Updated
Tributary flows
Live USGS discharge and water temperature for the Lake America (Lake Ontario) tributaries. Flow is the single best predictor of whether fish are moving up.
Salmon River
Oswego River
Genesee River
Eighteenmile Creek
Black River
What flow actually tells you
Salmon and steelhead move on rising and falling water. A stable low flow means fish stack in the lower pools and get progressively harder to fool. A rain event that bumps flow is the signal to go.
The Salmon River is the exception: it is dam-controlled, so flow steps between scheduled release levels rather than following rain. Those steps are announced in advance, and the step up is what pulls a fresh push of fish out of the lake.
Water temperature matters as much as flow. Kings will hold in the lake until the tributary drops into the low 60s and below; steelhead keep moving well down into the 30s.
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