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Home › Waters › Connecticut › Farmington River
Tailwater · Farmington Valley · Connecticut

Farmington River Fishing Guides

Connecticut premier trout river, a cold tailwater below Hogback Dam through Riverton, New Hartford and Collinsville with wild browns and a year-round season.

A New England river running past a sandbar below low mountains in autumn

Map of the Farmington River

55 numbered points: 11 access points, 1 campsite, 1 bait & fly shop, 1 outfitter, 20 bridges, 14 parks and conservation areas, 1 agency office, 1 regulation section limit, 4 hazards, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Sep 26, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Access / boat ramp (11)
  • Campsite (1)
  • Bait, tackle & fly shop (1)
  • Outfitter / canoe rental (1)
  • Bridge crossing (20)
  • Park / conservation area (14)
  • Agency / conservation office (1)
  • Regulation section limit (1)
  • 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 55 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Farmington River TMA Section 3 - upper reach
New Hartford		Regulation section limit41.86683, -72.95426The mainstem begins here at the West and East Branch confluence, inside Section 3 of the Farmington River Trout Management Area, which DEEP defines from the Route 219 bridge down to the Route 177 bridge in Unionville.
2Route 44 bridge - New Hartford
US 44 - New Hartford		Bridge crossing41.85509, -72.95699
3DEEP riverside campsite
Connecticut DEEP - New Hartford		Campsite41.84531, -72.96328OSM names this only 'DEEP campsite'.
4Route 44 bridge - Canton
US 44, Albany Turnpike - Canton		Bridge crossing41.83616, -72.92963
5Route 202 bridge - Canton
US 202 - Canton		Bridge crossing41.83288, -72.92847
6Town Bridge Road bridge
Canton		Bridge crossing41.82469, -72.92808Long-used wading and paddling access above Collinsville.
7Old River Road canoe access
Off Old River Road - Collinsville, Canton		Access / boat ramp41.81822, -72.92204Tagged for canoe use, no fee; OSM carries it unnamed.
8Route 179 bridge - River Road
Route 179 - Canton		Bridge crossing41.81656, -72.92006
9Farmington River Trail canoe access
Off the Farmington River Trail - Collinsville		Access / boat ramp41.81268, -72.92220OSM carries this slipway unnamed; the trail name comes from a reverse geocode.
10Collinsville Canoe and Kayak
Livery and shop - Collinsville		Outfitter / canoe rental41.81177, -72.92317Re-typed from a boat shop; this is the river's main canoe and kayak livery.
11Bridge Street bridge - Collinsville
Route 179 - Canton		Bridge crossing41.81025, -72.92556
12Collins Company Upper Dam
Collinsville, Canton		Dam / hazard41.81017, -72.92554Portage at the old axe works.
13Collins Company Lower Dam
Collinsville, Canton		Dam / hazard41.80049, -72.92672Second Collins Company structure; portage.
14Route 179 bridge - Canton Road
Route 179 - Avon / Burlington		Bridge crossing41.78297, -72.92313
15Burlington State Fish Hatchery
Connecticut DEEP - Burlington		Agency / conservation office41.76437, -72.93759OSM maps only the hatchery ponds, 2.2 km off the river; this is the state hatchery that stocks the Farmington system.
16Unionville dams
Unionville, Farmington		Dam / hazard41.77470, -72.90342OSM carries three unnamed dam structures along the Power Dams Trail here; treat the whole reach as a portage.
17Route 4 bridge - Unionville
Route 4, Collinsville Road - Farmington		Bridge crossing41.76458, -72.89615
18Route 177 bridge - Unionville
Route 177, South Main Street - Farmington		Bridge crossing41.75591, -72.88679Downstream limit of Section 3 of the Farmington River Trout Management Area and the upstream limit of DEEP's Lower Farmington River reach, which runs from here to Rainbow Reservoir.
19Farmington Avenue bridge - Unionville
Route 4 - Farmington		Bridge crossing41.75661, -72.88244
20Tunxis Mead Park
Town of Farmington		Park / conservation area41.73240, -72.85505Riverside town park and launch point on the Farmington meadows.
21Farmington Avenue bridge - Farmington
Route 4 - Farmington		Bridge crossing41.72882, -72.82848
22Shade Swamp Sanctuary
State of Connecticut - Farmington		Park / conservation area41.71338, -72.85330State sanctuary with blue-blazed trails on the river's south bend.
23Old Farms Road river access
Off Old Farms Road - Avon		Access / boat ramp41.77219, -72.82163OSM carries a slipway and a service spur here, both unnamed; merged to one.
24Old Farms Road bridge
Avon		Bridge crossing41.77253, -72.82128
