BirdTrout

Au Gres-Rifle Watershed, Michigan

1,858 miles of mapped stream across 1,019 square miles of drainage in Arenac, Iosco, Ogemaw counties, in 134 named streams. Michigan designates 650 of those miles as trout water, on 92 streams. The 1 mainstem gauge with a July record read 71.7°F in July.

Open in BirdTrout
Map key
Public land — where the bank is open to walk and fish
USGS gauge — live water temperature
Water temperature — the colour of every stream in the basin

50°F and colder is cold, through cold-transitional and cool, to warm above 70°F — the same four bands the app paints. On this map the colour is MDNR's classification of the valley segment, not a measurement, except at the gauge dots, which read live. Grey is water MDNR has not typed.

The watershed in numbers

HUC8 04080101 in the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset. Every figure below adds up the river pages in this basin — same records, one basin at a time.

1,858 mi
of mapped stream
3,904 NHD reaches
1,019 sq mi
drainage area
652,274 acres
71.7°F
July water temperature at the gauges
1 mainstem gauge, mean 71.7°F
122,486 ac
public land
18.8% of the basin · 115 units

Cold, cool and warm water

MDNR's Valley Segment Ecological Classification, which types the valley segment rather than measuring the water. It covers 30% of this basin's stream miles (558.8 of 1,858); the rest is untyped and is drawn grey on the map above.

173.0 of the 558.8 typed miles in this basin — 31% — are cold or cold-transitional water. The dominant class is cool.

There is no elevation model behind this page, so it carries no elevation range. MDNR's gradient class is the field that answers the same question, and over the typed miles it reads: high 215.3 mi, medium 182.4 mi, low 91.9 mi, very low 69.3 mi.

What makes this watershed distinctive

Two rivers give this 1,019-square-mile basin its name and they are not the same kind of water. The Rifle runs 68 miles and MDNR types it cool; the Au Gres runs 46.7 and types warm. Between and around them sit 134 named streams, 92 of them designated trout water across 649.7 miles — a high proportion for a basin this size. The classification covers only 30% of the 1,857.9 mapped stream miles, and over that sample cool water dominates at 292.9 miles against 97.1 cold and 75.9 cold-transitional. Bear Creek carries a Blue Ribbon designation. Silver Creek, 24.3 miles of cold-transitional water, holds Type 4 reaches. Public ground is 122,486 acres, 18.8% of the basin, split almost evenly between the Michigan DNR and the US Forest Service. The single gauge with a July record read 71.7°F.

Every named stream in the basin

All 134 of them, longest first. 62 have a page of their own and are linked; the rest are in the app. Thermal class is MDNR's, over the reaches it has typed. "Now" is the live USGS reading where a gauge stands in that stream.

