The Steelhead Alley Index

Transition Mode

Friday, September 11, 2026

The Steelhead Alley Index is in Transition Mode: water temperature decides whether the read behaves more like a coldwater steelhead window or a warmwater river window. Today's score blends flow, water temperature, clarity, weather, barometric pressure, and active storm state for every active gauge into a single regional read.

Good

Underlying score: 57/100 · Index ranks vs. Sep 11 ±15-day history

▲ +7 vs. yesterday

Tomorrow's predicted Index

68 Average 55% confidence

Storm Watch — by region

Four state+lake buckets · auto-refreshes when conditions change

OH · Erie

Quiet

All quiet — no rain, no alerts, no rapid rises.

PA · Erie

Quiet

All quiet — no rain, no alerts, no rapid rises.

NY · Erie

Quiet

All quiet — no rain, no alerts, no rapid rises.

NY · Ontario

Quiet

All quiet — no rain, no alerts, no rapid rises.

My Alley

Your Subset Score

Personal stat — separate from the official Alley Index above. Not for citing externally.

· rivers

States

Within drive

Your Subset

Ranked vs. visible history

Last 30 days · 30 snapshots

Alley Index Your subset

Week Month Quarter Year All

of rivers blown

Today's Story

Fall is unwinding into the run. The Steelhead Alley Index reads 73 (Good) today. Up 5 from yesterday.

Transition months are unpredictable — water temps swing, runs straggle, and what fished yesterday may not fish today. Conneaut Creek and Cattaraugus Creek are leading the Alley right now. Check live conditions before you commit to a drive.

By Technique & Region

Raw composite (0–100) — not percentile-ranked

Fly

Float

Erie Tribs

Ontario Tribs

Top Today

In Trouble

Grand River 18
Cazenovia Creek 18

All 31 Rivers — by State

River	Rating	Score
Ohio 11 rivers · avg 56
Conneaut Creek	excellent	91
Huron River	excellent	91
Ashtabula River	good	73
Cuyahoga River	good	73
Rocky River	good	55
Vermilion River	good	55
Chagrin River	fair	45
Brandy Run	fair	45
Black River	fair	45
Euclid Creek	fair	27
Grand River	poor	18
Pennsylvania 4 rivers · avg 48
Walnut Creek	good	64
Elk Creek	fair	45
Crooked Creek	fair	45
Twenty Mile Creek	fair	36
New York — Lake Erie 7 rivers · avg 49
Cattaraugus Creek	excellent	91
Buffalo Creek	good	55
Chautauqua Creek	fair	45
Eighteen Mile Creek	fair	45
Canadaway Creek	fair	45
Silver Creek	fair	45
Cazenovia Creek	poor	18
New York — Lake Ontario 9 rivers · avg 67
Genesee River	excellent	91
Irondequoit Creek	excellent	91
Johnson Creek	excellent	91
Sandy Creek (Hamlin)	good	64
Eighteenmile Creek (Niagara)	good	64
Oak Orchard Creek	good	55
Sandy Creek (Adams)	good	55
Salmon River	fair	45
Black River (Watertown)	fair	45

Methodology. The Alley Index is a percentile rank — today's underlying conditions composite (mean of per-river fishing scores, 0–100) is compared to the historical record on this calendar window (±15 days, all years). An Index of 73 means today is better than 73% of comparable late-season days on record. Bands: Excellent 90+, Good 70–89, Average 30–69, Poor 10–29, Blown 0–9. Refreshed hourly. Season-calibrated: summer mode uses warmwater temperature bands, transition mode follows water temperature, and steelhead mode uses coldwater steelhead bands.

Index calibrating: percentile bands tighten as the historical archive grows. When fewer than 10 comparable days exist in the window, the Index falls back to the raw underlying score so the page always shows a meaningful number.

JSON API: /index/api