25Fisher Meadows Recreation Area
Town of Avon		Park / conservation area41.78336, -72.82841The main town river frontage in Avon, with parking and trails to the water.
26Old Farms Road access - Old Avon Village
Off Old Farms Road - Avon		Access / boat ramp41.79817, -72.83112OSM carries this slipway unnamed.
27Alsop Meadows
Town of Avon		Park / conservation area41.80234, -72.82452Riverside open space on the Avon flats.
28Alsop Meadows canoe launch
Off the Spur Trail - Avon		Access / boat ramp41.80518, -72.82399OSM tags this slipway 'Canoe Launch' with no name.
29Routes 44 and 10 bridge - Avon
US 44 / Route 10, East Main Street - Avon		Bridge crossing41.80685, -72.82273
30Nod Brook State Wildlife Area
State of Connecticut - Avon		Park / conservation area41.81896, -72.82276State wildlife area on the river between Avon and Simsbury.
31Pinchot Sycamore Area
Town of Simsbury - Weatogue		Park / conservation area41.84666, -72.80591Park around the Pinchot Sycamore, the largest tree in Connecticut, with river access. OSM maps it as two polygons.
32Route 185 bridge - Weatogue
Route 185, Hartford Road - Simsbury		Bridge crossing41.84715, -72.80733
33Pinchot Sycamore canoe access
Off Hartford Road - Weatogue, Simsbury		Access / boat ramp41.84779, -72.80728OSM carries this slipway unnamed.
34Simsbury State Wildlife Area
State of Connecticut - Simsbury		Park / conservation area41.85177, -72.80649
35Hop Brook Landing at the Flower Bridge
Simsbury		Park / conservation area41.86892, -72.80008Landing beside the Drake Hill Flower Bridge.
36Drake Hill Flower Bridge
Drake Hill Road - Simsbury		Bridge crossing41.86915, -72.79853Historic iron bridge planted with flower boxes; a Simsbury landmark on the water.
37Vincent's Sporting Goods
Sporting goods - Simsbury		Bait, tackle & fly shop41.87484, -72.80057Independent shop a short way off the river in Simsbury centre.
38Curtiss Park
Town of Simsbury		Park / conservation area41.89684, -72.77968Riverside park above Tariffville. OSM maps it as three polygons.
39Route 315 bridge - Tariffville Road
Route 315 - Simsbury		Bridge crossing41.89467, -72.78383
40Tariffville Park
Town of Simsbury		Park / conservation area41.91410, -72.76835The access for the Tariffville Gorge reach.
41Route 189 bridge - Tariffville
Route 189, Hartford Avenue - Simsbury / Bloomfield		Bridge crossing41.91173, -72.76216At the head of the Tariffville Gorge.
42USGS 01189995 - Farmington River at Tariffville
United States Geological Survey		USGS gauge41.90828, -72.75935The reference gauge for this river and the one the gorge is read from.
43Tunxis Avenue river access
Off Tunxis Avenue - Spoonville, East Granby		Access / boat ramp41.90318, -72.75989OSM carries this slipway unnamed.
44Route 189 river access - Bloomfield
Off Route 189 - Bloomfield		Access / boat ramp41.90035, -72.75592OSM carries this slipway unnamed.
45Route 187 bridge - Spoonville
Route 187, South Main Street - East Granby / Bloomfield		Bridge crossing41.89705, -72.74931DEEP names the Route 187 bridge at Rainbow Reservoir as the downstream limit of the Lower Farmington River reach.
46Old Church Road river access
Off Old Church Road - Spoonville, East Granby		Access / boat ramp41.89330, -72.74121OSM carries two unnamed slipways here; merged to one.
47Farmington River Park
East Granby		Park / conservation area41.89086, -72.73957
48Windsor Wildlife Management Area
State of Connecticut - Windsor		Park / conservation area41.88811, -72.72871
49Northwest Park
Town of Windsor		Park / conservation area41.90537, -72.70398Town park and nature centre above Rainbow Reservoir.
50Rainbow Reservoir Boat Launch
State of Connecticut - Windsor		Access / boat ramp41.91402, -72.70475State launch on the reservoir. OSM carries three features at this site; merged to one.
51Rainbow Reservoir Dam
Windsor		Dam / hazard41.91491, -72.69376Rainbow Dam. DEEP's tidal waters and tributaries reach begins about 3,000 feet below it, at the Rainbow Brook confluence.
52John R. Welch Park
Town of Windsor		Park / conservation area41.90091, -72.68183
53Route 75 bridge - Poquonock
Route 75, Poquonock Avenue - Windsor		Bridge crossing41.90075, -72.67921
54Town Boat Launch - Farmington River
Town of Windsor - off Pleasant Street		Access / boat ramp41.85728, -72.64024Town launch near the Connecticut River confluence; OSM carries the ramp unnamed beside the named launch polygon.
55Route 159 bridge - Palisado Avenue
Route 159 - Windsor		Bridge crossing41.85693, -72.63849Last crossing above the Connecticut River confluence.

