BirdTrout
Salmon River, New York
12.6 mapped river miles, draining 196 square miles, in the Salmon River basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 30.3 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, 30.3 miles away at Oswego River At Lock 7, Oswego Ny, is not reporting water temperature: its water-temperature series is empty, and was last stamped 7 October 2024. 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, ±2.2 °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 12.6–0.0 | 40.2 | cold | — |
NYSDEC has classified 40.2 of the 43 miles NHD carries for this stream — 95% 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.
The lake run
The Salmon River is a Lake Ontario tributary with 16.3 miles of run corridor on it — salmon, steelhead and lake-run brown trout, on their own calendar and under their own rules. Run timing, species and access on the Salmon River →
Questions about this river
- Salmon River fishing report — what it reads right now
- How to get to the Salmon River — access, parking and public land
- Salmon 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 spawning waters, 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
3 mapped NYSDEC access sites within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: Salmon River Reservoir At Redfield (RM 12.2), Salmon River Angler Parking (RM 1.1), Salmon River Angler Parking (RM 0.9). 3 walk-in, 0 boat or canoe launches.
Public land on the river
5 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 8,703 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Lower Salmon River State Forest | state conservation department | 1,751 |
| Chateaugay State Forest | state conservation department | 4,050 |
| Salmon River — Public Fishing Rights Easement | NYSDEC | 659 |
| Salmon River Falls Unique Area | state conservation department | 121 |
| Hall Island State Forest | state conservation department | 2,121 |
Species
NYSDEC designates this as trout water — Trout spawning waters, 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.
- Kenny Brook 4.3 mi · RM 10.9
Salmon River sits in HUC 8 04140102, the Salmon River basin, and drains 196 square miles, Strahler order 5 at the mouth. 95 NHD reaches carry the name for 42.5 miles in total — more than the 12.6 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.