Connecticut River (Connecticut) Fishing Guides and Conditions, Connecticut

About the Connecticut River (Connecticut)

By the time the Connecticut reaches Enfield and Windsor it is a genuinely large river, several hundred yards across in places, running through farmland and old mill towns on a bed of sand, gravel and scattered ledge. The Enfield Dam and the rapids below it form the practical dividing line on the Connecticut reach. Above the dam the river is slower and lake-like in summer. Below it, the water is broken, faster and, critically, tidal influence and anadromous fish reach up to the base of the rapids, which concentrates fish and anglers in the same short stretch every spring.

The spring run is what the river is known for. American shad move up in enormous numbers from late April into June and are targeted from boats and from the bank below the rapids, and striped bass follow them upriver in the same window. Once the runs thin out, the river settles into a warmwater fishery that is better than most people expect: smallmouth bass on the ledges and current seams, largemouth in the coves and oxbows, northern pike in the weedy backwaters, and a large channel catfish population that gets fished hard at night. The oxbow lakes and side channels along the valley floor hold fish all summer when the main stem is warm.

Access is straightforward and public. State boat launches are spaced along the valley from the Massachusetts line down to Hartford, most of them paved and trailer-friendly, and the river is wide enough that powerboats are the normal way to fish it. Bank fishing concentrates at the Enfield rapids and at the launches. The Thompsonville gauge sits right at the top of this reach and reports flow, stage and water temperature, which makes it the reference reading for the whole upper Connecticut portion of the river.

Access

Thompsonville / Enfield - state access at the rapids just downstream of the gauge, and the single most heavily used bank spot on the river during the spring shad run.
Windsor Locks and the Kings Island area - launches serving the water immediately below the rapids.
Riverfront Recreation launches at Hartford and East Hartford - paved ramps with parking, the usual starting point for boats working the lower reach.
South Windsor and Wethersfield Cove give access to the oxbows and backwaters that hold largemouth and pike through the summer.
The Enfield rapids are wadeable at low summer flow and are not wadeable during the spring run; the difference is measured in feet on the gauge.
Most of the shoreline between launches is private farmland, so plan on fishing from a boat or from designated state access.
Commercial traffic is limited above Hartford, but wake from other boats is the main nuisance on summer weekends.

Seasons

Spring: the big event. American shad from late April into June with striped bass behind them, concentrated below the Enfield rapids. Flows are high and the river is pushy.
Summer: warm and settled. Smallmouth on the ledges, largemouth and pike in the coves and oxbows, and good night fishing for channel catfish.
Fall: cooling water spreads the bass out through the main stem and the fishing stays good into November with far fewer boats on the water.
Winter: the river ices in the slower reaches and access is limited to a handful of launches. Very little fishing pressure until the spring run sets up again.