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Home › Waters › Vermont › Winooski River
River · Champlain Valley · Vermont

Winooski River Fishing Guides

Vermont's longest interior river, running from the Green Mountains to Lake Champlain with trout above and lake-run fish, pike and smallmouth below.

A red covered bridge crossing a river in full New England autumn

Map of the Winooski River

58 numbered points: 2 access points, 1 campsite, 2 bait & fly shops, 28 bridges, 15 parks and conservation areas, 1 agency office, 4 regulation section limits, 4 hazards, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Sep 26, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Access / boat ramp (2)
  • Campsite (1)
  • Bait, tackle & fly shop (2)
  • Bridge crossing (28)
  • Park / conservation area (15)
  • Agency / conservation office (1)
  • Regulation section limit (4)
  • Dam / hazard (4)
  • USGS gauge (1)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Points are curated from OpenStreetMap and state agency sources; confirm access and hours before you go.

Print it. Bag it. Bring it.Phones die, screens crack, and most of this water has no signal. Print this map, fold it into a zip-top bag or dry bag with your license, and you have a backup your electronics can’t give you. Every marker is numbered so you can say exactly where you are.

Open the printable map
All 58 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Elm Street
Cabot		Bridge crossing44.40178, -72.31273
2Route 215 SouthBridge crossing44.39862, -72.32432
3Saw Mill RoadBridge crossing44.39049, -72.33073
4Power Plant RoadBridge crossing44.36026, -72.33545
5U.S. Route 2
Marshfield		Bridge crossing44.35185, -72.34703
6Gilman StreetBridge crossing44.35117, -72.34938
7School StreetBridge crossing44.34986, -72.35380
8Sass AvenueBridge crossing44.34366, -72.36757
9Pattys CrossingBridge crossing44.32240, -72.37966
10Cassady RoadBridge crossing44.30302, -72.39743
11Onion River Campground
Plainfield		Campsite44.29545, -72.39654
12Martin Covered Bridge
Covered bridge, Marshfield		Bridge crossing44.28754, -72.40820
13Main Street
Plainfield		Bridge crossing44.27789, -72.42519
14Vermont Route 14 South
East Montpelier		Bridge crossing44.26792, -72.48862
15Montpelier Number Four DamDam / hazard44.23819, -72.52504
16East Montpelier RoadBridge crossing44.24586, -72.54871
17Turntable Park
Montpelier		Park / conservation area44.25456, -72.57314
18Blanchard Park
City of Montpelier nature reserve		Park / conservation area44.25867, -72.57390
19Onion River Outdoors
Outdoor shop, Montpelier		Bait, tackle & fly shop44.26017, -72.57496
20Confluence Park
City of Montpelier		Park / conservation area44.25943, -72.57817At the North Branch confluence.
21Taylor Street
Montpelier		Bridge crossing44.25962, -72.57997
22Bailey Avenue
Montpelier		Bridge crossing44.26145, -72.58496
23Junction RoadBridge crossing44.25602, -72.60119
24Three Mile Bridge RoadBridge crossing44.26569, -72.62903
25Middlesex Wildlife Management AreaPark / conservation area44.28732, -72.65022
26Vermont Route 100B
Middlesex		Bridge crossing44.29119, -72.67920
27Middlesex Dam Number 2Dam / hazard44.29232, -72.68268
28Route 2 bridge east of Waterbury village
Trophy trout section limit		Regulation section limit44.32815, -72.74602Upstream limit of the Winooski River trophy trout section in Duxbury and Waterbury, which runs down to the top of the Bolton dam. The crossing carries both US 2 and VT 100.
29Winooski Street
Waterbury trestle		Bridge crossing44.33731, -72.76410
30Anderson Park
Waterbury		Park / conservation area44.34308, -72.75754
31Bolton dam
Two reach limits meet here		Regulation section limit44.35941, -72.81682Top of the dam is the downstream limit of the trophy trout section in Duxbury and Waterbury and the upstream limit of the named special regulation trout stream reach below it. Portage.
32Ridley Brook mouth
Protected-slot reach limit		Regulation section limit44.35948, -72.82632Upstream limit of the Winooski protected-slot reach running down to the Preston Brook mouth. Preston Brook is mapped only in its upper part, so the downstream end is unmarked.
33Bolton Potholes
Vermont River Conservancy		Park / conservation area44.37455, -72.87636
34Cochran Road
Richmond		Bridge crossing44.38291, -72.93748
35Bridge Street
Richmond		Bridge crossing44.40108, -72.99697
36Willis Hill Preserve
Richmond Land Trust		Park / conservation area44.41265, -72.99888
37West Main Street
Richmond		Bridge crossing44.42341, -73.01674
38North Williston Road
Williston		Bridge crossing44.47103, -73.04391
39US Fish and Wildlife Service
Essex Junction		Agency / conservation office44.49224, -73.11084
40Essex Number 19 Dam
Essex Junction		Dam / hazard44.48212, -73.11427
41Essex RoadBridge crossing44.48139, -73.11537
42Overlook Park
Green Mountain Power		Park / conservation area44.48024, -73.11574
43USGS gauge - Winooski River at Essex Junction
Live flow and stage		USGS gauge44.47894, -73.13874
44Lime Kiln RoadBridge crossing44.49004, -73.16212
45Winooski Gorge Natural Area
Winooski Valley Park District		Park / conservation area44.48822, -73.16399
46Gorge DamDam / hazard44.49022, -73.16903
47Casavant Natural AreaPark / conservation area44.48836, -73.17675
48Colchester Avenue
Winooski		Bridge crossing44.48885, -73.18660
49Winooski One dam
Lake Champlain boundary		Regulation section limit44.48871, -73.18737The hydropower dam west of Main Street is the Lake Champlain boundary and the downstream limit of the named special regulation trout stream reach above it. Portage.
50Salmon Hole
Burlington		Park / conservation area44.48670, -73.18822Below the Winooski One dam.
51Outdoor Gear Exchange
Outdoor shop, Burlington		Bait, tackle & fly shop44.47906, -73.21294A general gear shop rather than a fly shop, so check before relying on it for tackle.
52Ethan Allen Homestead
Winooski Valley Park District		Park / conservation area44.50618, -73.22553
53Macrae Farm Park
Winooski Valley Park District		Park / conservation area44.52735, -73.23228
54Heineberg Drive
Burlington to Colchester		Bridge crossing44.52540, -73.25545
55Heineberg Bridge
Vermont F and W, Colchester		Access / boat ramp44.52560, -73.25650Boating and fishing access at the Heineberg bridge.
56Delta Park
Winooski Valley Park District		Park / conservation area44.53373, -73.27546At the delta where the river meets Lake Champlain.
57Derway Island Natural Area
Winooski Valley Park District		Park / conservation area44.53328, -73.26912
58Boat launch on the lower Winooski
Unnamed slipway in OSM		Access / boat ramp44.52906, -73.27134