Stream Miles Class Now Designation
Rifle River 68.0 Cool — Type 1, Type 2, Type 4
Au Gres River 46.7 Warm — Type 2
Silver Creek 24.3 Cold-transitional — Type 2, Type 4
Big Creek 21.5 Warm — Type 2
East Branch Au Gres River 18.8 Cool — Type 1, Type 2, Type 3
Johnson Creek 16.1 Cool — Type 2
Whitney Creek 15.7 Cool — Type 2
Smith Creek 15.4 Cold — Type 2, Type 3
Hale Creek 14.8 Cold — Type 2, Type 3
West Branch Rifle River 13.7 Cool — Type 2
Kunze Creek 13.4 Cool — Type 1, Type 2
Sand Creek 11.4 Cool — Type 2
Vaughn Creek 11.3 untyped — Type 2
Cedar Creek Drain 11.3 Cool — Type 2
Hope Creek 11.1 Cold-transitional — Type 2
Dead Creek 9.9 Warm — Type 1, Type 2
Prior Creek 9.5 Cold-transitional — Type 2, Type 4
Houghton Creek 9.5 Cold — Type 2
Cold Creek 8.9 Cold-transitional — Type 2, Type 4
Wells Creek 8.7 Cool — Type 1, Type 2
Elm Creek 8.7 Cool — —
Saverine Creek 8.6 Cool — Type 1, Type 2
Klacking Creek 8.5 Cold — Type 2, Type 4
Saddler Creek 8.4 Warm — —
Nester Creek 8.2 Cool — —
Bum Drain 8.2 Cool — —
Ogemaw Creek 7.7 Cold — Type 2
Scott Drain 7.5 Cool — —
Crainer Creek 7.3 Cool — Type 2
Porterfield Creek 7.2 Cool — Type 2
North Eddy Creek 7.1 untyped — Type 2
Campbell Creek 7.1 Cool — Type 2
Gray Creek 7.0 Cold — Type 2
Mansfield Creek 7.0 Cool — Type 2
Sims Creek 6.9 Cool — Type 2
Au Gres Creek 6.7 untyped — —
Tawas River 6.1 untyped — Type 1, Type 2, Type 4
Wilkins Creek 6.1 Cold — Type 2
Gamble Creek 6.0 Cold — Type 2
Old Channel East Branch Au Gres River 6.0 untyped — —
South Eddy Creek 5.8 Cool — Type 2
Oyster Creek 5.6 Cold — Type 2
Mongo Creek 5.6 Cool — —
Ammond Creek 5.5 Cold-transitional — Type 2
Mosquito Drain 5.5 Warm — —
Latter Creek 5.4 Cold-transitional — Type 2
Dixie H Drain 5.2 untyped — —
Laundrie Drain 5.1 untyped — —
Bear Creek Blue Ribbon 5.0 Cool — Type 1, Type 2
Dedrich Creek 5.0 Cool — Type 2
Shepards Creek 5.0 Cool — Type 2
Cooper Creek 4.9 Cold — Type 2, Type 3
Addy Drain 4.7 untyped — Type 2
Rifle Creek 4.7 Cold-transitional — Type 2
Andrews Creek 4.6 untyped — Type 2
Fountain Creek 4.5 Cool — Type 2
Peach Lake Creek 4.5 Cool — Type 2
Bailer Creek 4.5 Cold-transitional — Type 2
Tuttle Ditch 4.4 Cool — Type 2
Woods Creek 4.4 Cold — Type 2
Plains Creek 4.4 Cool — —
Indian Creek 4.3 Cold-transitional — Type 2
Graham Creek 4.3 Cold — Type 2
Grow Creek 4.3 Cool — Type 2
Chief Creek Drain 4.3 Warm — —
Townline Creek 4.2 Cool — Type 1, Type 2
Spring Creek 4.2 untyped — Type 2
Red Drain 4.2 untyped — —
Sherrit Drain 4.1 Warm — —
Alabaster Whitney Drain 4.0 untyped — Type 1, Type 2
Dime Drain 4.0 Warm — —
Gordon Creek 3.8 untyped — Type 2
Mayhue Creek 3.8 Cold — Type 2
Maggie Creek 3.7 untyped — Type 2
Silver Drain 3.7 Cool — —
Picket Creek 3.6 Cold — Type 2
Crapo Creek 3.6 Cold — Type 2
North Branch Townline Creek 3.6 untyped — —
Johns Creek 3.6 Warm — —
Crane Creek 3.5 untyped — Type 2
Skunk Creek 3.4 Cool — Type 2
Mitchell Creek 3.4 Cold — Type 2, Type 3
Chub Creek 3.4 Cold-transitional — Type 2
Duck Lake Drain 3.4 Warm — —
Parent Drain 3.3 untyped — Type 1, Type 2
Loud Creek 3.2 Cool — Type 2
Kelchner Drain 3.2 Warm — —
County Line Drain 3.2 Warm — —
South Branch Townline Creek 3.1 untyped — —
Roberts Drain 3.1 untyped — —
Burch Creek 3.0 Cool — Type 2
Stanton Creek 2.9 Cold — Type 2
Manary Creek 2.9 untyped — Type 2
Brewery Creek 2.9 untyped — Type 2
Onion Drain 2.9 Warm — —
Proper Creek 2.8 Warm — —
Buck Creek 2.7 untyped — Type 2
Little Klacking Creek 2.7 untyped — Type 2
Fritz Creek 2.6 Cool — Type 1, Type 2
Schnitzelbank Creek 2.6 Cool — —
Bixby Creek 2.4 Cold — Type 2
Mason Creek 2.4 untyped — —
Harwood Creek 2.3 Cool — Type 2
McMullen Drain 2.3 Cool — Type 1, Type 2
Mills Creek 2.3 untyped — Type 2
Clear Creek 2.3 Cool — Type 2
Mud Creek 2.3 untyped — Type 2
Geese Drain 2.3 Warm — —
Richter Creek 2.2 Cool — Type 1, Type 2
Buchanan Creek 2.1 Cool — Type 2
Feeding Ground Creek 2.0 Cool — Type 2
Mattison Drain 2.0 untyped — —
Hiltz Creek 1.9 Cool — Type 2
Hall Creek 1.9 Cool — —
Parmalee Creek 1.8 Cool — Type 2
Peterson Creek 1.8 Cool — Type 2
Hemenway Drain 1.8 Warm — —
South Branch Shepards Creek 1.7 untyped — Type 2
Barber Creek 1.6 untyped — Type 2
Baum Drain 1.6 Warm — —
Brooks Creek 1.5 untyped — —
Guiley Creek 1.4 Cold — Type 2, Type 3
Prather Creek 1.4 Cool — Type 2
Stowell Drain 1.4 Warm — —
Marble Drain 1.3 untyped — —
Hettinger Creek 1.2 untyped — Type 2
Cursten Creek 1.2 Cool — Type 2
Simmons Creek 1.2 Cold — —
De Witt Drain 1.2 untyped — —
Hammell Creek 1.1 untyped — —
Eddy Creek 1.0 untyped — Type 2
Burnt Drain 0.9 Warm — —
Ray Drain 0.6 untyped — —
Rapid Creek 0.4 untyped — —