Guides on the Farmington 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.

About the Farmington River

The Farmington is the trout river in Connecticut and one of the best in the Northeast. The West Branch below Hogback Dam at Riverton runs cold all summer on bottom releases from the Colebrook and Barkhamsted reservoirs, and the river from there down through Peoples State Forest, New Hartford, Collinsville and Unionville is a long, varied, heavily fished and genuinely excellent trout fishery. The Tariffville gorge at the bottom adds a stretch of ledge and pocket water below the confluence with the main stem.

Brown trout are the fish. The river holds a strong wild brown population alongside the well-known Survivor Strain program, and fish that have been in the river for several seasons behave like wild fish and are fished for accordingly. Rainbows fill in, brook trout come out of the tributaries, and smallmouth take the warmer lower water. The hatches are excellent and long-running, from Hendricksons and caddis in spring through sulphurs, cahills and the summer evening dry-fly fishing that the river is known for, into olives and midges in the cold months.

The Tariffville gauge reads the bottom of the system and reflects both the West Branch release and the main-stem inflow. Release changes at Hogback set the character of the upper river: moderate flows are ideal for wading the permanent catch-and-release water at Peoples Forest, high summer releases push wading anglers to the edges, and low winter flows make the fish very spooky. Read the number, and remember the upper river can be fishing well while the lower river is high and off-color from a tributary.

Riverton, New Hartford, Collinsville and Simsbury are the bases, with fly shops and guides. The permanent catch-and-release reach is the most fished water in the state.

This water needs a real photo

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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.

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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.

Fished this water? Add a photo

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Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Farmington River.

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.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Farmington River cfs

Now: 558 cfs, read 2:15 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 01189995, FARMINGTON RIVER AT TARIFFVILLE, CT).

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

Access

Hogback Dam and Riverton: the top of the West Branch tailwater.
Peoples State Forest: the permanent catch-and-release water, the best-known reach.
Whittemore and Church Pool: classic named pools with parking.
New Hartford and Satans Kingdom: mid-river access and tubing traffic in summer.
Collinsville and Unionville: lower West Branch and main-stem access.
Tariffville Gorge: ledge and pocket water at the gauge reach.
Rainbow Dam: the bottom of the river above the Connecticut.

Seasons

Open year-round on much of the river, with a true winter fishery.
April and May: Hendricksons, caddis and the heaviest hatches of the year.
June through August: cold releases and famous evening dry-fly fishing; expect tubers at Satans Kingdom.
September through March: olives, midges, streamers and wild browns with almost no company.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Farmington River?

As of Oct 19, 2:15 am, the USGS gauge FARMINGTON RIVER AT TARIFFVILLE, CT reads 558 cfs, the 53rd percentile for this date. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Farmington River?

Anglers target Atlantic Salmon, Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass on the Farmington River in Connecticut.

Are there fishing guides on the Farmington River?

GuidedFloats lists 3 guides and outfitters on the Farmington River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Farmington River?

Hogback Dam and Riverton: the top of the West Branch tailwater. Peoples State Forest: the permanent catch-and-release water, the best-known reach. Whittemore and Church Pool: classic named pools with parking. New Hartford and Satans Kingdom: mid-river access and tubing traffic in summer. Collinsville and Unionville: lower West Branch and main-stem access. Tariffville Gorge: ledge and pocket water at the gauge reach. Rainbow Dam: the bottom of the river above the Connecticut.

When is the best time to fish the Farmington River?

Open year-round on much of the river, with a true winter fishery. April and May: Hendricksons, caddis and the heaviest hatches of the year. June through August: cold releases and famous evening dry-fly fishing; expect tubers at Satans Kingdom. September through March: olives, midges, streamers and wild browns with almost no company.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Farmington 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