, broken water — riffles and runs rather than the undercut bank a brown trout wants — which is the practical difference between the two where they share a river. The state's minimum size is set per species and rainbow and steelhead share a column.
- 55–65°FWater, preferred
- 8–16"Typical length
- IntroducedIn Michigan
- 20Waters listed here
What it is
Salmonidae — Pacific trout, genus Oncorhynchus · Oncorhynchus mykiss
- A pink to magenta band down the lateral line, brightest on a fish in spawning condition and faint on a fresh-run lake fish.
- Heavy black spotting scattered over the back, the dorsal fin and — the mark that separates it — the whole of the tail, in rows that radiate outward.
- Silver-olive ground colour, white belly, no red spots and no vermiculations.
- Tail squared and clearly spotted.
Typical length in Michigan is 8 to 16 inches. That is a curated range for water of this kind, not an average of any survey: MDNR's abundance file counts fish per acre and per mile and records no lengths at all, and no other state on this site publishes lengths either.
Native or stocked
Introduced from Pacific-slope stock in the 1880s. The lake-run form — steelhead — is the same species, and the rivers that hold resident rainbows are largely the rivers steelhead run.
Where to find it in Michigan
Waters MDNR's own files put this fish in — a survey station where it was counted, or a planting site where it was stocked — matched to the river pages on this site by position, not by name. Surveyed water is listed first: a survey is a fish somebody counted, a stocking is a fish somebody put there.
| Water | Record | Latest |
|---|---|---|
| Au Sable River | 4 survey stations, 98 stocking records | 2026 |
| Houghton Creek | 16 survey stations, 3 stocking records | 2024 |
| Pere Marquette River | 13 survey stations, 9 stocking records | 2022 |
| Gamble Creek | 14 survey stations | 2019 |
| Pine River | 11 survey stations, 2 stocking records | 2019 |
| Middle Branch Pere Marquette River | 5 survey stations, 4 stocking records | 2022 |
| Little Manistee River | 1 survey station, 15 stocking records | 2022 |
| West Branch Sturgeon River | 6 survey stations | 2019 |
| Platte River | 4 survey stations, 5 stocking records | 2026 |
| Bear Creek | 5 survey stations | 2019 |
| Boardman River | 4 survey stations, 2 stocking records | 2026 |
| Little Bear Creek | 4 survey stations | 2019 |
| Bigelow Creek | 3 survey stations | 2019 |
| Little South Branch Pere Marquette River | 1 survey station | 2022 |
| Manistee River | 147 stocking records | 2026 |
| Muskegon River | 42 stocking records | 2026 |
| Pine River | 38 stocking records | 1991 |
| Clinton River | 28 stocking records | 2026 |
| Grand River | 27 stocking records | 2026 |
| Big Sable River | 23 stocking records | 2002 |
Other Michigan waters in the same record
Named in MDNR's files without a river page here to link to — mostly lakes and Great Lakes water, which for rainbow trout is where the fish is. Listed rather than dropped: a page that showed nothing would read as a data failure when it is the actual shape of the fishery.
- Cedar River Gladwin
- Cheboygan River Cheboygan
- Coldwater River Barry
- Flat River Kent
- Jordan River Antrim
- Little Muskegon River Mecosta
- Little Sturgeon River Cheboygan
- North Branch Pentwater River Oceana
- Ocqueoc River Presque Isle
- Paw Paw River Van Buren
- Pentwater River Oceana
- Prairie Creek Ionia
- Red Cedar River Ingham
- Rogue River Kent
- Saint Joseph River Berrien
- Thunder Bay River Alpena
- Warner Creek Marquette
- White River Muskegon
- Sturgeon River Otsego
- Hasler Creek Cheboygan
Where that is on the map
Every subwatershed this site covers in Michigan as a faint dot, and the ones holding the waters listed above lit. A coverage map with this species on it — the map on the front of the site is the map.
When to fish for it
Rainbow trout hold 55–65°F water and are under real stress above 75°F. On this map's own colours that band is cold, cold-transitional, cool water, which is what the river pages and the live map are painting when they run green and blue. The season follows the temperature rather than the calendar: the water is in the band early and late in the day through the summer, and all day either side of it.
Spawning: Spring — March into May — on gravel, which is what separates it from the two autumn spawners above.
