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Home › Waters › New York › Genesee River
River · Western New York, from the Pennsylvania line through Letchworth State Park and the Rochester gorge to Lake Ontario · New York

Genesee River Fishing Guides

A north-flowing western New York river with the Letchworth gorge up top and one of Lake Ontario most productive urban steelhead fisheries at the bottom.

A mountain stream running over mossy rock through eastern hardwoods
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Genesee River

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About the Genesee River

The Genesee is unusual for an eastern river in that it flows north, running from the Pennsylvania border through western New York to Lake Ontario at Rochester. Along the way it does two dramatic things: it cuts the Letchworth gorge, three waterfalls and six hundred feet of cliff that earned the park its nickname, and it cuts a second gorge straight through the middle of Rochester before reaching the lake.

The lower gorge is the fishery that draws travelling anglers. From the Lower Falls down to the harbour, the Genesee receives a heavy autumn run of chinook and coho salmon, followed by steelhead and brown trout that hold in the gorge pools through winter and into spring. It is genuinely urban fishing – you are within sight of the city – and it is productive enough that it runs shoulder to shoulder on good days. Access is by trail into the gorge, and the walk down is considerably easier than the walk back out.

Above the barrier the river is a different animal. Smallmouth bass, walleye, northern pike and channel catfish occupy the middle reaches between Letchworth and Rochester, and the upper river through the Southern Tier is small, agricultural and lightly fished. Letchworth State Park itself offers limited river access because of the gorge walls, but the water above and below the park is reachable.

The Genesee is a muddy river by nature and colours up hard after rain, which is the main constraint on the steelhead season. Check the gauge and give it a few days after a storm. Rochester-area shops and guides cover the lower gorge.

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The photo at the top of this page is not Genesee River.

It is a regional stand-in, honestly captioned but generic — we will not put a name to a river we cannot prove. Send us a photograph you took here and it replaces the stand-in, with your credit on it.

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  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Genesee River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Rochester lower gorge - the main salmon and steelhead water below the falls.
Ford Street Bridge - the gauge reach in the city.
Seth Green Drive - trail access into the lower gorge pools.
Charlotte and the harbour - the Lake Ontario mouth and pier fishing.
Letchworth State Park - the upper gorge and limited river access.
Mount Morris area - middle river access below Letchworth.
Avon - middle river bank and launch access.

Seasons

Spring: dropping flows, the spring steelhead run and good walleye on the middle river.
Summer: low warm water, smallmouth and pike above the barrier, quiet in the gorge.
Fall: chinook and coho entering the lower gorge, the busiest season of the year.
Winter: cold gorge fishing for holdover steelhead and brown trout when ice allows.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Genesee River?

As of Sep 17, 5:30 am, the USGS gauge GENESEE RIVER AT FORD STREET BRIDGE, ROCHESTER NY reads 1,140 cfs, with water temperature 68.2 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Genesee River?

Anglers target Brown Trout, Channel Catfish, Chinook Salmon, Coho Salmon, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Steelhead, Walleye on the Genesee River in New York.

Where can you access the Genesee River?

Rochester lower gorge - the main salmon and steelhead water below the falls. Ford Street Bridge - the gauge reach in the city. Seth Green Drive - trail access into the lower gorge pools. Charlotte and the harbour - the Lake Ontario mouth and pier fishing. Letchworth State Park - the upper gorge and limited river access. Mount Morris area - middle river access below Letchworth. Avon - middle river bank and launch access.

When is the best time to fish the Genesee River?

Spring: dropping flows, the spring steelhead run and good walleye on the middle river. Summer: low warm water, smallmouth and pike above the barrier, quiet in the gorge. Fall: chinook and coho entering the lower gorge, the busiest season of the year. Winter: cold gorge fishing for holdover steelhead and brown trout when ice allows.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Genesee River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the New York agency site: https://dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/freshwater-fishing/regulations