Guides on the Winooski River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

Order on this page: premium and outfitter plans first (labelled Premium placement), then claimed free profiles, then unclaimed — one published price, no bidding for position. How placement works

About the Winooski River

The Winooski cuts straight across Vermont, rising near Cabot in the northeast and running west through the only water-level gap in the Green Mountains to reach Lake Champlain at Burlington. The USGS gauge near Essex Junction sits on the lower river, a few miles above tidewater-flat delta country, and reports discharge and stage without a water temperature series. That lower position matters, because the gauge is reading a river that has already collected the Dog, Mad, Little and Huntington rivers and responds quickly to rain anywhere in a large watershed.

Anglers fish the Winooski as two fisheries. Above Montpelier and up through Waterbury the river is a freestone trout stream with wild and stocked brown and rainbow trout, fished by wading and by short float in the deeper sections. Below Essex Junction the river changes entirely: smallmouth bass, largemouth in the slack water, northern pike in the weedy lower reaches, walleye through the spring, and a genuine run of steelhead and landlocked salmon out of Lake Champlain that draws anglers to the lower dams in spring and again in fall.

Guided work here splits along the same line. Vermont trout guides run wade trips and light drift-boat floats on the upper and middle river, while Champlain-based guides work the lower river and the delta from bass boats, often combining the river mouth with the lake’s inner bays. The Winooski delta is one of the more productive pike areas on the Vermont side of the lake, and the river-to-lake transition holds fish that neither the pure river nor the pure lake guides fish exclusively.

Timing runs on flow and on the lake. Spring snowmelt makes the lower river a salmon and steelhead proposition and the upper river unfishable; by June the trout water settles in and the bass turn on below. Vermont licenses are required, the lake-run seasons have their own dates, and the state regulations linked below carry the current rules for both the river and Champlain tributaries.

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Posting to Winooski River.

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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.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Winooski River cfs

Now: 271 cfs, read 6:30 am CST, Mon Nov 2, 2026 (USGS 04290500, WINOOSKI RIVER NEAR ESSEX JUNCTION, VT).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Essex Junction access near the USGS gauge - the lower-river flow reference and a bank fishing point.
Winooski Falls area accesses in Winooski and Burlington - lake-run fish below the dams in spring and fall.
Winooski River delta and Colchester Pond area launches - trailer access to the lower river and lake mouth.
Richmond town access - middle-river hand launch for smallmouth and trout.
Jonesville and Bolton pullouts - roadside wade access on the middle river.
Waterbury and Middlesex accesses - upper trout water wading below the Winooski confluence with the Mad.
Montpelier river walk access - urban wade access to the upper trout section.

Seasons

Spring: steelhead and landlocked salmon below the lower dams on high water, with the upper river too big to fish.
Summer: upper-river trout wading in the morning and evening, and smallmouth through the middle and lower river all day.
Fall: the second lake-run window below the dams, and the best smallmouth fishing of the year in the lower river.
Winter: closed or unproductive on most of the river, with limited open-water access near Burlington.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Winooski River?

As of Nov 2, 6:30 am, the USGS gauge WINOOSKI RIVER NEAR ESSEX JUNCTION, VT reads 271 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Winooski River?

Anglers target Brown Trout, Channel Catfish, Landlocked Salmon, Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Steelhead, Walleye on the Winooski River in Vermont.

Are there fishing guides on the Winooski River?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Winooski River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Winooski River?

Essex Junction access near the USGS gauge - the lower-river flow reference and a bank fishing point. Winooski Falls area accesses in Winooski and Burlington - lake-run fish below the dams in spring and fall. Winooski River delta and Colchester Pond area launches - trailer access to the lower river and lake mouth. Richmond town access - middle-river hand launch for smallmouth and trout. Jonesville and Bolton pullouts - roadside wade access on the middle river. Waterbury and Middlesex accesses - upper trout water wading below the Winooski confluence with the Mad. Montpelier river walk access - u...

When is the best time to fish the Winooski River?

Spring: steelhead and landlocked salmon below the lower dams on high water, with the upper river too big to fish. Summer: upper-river trout wading in the morning and evening, and smallmouth through the middle and lower river all day. Fall: the second lake-run window below the dams, and the best smallmouth fishing of the year in the lower river. Winter: closed or unproductive on most of the river, with limited open-water access near Burlington.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Winooski River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Vermont agency site: https://vtfishandwildlife.com/fish/fishing-regulations