Chittenango Creek

Type
Freestone river, New York (East)
Designation
Catch and release · Special-regulation trout water
USGS gauges
1 live
Guides
4 nearby
Shops
1 nearby

Today on the Chittenango Creek

Reading the gauge…

Regulations & access Guides & shops

Chittenango Creek is a freestone river in New York, listed as Catch and release by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Bureau of Fisheries.

More about the Chittenango Creek

1 USGS gauge on the water reports flow. 4 guides and 1 shop nearby are listed here; the nearest destination hub is Pulaski & the Salmon River.

Updated · Sources: Catch and release trout stream reaches (all year, artificial lures only), USGS Water Data

Representative photograph of similar water; not a photograph of this place.
Representative photograph, not this water.
Where it is

Chittenango Creek is a freestone river in New York. Our destination hub Pulaski & the Salmon River is 40 mi away in a straight line.

Flow now at the gauge
Reading the gauges…

Follow Chittenango Creek for flow alerts

Pick one of its USGS gauges and hear from us when the flow moves into or out of its usual range for the date, or crosses a flow you set. We check the public USGS reading every 2 hours and email only when it crosses, at most once every 6 hours. Flow alone is not a fishing forecast or a safety call.

Follow this water

Signed in: one step. Otherwise we email a confirmation link first. Every alert has one-click links to stop it.

Where to fish

About this

Start from the agency's public access map. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

Nothing on this page grants or implies access.

Chittenango Creek on the map

About this

Gauges, shops and guides within 40 miles

Map of Chittenango Creek: gauges, shops and guides

RestroomsAccess map

Map of Chittenango Creek with 1 USGS gauge, and shops and guides with an exact address within 40 miles.

Restrooms near Chittenango Creek

Restrooms near Chittenango Creek

Restrooms within 2 miles of Chittenango Creek in a straight line, nearest first, with what anglers found when they went. The map says a restroom is there, not whether it is clean or open today.

No restroom mapped within 2 mi yet — add one you know.

Campgrounds, fishing access sites and boat ramps often have one that isn't on the map yet.

Restroom locations and map details: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License, read Oct 24, 2026. Ratings, answers and photos are members' own; who shared them is never shown, and every photo is reviewed before it appears. Visits older than 18 months no longer count. Distances are straight-line miles, not driving. Nothing here grants access to private land. Community guidelines.

More water near Chittenango Creek

  • Anglers wading and fishing from the grassy bank and from drift boats on the wide lower Salmon River in autumnSteelhead / salmon water
    Photo credit

    Anglers on the lower Salmon River near Port Ontario, New York, in October. Photo: Bill Blevins, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Salmon River

    New York · about 36 mi

    Brown trout, steelhead & chinook salmon

  • Oatka Creek flowing north through Le RoySteelhead / salmon waterRepresentative photo · not Catfish Creek
    Photo credit

    Oatka Creek at Le Roy, New York, looking north from the Main Street bridge. Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Catfish Creek.

    Catfish Creek

    New York · about 32 mi

  • A road and bridge crossing the West Branch Delaware River at Hale Eddy, with wooded hills behindSteelhead / salmon waterRepresentative photo · not Orwell Brook
    Photo credit

    The West Branch Delaware River at the Hale Eddy bridge, Deposit, New York. Photo: Mr. Matté, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Orwell Brook.

    Orwell Brook

    New York · about 37 mi

  • The East Branch Delaware River at its confluence with the Beaverkill, below wooded hillsSteelhead / salmon waterRepresentative photo · not Grindstone Creek
    Photo credit

    The East Branch Delaware River at its confluence with the Beaverkill, East Branch, New York. Photo: Daniel Case, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Grindstone Creek.

    Grindstone Creek

    New York · about 38 mi

    Rainbow, brown & brook trout

  • The West Branch Ausable River pouring through the rock chute of Flume Falls at WilmingtonSteelhead / salmon waterRepresentative photo · not Trout Brook
    Photo credit

    Flume Falls on the West Branch Ausable River, Wilmington, New York. Photo: James St. John, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Trout Brook.

    Trout Brook

    New York · about 41 mi

  • The Beaverkill in early autumn, rain dimpling a broad pool below wooded hillsSteelhead / salmon waterRepresentative photo · not Deer Creek
    Photo credit

    The Beaverkill in autumn rain. Photo: Jack Enright, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Deer Creek.

    Deer Creek

    New York · about 42 mi

    Steelhead

Regulations

About this

Seasons, limits, special regulations and closures for each reach are on the agency pages below. Read them before you go.

2 official designations

Each comes from the agency's own published list; where the list names a reach it is quoted. A designation applies to the listed reach, not necessarily the whole water. Listed in the finder under trout.

The water on the map

About this

Measured from the NHDPlus High Resolution (flowlines and waterbodies) (U.S. Geological Survey, read 2026-11-04) for this water’s own mapped feature. Rounded figures; they describe the channel, not today’s conditions.

