BirdTrout
Crystal Creek, New York
13.5 mapped river miles, draining 26 square miles, in the Black basin watershed.
50°F and colder is cold, through cold-transitional and cool, to warm above 70°F — the same four bands, breaking at 58, 64 and 70°F, that the app paints. Grey is water nobody has measured.
Thermal classification
There is no USGS gauge within 40 miles of this stream in the record this site holds, so there is no live temperature on this page and no measured July mean. Everything below the bar is NYSDEC's own classification of the water.
NYSDEC's classification of this water, reach by reach. A class, not a temperature — no July mean, because none was measured here.
| Reach | Typed miles | Band | NYSDEC type |
|---|---|---|---|
| RM 13.5–0.0 | 20.2 | cold | — |
NYSDEC has classified 20.2 of the 22 miles NHD carries for this stream — 93% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cold. The untyped reaches are not warm water — they are water NYSDEC's inventory does not reach, and the mile ranges above span only the reaches it does.
Questions about this river
- Crystal Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- How to get to Crystal Creek — access, parking and public land
- Crystal Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
NYSDEC classification
NYSDEC classifies this water as Class A — drinking water source and Class C — fishing. More than one class appears because the classification changes along the river. The thermal bar above shows where. On those reaches DEC also designates it trout waters — which is the half of the classification that is about temperature, and the half this map paints by. The class is a designation of best usage under 6 NYCRR — what the water is protected for — and not the season and creel rules, which change yearly and live with the agency.
NYSDEC water quality classifications and standards →
Access
4 mapped NYSDEC access sites within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Crystal Creek Angler Parking (RM 6.7), Crystal Creek Fishng Pier (RM 6.7), Crystal Creek Angler Parking (RM 5.4), Crystal Creek Angler Parking (RM 4.0). 4 walk-in, 0 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 91,312 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal Creek — Public Fishing Rights Easement | NYSDEC | 337 |
| Village Of Lowville Land | city land | 1,572 |
| Independence River Wild Forest | state conservation department | 89,402 |
Species
NYSDEC designates this as trout water — Trout waters — without naming the species. No fish survey or stocking record for this water is in the files this site reads.
Tributaries and watershed
2 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- South Branch Crystal Creek 4.9 mi · RM 6.6
- Butler Creek 3.9 mi · RM 1.5
Crystal Creek sits in HUC 8 04140301, the Black basin, and drains 26 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 30 NHD reaches carry the name for 21.6 miles in total — more than the 13.5 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.