Public land in the watershed

122,486 acres in 115 units, which is 18.8% of the 652,274 acres the basin covers. Private inholdings carried in the same source file are excluded, here and on the map.

Managing agency Acres Share Units
Michigan DNR 61,486 50% 31
US Forest Service 56,927 46% 3
Other State Land 1,175 1% 3
City and township land 768 1% 15
Land trusts and conservancies 583 0% 2
County land 518 0% 2
Local Government land 175 0% 11
Plainfield Township 148 0% 4

The biggest named blocks of it, each with its own page — the streams on that ground, what is open to hunt on it, and where the access sites are.

Species present

Recorded by MDNR at 2 survey stations in this basin, or in its stocking record. The temperature ranges are our own species table and are the same numbers the app's picker uses.

Species Best water Tolerates Evidence
Brook trout
Salvelinus fontinalis
 50–60°F 42–65°F surveyed stocked
Brown trout
Salmo trutta
 55–63°F 45–70°F surveyed stocked
Rainbow trout
Oncorhynchus mykiss
 55–64°F 44–70°F surveyed stocked
Chinook salmon
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha
 50–58°F 42–68°F stocked
Coho salmon
Oncorhynchus kisutch
 48–56°F 40–65°F stocked
Northern pike
Esox lucius
 60–70°F 40–78°F stocked
Walleye
Sander vitreus
 62–72°F 50–80°F stocked
Lake trout — — stocked
Splake — — stocked

Best time to fish

The hatch calendar for northern lower Michigan, which is the region this basin's centre falls in — the same regions the app's hatch panel uses. It is a regional record, not a survey of this watershed: nobody has counted insects basin by basin. Year-round records (midges, scuds, sculpins) are left out; they are true every month and they are not what a calendar is for.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

53 insects are recorded from northern lower Michigan. Each links to its own page, with the flies that imitate it.

Neighbouring watersheds

The subbasins that share a boundary with this one and carry coldwater streams.

Plan a weekend around it

The weekend this basin adds up to — the biggest water in it, what is hatching when, the public land in range and a three-day plan.