BirdTrout
Putnam Creek, New York
21 mapped river miles, draining 61 square miles, in the Lake Champlain basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 21.8 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, 21.8 miles away at Durgin Brook At Boreas River Ny, is not reporting water temperature: USGS carries no water-temperature series for it at all. 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, ±1.8 °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 18.8–0.0 | 18.8 | cold | — |
NYSDEC has classified 18.8 of the 21 miles NHD carries for this stream — 88% 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
- Putnam Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- How to get to Putnam Creek — access, parking and public land
- Putnam Creek 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: Putnam Pond At Ticonderoga (RM 18.8), Putnam Creek Angler Parking (RM 3.4), Putnam Creek Angler Parking (RM 2.9), Putnam Creek Angler Parking (RM 1.6). 3 walk-in, 1 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
5 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 47,306 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Pharaoh Lake Wilderness | state conservation department | 46,229 |
| Putnam Creek — Public Fishing Rights Easement | NYSDEC | 77 |
| Putnam Pond Campground | state conservation department | 850 |
| Putts Creek Wma | state conservation department | 111 |
| Essex County Fish Hatchery Land | county land | 40 |
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
1 named stream meets this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Phelps Brook 10.8 mi · RM 6.3
Putnam Creek sits in HUC 8 04300108, the Lake Champlain basin, and drains 61 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 38 NHD reaches carry the name for 21.4 miles in total — more than the 21.2 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.