There is no USGS gauge on this river. No flow, no water temperature, no normal to compare against — not a fault, simply a river nobody measures. The run status below leans on the calendar and on dated reports instead, and says so where it does.
Public Access Points
Named Access Sites
Major City ParkWashington Park and Water Street Park downtown; Gordon Turner Park at the mouth; and the DNR launches at Garfield Road and Lincoln Street
Run status is rebuilt twice a day from the live gauge and the DNR's own run windows. The windows are typical timing, not a forecast — what actually moves fish is water temperature and a rise, and the run tracker carries both for every river at once.
Kings Chinook Salmon
Tailing off
Typical: Aug 25 – Oct 25, peak Sep 15 – Oct 5
DNR has reported salmon in high numbers at the spillway in mid-October, and hard to catch even so.
Pinks Pink Salmon
Tailing off
Typical: Aug 20 – Oct 15, peak Sep 8 – Sep 30
One of five northern Lake Huron rivers with an established pink salmon run, per DNR Research Report 1893. Odd years are the stronger ones.
Coho Coho Salmon
Building
Typical: Sep 10 – Nov 12, peak Sep 28 – Oct 25
Steelhead Steelhead
First fish
Typical: Sep 25 – Apr 15, peak Oct 25 – Dec 20
Fish move up through the spring; DNR reports beads and spawn near the bottom at the spillway in April.
Upstream limit
Cheboygan Lock and Dam Whether anything passes fish over it is unverified — DNR describes it only as a lock-and-dam for boat passage and water levels, and says nothing about a fishway.
Whose fish
Stocked
Access
Major City Park, Washington Park and Water Street Park downtown; Gordon Turner Park at the mouth; and the DNR launches at Garfield Road and Lincoln Street. Shore fishing at the spillway, and boat water below it. This is a navigable channel with a drawbridge and a lock — not a river you wade.
Regulations
Type 3 from the dam down to Lake Huron: open all year, bait legal, 15-inch minimum on brook and brown trout. County rules also apply — no spear, bow, crossbow, dip net or gaff on the Cheboygan, Indian or Black rivers from 1 April to 15 June, and walleye possession runs 15 May to 15 March on this reach.
What to throw
Heavy water below a spillway. Sink tips, weighted spawn imitations and big streamers.
DNR The state's weekly fishing report of Sep 30 named Chinook salmon, coho salmon, pink salmon and steelhead on this water. Read the report.