Steelhead Run in New York

Oncorhynchus mykiss, lake-run rainbow trout — 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	Sept–May	—	35.7	Tail-off
Salmon River	Ontario	Sept–May	Mar–Apr	16.3	First runners
Lower Niagara River	Ontario	Sept–May	Mar–Apr	14.4	First runners
Genesee River	Ontario	Sept–May	Mar–Apr	6.4	First runners
Oak Orchard Creek	Ontario	Sept–May	Mar–Apr	5.9	First runners
Eighteenmile Creek	Ontario	Sept–May	Mar–Apr	2.1	First runners
Black River	Ontario	Sept–May	Mar–Apr	1.5	First runners
Oswego River	Ontario	Sept–May	Mar–Apr	0.9	First runners

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

Identification

A chrome rainbow off the lake, the stripe faint on a fresh fish and loud on one that has wintered in the river.

Size

Five to twelve pounds, and bigger on the Manistee-type rivers.

Behaviour in the river

Two runs on one calendar: a fall push that winters in the river and a spring run onto the gravel. The fall fish are the reason a January river is not empty.

Tackle and tactics

Float fishing: a long 10'6"–13' rod, 8–12 lb main line, spawn bags, beads or jigs under a slip float — the method that covers a run without wading it.
Fly: 7–8 weight single-hand or a switch rod, egg and nymph patterns on a dead drift, swung streamers in the fall push. 6–10 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