BirdTrout
North Branch Saranac River, New York
11.2 mapped river miles, draining 37 square miles, in the Saranac River basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 16.5 miles away, and what this page knows about its temperature is NYSDEC's classification of the water itself.
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.
The nearest gauge, and why there is no reading from it
The nearest gauge, 16.5 miles away at W Br Ausable R Trib 2 Ab St Hw 86 Nr Wilmington Ny, is not reporting water temperature: it has sent no water temperature for 1363 days, since 4 January 2023. A stopped gauge repeats its last value in silence, so there is no live temperature here. What is below is modelled from the years that gauge did report: this gauge's own fitted line, its intercept plus its slope against the 4-day mean air temperature over it, fitted on its own daily record, ±2.1 °F. The shape of the week at that gauge, not a thermometer in this stream.
Thermal classification
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 11.2–0.0 | 30.8 | cold | — |
NYSDEC has classified 30.8 of the 31 miles NHD carries for this stream — 100% 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
- North Branch Saranac River fishing report — what it reads right now
- How to get to the North Branch Saranac River — access, parking and public land
- North Branch Saranac River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
NYSDEC classification
NYSDEC classifies this water as Class C — fishing. 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: North Branch Saranac River Angler Parking (RM 5.0), Lost Channel (RM 4.3), Lost Channel Angler Parking (RM 4.3), North Branch Saranac River Angler Parking (RM 4.0). 4 walk-in, 0 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 131,284 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| North Branch Saranac River — Public Fishing Rights Easement | NYSDEC | 460 |
| Chazy Highlands Wild Forest | state conservation department | 49,537 |
| Debar Mountain Wild Forest | state conservation department | 81,285 |
| North Branch Saranac River — State Land, Fishing Access | NYSDEC | 2 |
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
5 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- West Brook 9.5 mi · RM 1.6
- East Brook 6.4 mi · RM 1.3
- Beaver Meadow Brook 2.9 mi · RM 1.0
- Oregon Brook 2.7 mi · RM 7.5
- Lost Channel 1.2 mi · RM 4.3
North Branch Saranac River sits in HUC 8 04300106, the Saranac River basin, and drains 37 square miles, Strahler order 3 at the mouth. 74 NHD reaches carry the name for 30.9 miles in total — more than the 11.2 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.