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THE ATLAS · MA · TAILWATER

Swift River

The best month to fish the Swift River is January. The month to avoid is May. Right now, in August, it is worth going.

  1. January: 71 out of 100
  2. February: 71 out of 100
  3. March: 71 out of 100
  4. April: 71 out of 100
  5. May: 58 out of 100
  6. June: 70 out of 100
  7. July: 71 out of 100
  8. August: 71 out of 100
  9. September: 71 out of 100
  10. October: 71 out of 100
  11. November: 71 out of 100
  12. December: 71 out of 100
AUGUST: GO, WITH CAVEATS71/100

This gauge does not report water temperature, so the check that would rule out water too warm to fight a fish in cannot run for this month. Treat the score as flow and season only, and ask a local shop about temperature before you travel in warm weather.

WHERE IT IS
LOADING THE MAP…

GAUGE 01175500 · COLOURED BY AUGUST

THE NUMBERS

Month by month

MONTHTYPICAL FLOWRANGE (P20–P80)WATERAIR HIGHRAINSCORE
January50 cfs48–6271
February52 cfs48–6871
March61 cfs50–19171
April77 cfs50–57471
May105 cfs49–33858
June103 cfs64–17370
July88 cfs49–11171
AugustNOW89 cfs53–10471
September100 cfs84–11371
October75 cfs53–9471
November49 cfs48–6371
December49 cfs47–5471
WHERE THESE NUMBERS COME FROM

Flow and water temperature are medians of the monthly means reported by USGS gauge 01175500 over 2006-2025. Air temperature and precipitation are ten-year normals from Open-Meteo at this river’s gauge coordinates.

The window is deliberate. USGS’s own full-record statistics for a dammed river reach back before the dam — at Lees Ferry, to 1922, forty-one years before Glen Canyon closed — and describe a river that no longer exists.

Flow is scored against this river’s own fishable band of 5289 cfs. There is no universal band: 8,000 cfs is low water on a big tailwater and a flood on a spring creek.

Water temperature is a ceiling rather than a weight. Above about 68°F a trout that is fought and released frequently dies anyway, so no month above that line is scored as worth booking, however good its flow.

IF THIS MONTH IS WRONG

The Swift River is at its best in January, flows near 50 cfs.

← RIVERS GOING WELL IN AUGUST

Regulations, licences and access change without notice and are not reproduced here as fact — check the state agency before you travel. A median describes twenty years; it does not forecast your week. Source: U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Information System.