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Home › Waters › Connecticut › Saugatuck River
Tailwater · Southwestern Connecticut, Fairfield County below Saugatuck Reservoir between Weston and Westport · Connecticut

Saugatuck River Fishing Guides

The coldwater release below Saugatuck Reservoir in Fairfield County, a managed trout tailwater running south toward Long Island Sound.

A red covered bridge crossing a river in full New England autumn
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Saugatuck River

The Saugatuck River rises in the Fairfield County hills and is impounded at Saugatuck Reservoir, one of the water supply lakes serving southwestern Connecticut. Below the dam near Lyons Plain the river resumes and runs south through Weston and Westport to reach Long Island Sound at Saugatuck. The gauge sits below the reservoir, and the station name states the relationship, which is what classifies this reach as a tailwater rather than a freestone stream.

The reservoir release is the whole story of the fishery. Water drawn from the impoundment stays cooler through summer than an unregulated Connecticut stream of the same size, which is what allows trout to hold in a densely settled corner of the state. Drainage above the gauge is only about thirty-five square miles, so this is small, intimate water that fishes best when the release is steady.

Connecticut manages the Saugatuck actively, and the river carries trout management area regulations on parts of its course, with specific tackle and harvest rules that differ from the general state regulations. Brown trout are the mainstay, with rainbows stocked and brook trout in the colder tributaries. Smallmouth bass, fallfish and white sucker occupy the warmer water downstream, and American eel run the whole system to the Sound.

The valley is wooded and attractive, and much of the corridor is protected as open space or water company land, though access rules vary between holdings and should be checked rather than assumed. The river is wadeable at normal flow. Its position within easy reach of Fairfield County and New York City means it sees steady pressure on weekends through the season, and an angler willing to walk even a short distance from the road crossings will usually find water to themselves.

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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).

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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.

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4. Withdrawing the license

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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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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

Lyons Plain - the gauge reach immediately below the reservoir.
Weston - town access to the middle river and the trout management water.
Saugatuck Reservoir - the impoundment upstream, under water company rules.
Westport - the lower river and the approach to Long Island Sound.
Devils Den Preserve - protected land access in the upper drainage.
Redding - access to the headwater tributaries above the reservoir.
Saugatuck - the tidal river mouth and access to the Sound.

Seasons

Spring: the best flow of the year and the strongest stocked and wild trout fishing.
Summer: cold releases keep the reach fishable when other Connecticut water fails.
Fall: brown trout colour up and move ahead of the spawn.
Winter: fishable on mild days under trout management area rules where open.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Saugatuck River?

As of Sep 17, 4:45 am, the USGS gauge SAUGATUCK R BELOW SAUGATUCK RES NR LYONS PLAIN, CT reads 6 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Saugatuck River?

Anglers target American Eel, Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Fallfish, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, White Sucker on the Saugatuck River in Connecticut.

Where can you access the Saugatuck River?

Lyons Plain - the gauge reach immediately below the reservoir. Weston - town access to the middle river and the trout management water. Saugatuck Reservoir - the impoundment upstream, under water company rules. Westport - the lower river and the approach to Long Island Sound. Devils Den Preserve - protected land access in the upper drainage. Redding - access to the headwater tributaries above the reservoir. Saugatuck - the tidal river mouth and access to the Sound.

When is the best time to fish the Saugatuck River?

Spring: the best flow of the year and the strongest stocked and wild trout fishing. Summer: cold releases keep the reach fishable when other Connecticut water fails. Fall: brown trout colour up and move ahead of the spawn. Winter: fishable on mild days under trout management area rules where open.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Saugatuck River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Connecticut agency site: https://portal.ct.gov/deep/fishing/regulations/fishing-regulations