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West Branch Croton River, New York

15.0 mapped river miles, draining 80 square miles, in the Lower Hudson basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 37.6 miles away, and what this page knows about its temperature is NYSDEC's classification of the water itself.

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Public land — where the bank is open to walk and fish

USGS gauge — live water temperature

Water temperature — the colour of the river, and of every dot on it

58 64 70

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 live reading

The nearest gauge is 37.6 miles away, at Esopus Creek Near Lomontville Ny — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.

Thermal classification

NYSDEC's classification of this water, reach by reach. A class, not a temperature — no July mean, because none was measured here.

NYSDEC has classified 10.9 of the 15.5 miles NHD carries for this stream — 70% 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

• West Branch Croton River fishing report — what it reads right now
• How to get to the West Branch Croton River — access, parking and public land
• West Branch Croton River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach

NYSDEC classification

NYSDEC classifies this water as Class A — drinking water source, Class AA — drinking water source, Class B — swimming and contact recreation, 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 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

8 mapped NYSDEC access sites within a quarter mile of the water, upstream first: West Branch Croton River Angler Parking (RM 9.3), West Branch Croton River Angler Parking (RM 9.1), West Branch Croton River Angler Parking (RM 5.7), West Branch Croton River Angler Parking (RM 5.7), West Branch Croton River Angler Parking (RM 3.6), West Branch Croton River Angler Parking (RM 3.6), West Branch Croton River Angler Parking (RM 0.6), West Branch Croton River Angler Parking (RM 0.3). 8 walk-in, 0 boat or canoe launches.

Public land on the river

8 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 17,032 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.

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

3 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.

• Middle Branch Croton River 10.2 mi · RM 1.8
• Bailey Brook 6.6 mi · RM 10.5
• Black Pond Brook 5.0 mi · RM 11.7

West Branch Croton River sits in HUC 8 02030101, the Lower Hudson basin, and drains 80 square miles, Strahler order 6 at the mouth. 71 NHD reaches carry the name for 15.5 miles in total — more than the 15.0 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.

• Sprout Creek 7.3 mi
• Fishkill Creek 8.4 mi
• Black Creek 13.0 mi
• Wappinger Creek 14.0 mi
• Crum Elbow Creek 16.9 mi
• Tenmile River 17.9 mi