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Home › Waters › Vermont › Wrightsville Reservoir
Reservoir · Washington County on the North Branch of the Winooski, spanning Montpelier, Middlesex and East Montpelier just north of the state capital · Vermont

Wrightsville Reservoir Fishing Guides

A Civilian Conservation Corps flood control pool on the North Branch Winooski above Montpelier, with two recreation areas and a managed, fluctuating water level.

Pines along a rocky shoreline on a calm northern lake
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Wrightsville Reservoir

Wrightsville Reservoir lies on the North Branch of the Winooski River just north of Montpelier, spread across the towns of Montpelier, Middlesex and East Montpelier. It runs roughly a mile and three quarters long and about a fifth of a mile wide. The dam was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps between nineteen thirty three and nineteen thirty five, a direct response to the catastrophic flood of nineteen twenty seven, and was raised and extended again in the late nineteen fifties.

Flood control is the dam’s job, and that shapes the fishing more than anything else. This is a managed detention pool, not a stable lake, and the water level moves according to what the Winooski basin is doing rather than according to the season. Anglers who fish it regularly plan around the current pool elevation, and a trip built around a particular shoreline is worth checking first.

Vermont’s own fisheries work on the upper Winooski confirms largemouth bass in the reservoir but describes recruitment as poor, which is a useful and unusually honest piece of information to have. The practical reading is that this water fishes better as a pleasant numbers and scenery fishery than as a trophy bass water. Warmwater species make up the rest of the catch. Trout are stocked on the North Branch mainstem above the reservoir in Worcester rather than in the pool itself.

One consequence of the dam is worth stating plainly because it affects the river below. The reservoir releases from the surface rather than the bottom, which raises downstream water temperatures and removes the natural daily cooling cycle, and state biologists identify that as the reason wild trout do not hold in the North Branch below the dam. Wild brook trout persist above about a thousand feet of elevation, upstream of the reservoir.

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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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Pool right now

634.46ft NAVD88
  • 24 hours-0.23 ft ↓ falling

Reading taken 1h ago at USGS 04285000, WRIGHTSVILLE DETENTION RESERVOIR @ WRIGHTSVILLE VT. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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Posting to Wrightsville Reservoir.

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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.

Lake level alert

Tell me when the pool at Wrightsville Reservoir ft (NAVD88)

Now: 634.46 ft pool elevation, read 5:00 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 04285000, WRIGHTSVILLE DETENTION RESERVOIR @ WRIGHTSVILLE VT).

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

Access

Wrightsville Beach Recreation Area - the main access, with three hundred and fifty feet of beach, boating, picnicking and a playground.
Shady Rill Recreation Area - the second park on the reservoir, with picnicking, disc golf and horseshoes.
Boat launch - at the Wrightsville Beach area, suitable for small craft and cartop boats.
North Branch Winooski above the reservoir - the stocked trout water upstream in Worcester, a good pairing.
Montpelier - the state capital just south, with tackle, food, lodging and licence vendors.
Winooski River mainstem - the larger river below the confluence, with a broader warmwater and trout fishery.
Worcester - the town upstream where the North Branch trout stocking is concentrated.

Seasons

Spring: high and cold while the pool holds runoff, with the fishing improving as levels settle through May.
Summer: the main season, with bass and perch along the shoreline and the recreation areas fully open.
Fall: drawdown often begins, so the pool shrinks, but bass and pickerel feed well on the remaining edges.
Winter: ice fishing for perch and pickerel when conditions allow, with cross country skiing and snowmobiling around the shore.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Wrightsville Reservoir?

Anglers target Brown Trout, Bullhead, Chain Pickerel, Largemouth Bass, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Yellow Perch on the Wrightsville Reservoir in Vermont.

Where can you access the Wrightsville Reservoir?

Wrightsville Beach Recreation Area - the main access, with three hundred and fifty feet of beach, boating, picnicking and a playground. Shady Rill Recreation Area - the second park on the reservoir, with picnicking, disc golf and horseshoes. Boat launch - at the Wrightsville Beach area, suitable for small craft and cartop boats. North Branch Winooski above the reservoir - the stocked trout water upstream in Worcester, a good pairing. Montpelier - the state capital just south, with tackle, food, lodging and licence vendors. Winooski River mainstem - the larger river below the confluence, with a...

When is the best time to fish the Wrightsville Reservoir?

Spring: high and cold while the pool holds runoff, with the fishing improving as levels settle through May. Summer: the main season, with bass and perch along the shoreline and the recreation areas fully open. Fall: drawdown often begins, so the pool shrinks, but bass and pickerel feed well on the remaining edges. Winter: ice fishing for perch and pickerel when conditions allow, with cross country skiing and snowmobiling around the shore.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Wrightsville Reservoir?

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