Little Otter Creek Fishing Guides
A slow clay plain creek crossing the Champlain lowlands at Ferrisburg into a large marsh on the lake, and one of the best pike nurseries in Vermont.
Guides on the Little Otter Creek
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.
No guides listed yet
Guide or outfit this water? Create your profile. Listing is free, the commission is 10% or 7% with a premium profile, and premium profiles list first on this water.
About the Little Otter Creek
Little Otter Creek crosses the Champlain lowlands in Addison County and enters Lake Champlain north of Basin Harbor through an extensive wetland complex. Despite the name it is a separate system from Otter Creek, Vermont’s longest river, which reaches the lake a short distance to the north. The ground it crosses is the flat clay plain left by the Champlain Sea, and a stream on that substrate is slow, deep for its width, and turbid after rain in a way a rocky Green Mountain stream never is.
The marsh at the mouth is the important part. Little Otter Creek Wildlife Management Area protects a large block of floodplain marsh, buttonbush swamp and silver maple bottomland where the creek meets the lake, and that wetland functions as one of the more significant northern pike spawning and nursery areas on the Vermont side of Champlain. Pike move out of the lake into the flooded marsh as the water warms in spring, spawn in the vegetation, and the young fish rear there before dropping back. Protecting that habitat has been a long standing management priority.
For anglers the creek fishes as an arm of the lake rather than as a stream. Northern pike are the headline species and reach genuine size, with largemouth bass throughout the weedy slow water, smallmouth nearer the mouth and the lake proper, and a full warmwater supporting cast of yellow perch, crappie, bowfin, bullhead and longnose gar. Access is by small boat or canoe from the state access area, and the paddling through the lower marsh is as much of a draw as the fishing for many visitors. The gauge reports discharge and stage, and stage is the number that matters, because it governs how far up into the marsh a small boat can work and whether the spring flooding that the pike depend on has actually happened in a given year.
This water needs a real photo
The photo at the top of this page is not Little Otter Creek.
It is a regional stand-in, honestly captioned but generic — we will not put a name to a river we cannot prove. Send us a photograph you took here and it replaces the stand-in, with your credit on it.
Add a photo of this water
Landscape, not fish — the water itself. Reviewed by hand before it appears. The first one published here earns the Pioneer badge.
Fished this water? Add a photo
Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.
Access
Ferrisburg - the town on the creek, with the gauge reference point and limited local services.
Little Otter Creek Wildlife Management Area - the state marsh at the mouth, with the fishing access area.
Lake Champlain - the lake itself, immediately west, with the main fishery and developed ramps.
Vergennes - the small city south on Otter Creek, with services, lodging and a falls access.
Basin Harbor - on the lake nearby, with lodging, a marina and the maritime museum.
Middlebury - south in the valley, with tackle, dining and further lodging.
Burlington - roughly forty minutes north, with the nearest airport and full services.
Seasons
Spring: the pike run into the flooded marsh and the single most important period on this water biologically and for anglers.
Summer: weedy, warm and slow, with largemouth bass and panfish through the lower creek and good paddling.
Fall: cooling water, pike feeding hard before winter and the best big fish odds of the year.
Winter: frozen, with ice fishing on the lower creek and the bay beyond when conditions allow.
From the water
No logged trips yet. Be the first to put this water on your map.
Log this water
Fished it or cleaned it? Log in or create a free account to log a trip with photos and earn the waterway badge.
Questions
What is the current flow on the Little Otter Creek?
As of Oct 18, 5:30 pm, the USGS gauge LITTLE OTTER CREEK AT FERRISBURG, VT reads 13 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.
What species can you catch on the Little Otter Creek?
Anglers target Black Crappie, Bowfin, Bullhead, Chain Pickerel, Largemouth Bass, Longnose Gar, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Yellow Perch on the Little Otter Creek in Vermont.
Where can you access the Little Otter Creek?
Ferrisburg - the town on the creek, with the gauge reference point and limited local services. Little Otter Creek Wildlife Management Area - the state marsh at the mouth, with the fishing access area. Lake Champlain - the lake itself, immediately west, with the main fishery and developed ramps. Vergennes - the small city south on Otter Creek, with services, lodging and a falls access. Basin Harbor - on the lake nearby, with lodging, a marina and the maritime museum. Middlebury - south in the valley, with tackle, dining and further lodging. Burlington - roughly forty minutes north, with the nea...
When is the best time to fish the Little Otter Creek?
Spring: the pike run into the flooded marsh and the single most important period on this water biologically and for anglers. Summer: weedy, warm and slow, with largemouth bass and panfish through the lower creek and good paddling. Fall: cooling water, pike feeding hard before winter and the best big fish odds of the year. Winter: frozen, with ice fishing on the lower creek and the bay beyond when conditions allow.
Where are the fishing regulations for the Little Otter Creek?
Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Vermont agency site: https://vtfishandwildlife.com/fish/fishing-regulations