What is hatching in Michigan, month by month, from the same seed the app's hatch panel reasons from. These are the state's recorded hatches, not this species' — trout eat what is in the water.
| Month | Peaking |
|---|---|
| January | Aquatic Worm, Damselfly, Dragonfly, Fish Eggs, Hellgrammite, Leech and 6 more |
| February | Aquatic Worm, Damselfly, Dragonfly, Hellgrammite, Leech, Little Black Stonefly and 6 more |
| March | Aquatic Worm, Blue-Winged Olive, Damselfly, Dragonfly, Hellgrammite, Leech and 7 more |
| April | Aquatic Worm, Blackfly, Blue Quill, Blue-Winged Olive, Cranefly, Damselfly and 15 more |
| May | Alderfly, Aquatic Worm, Blackfly, Blue Quill, Blue-Winged Olive, Caterpillar and 24 more |
| June | Alderfly, Aquatic Worm, Black Ant, Blackfly, Brown Drake, Caterpillar and 32 more |
| July | Annual Cicada, Aquatic Worm, Black Ant, Caterpillar, Crayfish, Cream Cahill and 30 more |
| August | Annual Cicada, Aquatic Worm, Black Ant, Caterpillar, Cinnamon Flying Ant, Crayfish and 25 more |
| September | Aquatic Worm, Black Ant, Blue-Winged Olive, Caterpillar, Cinnamon Flying Ant, Cranefly and 22 more |
| October | Aquatic Worm, Blue-Winged Olive, Cranefly, Crayfish, Cricket, Damselfly and 13 more |
| November | Aquatic Worm, Blue-Winged Olive, Damselfly, Dragonfly, Fish Eggs, Hellgrammite and 7 more |
| December | Aquatic Worm, Damselfly, Dragonfly, Fish Eggs, Hellgrammite, Leech and 5 more |
How to catch it
Faster, broken, oxygenated water: riffles, runs and pocket water, more often in the current than under the bank.
Patterns from this site's book, chosen by the insects recorded from Michigan's own regions and filtered to the kinds worth putting in front of this fish. Each one has its tying recipe.
- Hare's Ear Nymph nymph · #10–18 — Alderfly, Black Ant, Cream Cahill
- Pheasant Tail Nymph nymph · #12–22 — Blue Quill, Blue-Winged Olive, Damselfly
- Parachute Adams dry fly · #12–20 — Blue Quill, Brown Drake, Blue-Winged Olive
- Chubby Chernobyl dry fly · #8–14 — Annual Cicada, Giant Black Stonefly (Salmonfly), Golden Stonefly
- Elk Hair Caddis dry fly · #12–20 — Grannom, Green Sedge, Little Black Caddis
- Foam Beetle terrestrial · #12–18 — Black Ant, Cricket, Grasshopper
- Prince Nymph nymph · #10–18 — Green Sedge, Isonychia / Slate Drake, Little Black Stonefly
- Rusty Spinner dry fly · #14–20 — Cream Cahill, Isonychia / Slate Drake, Light Cahill
- RS2 emerger · #16–24 — Blue Quill, Blue-Winged Olive, Midge
- Griffith's Gnat dry fly · #18–24 — Blackfly, Midge, Cinnamon Flying Ant
- LaFontaine Sparkle Pupa emerger · #12–18 — Grannom, Green Sedge, Little Sister Caddis
- Partridge & Orange Soft Hackle wet fly · #12–18 — Alderfly, Little Black Caddis, Little Sister Caddis
Rules for rainbow trout in Michigan
Michigan sets a minimum size per species under each of its four stream regulation types, and these are that column for rainbow trout. The creel is a trout total across species, not a limit on this one. Snapshot taken 2026-08-16 — the book on the water is the book.
| Type | Minimum size | Season | Creel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type 1 1960 waters | 10" | Last Saturday in April–September 30th | 5 fish, with no more than 3 trout 15“ or greater. Zero (0) Arctic Grayling. |
| Type 2 14 waters | 10" | Last Saturday in April–September 30th | 5 fish, with no more than 3 trout 15“ or greater. Zero (0) Arctic Grayling. |
| Type 3 59 waters | 10" | January 1st–December 31st | 5 fish, with no more than 3 trout 15“ or greater. Zero (0) Arctic Grayling. |
| Type 4 133 waters | 10" | January 1st–December 31st | 5 fish, with no more than 3 trout 15“ or greater. Zero (0) Arctic Grayling. |
The full Michigan regulation page →
Habitat notes
Faster, broken, oxygenated water: riffles, runs and pocket water, more often in the current than under the bank.
- 55–65°F preferred
- 75°F upper limit
- cold, cold-transitional, cool on this map's colours
The four thermal classes named there are the ones every river on this site is painted with, at breaks of 58, 64 and 70°F. A river page showing cold water is showing water inside this fish's band; that is the whole point of the colour.
The other trout in Michigan
- Brook trout in Michigan Salvelinus fontinalis
- Brown trout in Michigan Salmo trutta
- Lake trout in Michigan Salvelinus namaycush
Rainbow trout in the other states
The same fish, on different water and under different rules. Michigan's sand-bottomed rivers, Wisconsin's driftless springs, Minnesota's North Shore, Virginia's mountain brook water and North Carolina's tailwaters and freestone gradient are five fisheries, and the limits differ with them.
Open the trout map →Every trout stream near you, coloured by today's water temperature.