Lake-run brown trout Run in New York

Salmo trutta, coaster brown, on Superior — 8 New York rivers on this map carry a run of it, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. 8 of them are inside a window as of 1 October 2026.

Where these rivers are

8 run rivers on 2 shores, drawn one shore at a time and each river in the colour of its own run stage today. One frame over all of them would be mostly open water.

Lake Ontario — the New York shore7 run rivers on this shore, 7 inside a window today First runners

Lake Erie — the New York shore1 run river on this shore, 1 inside a window today Tail-off

Drawn 1 October 2026. The ground is the subbasin mesh the app scores in, so the coastline is where the mesh stops rather than a separate shoreline; the mark at each river is its mouth, drawn for every river including the handful whose whole run corridor is under a mile and has no line to show.

Where it runs, and when

Ranked by the rivers the staging estimator models first — the sixteen systems with a USGS temperature gauge behind them — then by corridor miles. Neither is a measure of fishing, and nothing on this page ranks a fishery.

River	Lake	Window	Peak	Miles	Stage
Cattaraugus Creek	Erie	Oct–Mar	—	35.7	Staging
Salmon River	Ontario	Sept–Nov	Oct	16.3	First runners
Lower Niagara River	Ontario	Sept–Nov	Oct	14.4	First runners
Genesee River	Ontario	Sept–Nov	Oct	6.4	First runners
Oak Orchard Creek	Ontario	Sept–Nov	Oct	5.9	First runners
Eighteenmile Creek	Ontario	Sept–Nov	Oct	2.1	First runners
Black River	Ontario	Sept–Nov	Oct	1.5	First runners
Oswego River	Ontario	Sept–Nov	Oct	0.9	First runners

Stage as of 1 October 2026. It moves every day and this page does not — current conditions are here.

Identification

Buttery flanks with black and red spots, and no spotting on the tail worth the name — the mark that separates it from everything else in the run at the net.

Size

Three to fifteen pounds.

Behaviour in the river

Runs with the autumn steelhead and behind the salmon, and is the most nocturnal fish in the corridor. Many hold over into February and March.

Tackle and tactics

Spinning: a medium 7'–8' rod, 8–12 lb line, minnow plugs and spoons fished at dusk and after dark, which is when these fish move.
Fly: 7–8 weight, large articulated streamers on a sink tip, 10–12 lb tippet.

Regulations

Great Lakes tributary rules are not the inland trout rules, and they differ by river and often by reach. New York's regulation summary is here; the state's own guide is the regulation.

The rest of the run

Open the lake-run map →Every run river, with where the fish are holding today.Or get BirdTrout on the App Store