Ford River Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The Ford River: an Upper Peninsula trout stream that Michigan regulates as Type 4 from Northland Truck Trail to Green Bay.

AI-drafted from official sources · facts checked October 8, 2026 · overseen by Pablo Ruiz Quintero · how this page was made

3/5

Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Flow

79 cfs

Air / High

58 / 58 F

Wind

SSW 7 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 04059500, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view

Friday

23

October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Ford River asks for patience today: short windows, precise presentations. The river is running 79 cfs, on the rise. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSW around 7 mph, steady pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 58. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:23 AM-12:23 PM and 10:54 PM-12:54 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Winter fish hold in the deeper pools; drift small baits slowly, and watch for brief warm spells, which NYSDEC says bring fresh fish into the creeks.

Tomorrow: Warmer at 63 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Michigan requires a fishing licence from age 17, from $26.00 for residents. What a Michigan licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing steelhead here? Check the size and bag limits with DNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Michigan, read off the agency, are on the Michigan seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Ford River near Hyde.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 04059500.

Today’s flow against 72 years of October 23

At 79 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 04059500 (Ford River near Hyde) is at the 14th percentile for the date: below normal. In half of the 72 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 205 cfs; the highest was 1,870 cfs and the lowest 35 cfs.

p10 73median 205p90 685

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 04059500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp58 F

High / Low58 / 40 F

WindSSW 7-13 mph

Pressure1024.8 hPa, steady

Sky / Rain61% cloud, 0%

Sunrise / Sunset08:16 / 18:48

MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%

Water temp (seasonal)~47 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

Which day to fish Ford River this week

The best day on Ford River this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Fishing for

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors: 10:23 AM-12:23 PM and 10:54 PM-12:54 AM
Minor period: 4:46 AM-5:46 AM
Sun: 08:16 to 18:48
Moon: Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind: Showers, 9 mph
Rain chance: 0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Ford River: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Steelhead illustration

Steelhead

Great Lakes tributaries from fall through spring; West Coast rivers have both summer and winter runs

Steelhead are rainbow trout that migrate to the Pacific or the Great Lakes to grow, then return up rivers to spawn; unlike most Pacific salmon they can survive spawning and spawn again. Winter fish hold in the deeper pools; drift small baits slowly, and watch for brief warm spells, which NYSDEC says bring fresh fish into the creeks.

When to come: the Ford River calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J

F

M

A

M

J

J

A

S

O

N

D

Steelhead

SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 47 F (estimated, not a reading).

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Ford River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data

Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Steelhead led the card at good. High of 55 F, wind to 5 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Steelhead led the card at excellent. High of 68 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Steelhead led the card at excellent. High of 63 F, wind to 6 mph.

Before you go

License

Michigan requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Michigan fishing license. Type 4 trout stream from Northland Truck Trail to Lake Michigan: read the Type 4 seasons, sizes and limits in the current Michigan Fishing Regulations before keeping trout or salmon.

Access

US-2 crosses the river near Hyde; the DNR used the US-2 site for its 2020 steelhead stocking. Check land ownership before walking the banks.

About this water

The Ford River in Delta County, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, which enters Green Bay southwest of Escanaba.

Fishing Ford River: the full guide

A designated trout stream

Michigan's 2026 Fishing Regulations list the Ford River from Northland Truck Trail downstream to Lake Michigan as a Type 4 trout stream, under Delta, Dickinson, Marquette and Menominee counties. The same regulations use the river's mouth (45.6735 N, 87.1435 W) as a boundary in their Lake Michigan rules.

Steelhead stocking

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission's stocking database records 16,300 yearling Michigan winter-strain steelhead released by the Michigan DNR at the Ford River's US-2 site on April 8, 2020.

Netting season near the mouth

Downstream of Jaeger Road, the Ford River is one of the inland waters opened to hand nets from March 1 to May 31 for the nongame species listed in the regulations.

The Hyde gauge

Flow and stage on this page come from USGS gauge 04059500, Ford River near Hyde, a short way upstream of the US-2 crossing.

Common questions

Is the Ford River a trout stream?

Yes. From Northland Truck Trail to Lake Michigan it is a Type 4 trout stream in Michigan's 2026 regulations.

Has it been stocked?

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission database records 16,300 yearling steelhead stocked by the Michigan DNR at US-2 in April 2020.

Is fishing good at Ford River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Little Bay de Noc7 mi Escanaba River8 mi Menominee River39 mi Manistique River49 mi Oconto River67 mi Platte River89 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings: USGS 04059500 — Ford River near Hyde
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure: Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 45.7349, -87.1924 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows: Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked: michigan.gov/dnr/-/media/Project/Websites/dnr/Documents/LED/digests/2026-Michiga
fsis.glfc.org/stocking/event_detail/20210511
waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/USGS-04059500
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page: Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.