Length
55.4 mi (51.8 in NY)
Drains
327 sq mi
Drop
1,296 ft · 23.4 ft/mi
Flows into
Oneida River
Watershed
Oneida

Public land along it

About this

Areas the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), public access (U.S. Geological Survey, Gap Analysis Project, read 2026-11-05) lists as owned or held in easement and open to the public, crossed by the mapped channel. Boundaries are mapped, not surveyed. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

4.9 of 51.8 mi on public land

  • Nelson Swamp Unique AreaState Department of Conservation · 3.1 mi
  • Chittenango Falls State ParkState Park and Recreation · 0.8 mi
  • Cicero Swamp WmaState Department of Conservation · 0.7 mi
  • Old Erie Canal State Historic ParkState Park and Recreation · 0.2 mi
  • Lions Botanical ParkCity Land · 0.1 mi

Nothing on this page grants or implies access.

Agency access sites (2)

About this

From Public Fishing Rights Parking Areas (New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), via data.ny.gov, read 2026-11-04); each site’s own point lies on the mapped water. Trout as the agency lists them for the site. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

  • Chittenango Creek parking area 1

    Emhoff Rd · Fenner · stocked: Brown Trout

  • Chittenango Creek parking area 2

    NY 13 · Cazenovia · stocked: Brown Trout

Stocking records

About this

From the agency’s own records (Fish Stocking Lists (Actual): Beginning 2011, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), via data.ny.gov, read 2026-11-04), listed as Chittenango Creek (Madison County). Check the agency for this season.

Past stockings, not a schedule

  • 2025: Brown Trout in Apr, May (27 stockings, 13,150 fish).

  • 2024: Brook Trout, Brown Trout in Mar, Apr, May (26 stockings, 13,860 fish).

  • 2023: Brown Trout in Mar, Apr, May (26 stockings, 13,650 fish).

Agency records

Guides and shops near Chittenango Creek

About this

Listings marked Unclaimed are built from open map records and the business's own website: confirm licensing, rates, dates and hours directly.

Guides

1 shop nearby

  • Healy Outdoors

    Nanuet, NY · 40 mi

    Fishing shop · Float trips · Wade trips

    • Unclaimed
How these are chosen

Guides whose own website names this water come first, nearest first. After them, fly-focused guides within 40 miles whose website does not name it. Distances are straight-line.

Shops: fly shops first. A distance is shown when the shop’s website gives its location (within 60 miles); otherwise the shop is in one of the towns within 25 miles of the water.

Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories.

Species and hatches

About this

What 3 nearby guide websites mention: what guides advertise, not a survey or a promise of what you will catch.

Named on 3 nearby guide websites

  • Brown trout3
  • Steelhead3
  • Chinook salmon2
  • Coho salmon2
  • Bass1
  • Brook trout1
  • Northern pike1
  • Rainbow trout1

When the bugs come off

Regional hatch months: Catskills and the Northeast
About this chart

8 hatches charted for the region, not measured on this water. From Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission.

  1. January: no charted hatch
  2. February: no charted hatch
  3. March: no charted hatch
  4. April: 3 charted hatches
  5. May: 2 charted hatches
  6. June: 1 charted hatch
  7. July: 1 charted hatch
  8. August: 1 charted hatch
  9. September: 2 charted hatches
  10. October: 1 charted hatch
  11. November: no charted hatch
  12. December: no charted hatch

Blue Quill (April) · Hendrickson (April) · Quill Gordon (April) · Green drake (May) · Mayflies (best hatches) (May) · Mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies (June to September) · and 2 more on the chart

How we put this together

Named by guides nearby (within 40 miles), counted from the species each guide lists on its own site. No agency page we hold lists species for this water.

Pulaski & the Salmon River

About this

Pulaski is a village on the Salmon River in Oswego County, a few miles above the river's mouth on Lake Ontario; Altmar and the Salmon River Fish Hatchery are upstream, and the county's other Lake Ontario tributaries, from the Oswego River to the Sandy creeks, reach the lake along its shore.

Destination hub · 40 mi away in a straight line

Gear checklist

About this

A steelhead and salmon fly-fishing checklist: a switch or spey rod (or 9′6″ single-hand) in 7–8 weight, Skagit lines and sink tips, swing flies, studded boots and cold-weather layers, with estimated prices and where to buy.

An angler wades the Deschutes River and casts, dry canyon slopes behind

Steelhead & salmon

11′–13′6″ two-hand rod, 7–8 weight, Skagit head + sink tips · Steelhead and Pacific salmon

Open the checklist
Videos for this water (5)

Watch: reading a trout stream

About this

Seams, shelves and soft water, shown on real rivers.

Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.

  • How I Learned to Read Water (Fly Fishing)Embedded from YouTube · Mad River Outfitters · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • How To Read The Water with Tom RosenbauerEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Reading the Water to Successfully Locate TroutEmbedded from YouTube · Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on reading water

Watch: nymphing basics

About this

Indicator rigs, depth and detecting the take.

Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.

  • 90° Nymph RigEmbedded from YouTube · Huge Fly Fisherman · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Casting with an Indicator & Better Nymphing TechniquesEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on nymphing

Fish Tales

About this

Trip stories anglers chose to share publicly and tagged with Chittenango Creek.

No stories from here yet.

Sources for this page

Not a statement of access, fish presence or conditions.

Something wrong?

All 14 sources and dates

A water page organises discovery. It does not assert public access, legal access, current fish presence, guide availability or fishing conditions.

Flows, gauge statistics and flood stages come from USGS and the National Weather Service when the page is shown. Regulations, stocking, species and season statements link to the agency that publishes them; this page copies only the species names and the quoted sentences. Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories. Position: the USGS gauge CHITTENANGO CREEK NEAR CHITTENANGO NY. Water type is our own classification.