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Home › Waters › Connecticut › Housatonic River
River · Litchfield Hills · Connecticut

Housatonic River Fishing Guides

A big, ledgy freestone river through the Litchfield Hills, with a trout management area at Cornwall and one of the best river smallmouth fisheries in New England below it.

A bridge over a still river lined with autumn hardwoods in New England

Map of the Housatonic River

59 numbered points: 15 access points, 4 campsites, 1 bait & fly shop, 2 outfitters, 15 bridges, 12 parks and conservation areas, 1 agency office, 8 hazards, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Sep 26, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Access / boat ramp (15)
  • Campsite (4)
  • Bait, tackle & fly shop (1)
  • Outfitter / canoe rental (2)
  • Bridge crossing (15)
  • Park / conservation area (12)
  • Agency / conservation office (1)
  • Dam / hazard (8)
  • 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 59 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Route 44 bridge - Salisbury Road
US 44 - Salisbury / North Canaan		Bridge crossing42.00504, -73.35736First highway crossing below the Massachusetts line.
2Great Falls Reservoir Access
Canoe access - Falls Village		Access / boat ramp41.96385, -73.37183Slipway above Great Falls Dam; tagged for canoe use.
3Great Falls Dam
Falls Village		Dam / hazard41.96319, -73.37179Portage. The falls below the dam run dry when the canal is diverting.
4Falls Mountain Road bridge
Falls Village - AMC Connecticut Chapter		Bridge crossing41.95828, -73.37067Crossing below the Great Falls powerhouse reach.
5Routes 7 and 112 bridge - Lime Rock
US 7 / Route 112 - Salisbury / Canaan		Bridge crossing41.93429, -73.36193Upstream limit of the Housatonic River Trout Management Area, which runs from here to the Routes 4 and 7 bridge at Cornwall Bridge.
6Belter Lime Rock Preserve
Nature preserve - Salisbury		Park / conservation area41.92705, -73.36842Riverside preserve on the west bank in the trout management water.
7Belter's Campsites
Free riverside campsite		Campsite41.92682, -73.36344OSM records a bear box and a pit toilet, no fee.
8Sycamore Field Preserve
Town of Salisbury		Park / conservation area41.92662, -73.35992Open river frontage on the east bank.
9Dean's Ravine Campsite
Walk-in campsite		Campsite41.92053, -73.34794Set back from the river at the mouth of Dean's Ravine.
10Route 128 bridge - West Cornwall
Route 128 - Cornwall / Sharon		Bridge crossing41.87156, -73.36394The West Cornwall covered bridge; the main put-in and take-out landmark on the trout water.
11Brokaw Preserve
Cornwall Conservation Trust		Park / conservation area41.86733, -73.35773East-bank preserve between West Cornwall and Cornwall Bridge.
12Route 7 bridge below West Cornwall
US 7 - Cornwall		Bridge crossing41.86609, -73.36964Highway crossing in the middle of the trout management water.
13Clarke Outdoors
Canoe, kayak and raft livery - West Cornwall		Outfitter / canoe rental41.86068, -73.37528OSM spells the name 'Clark Outdoors'; corrected here. Shop and shuttle on Route 7.
14Housatonic Meadows State Park
Connecticut DEEP		Park / conservation area41.84509, -73.37845The main state river frontage on the trout water.
15Housatonic Meadows State Park Campground
Connecticut DEEP		Campsite41.83820, -73.37967Riverside state campground inside the park.
16Route 7 bridge at Housatonic Meadows
US 7 - Sharon / Cornwall		Bridge crossing41.83344, -73.38310
17Routes 4 and 7 bridge - Cornwall Bridge
US 7 / Route 4 - Cornwall / Sharon		Bridge crossing41.82001, -73.37334Downstream limit of the Housatonic River Trout Management Area. DEEP also posts a three-mile fly-water reach immediately above this bridge.
18Silver Hill Campsite
Free walk-in campsite		Campsite41.81540, -73.38961OSM records a water pump, a bear box and a privy.
19Route 341 bridge - Kent
Route 341 - Kent		Bridge crossing41.72687, -73.48131Town crossing at Kent.
20Bulls Bridge Dam
FirstLight - Kent		Dam / hazard41.67822, -73.50863Upstream limit of the Bull's Bridge Trout Management Area, which runs from this impoundment dam to the Gaylordsville bridge. Portage; the gorge below is class IV-V water.
21Spooner Dam
Bulls Bridge complex - Kent		Dam / hazard41.67611, -73.51144Second structure in the Bulls Bridge diversion works.
22Bulls Bridge
Bulls Bridge Road - Kent		Bridge crossing41.67573, -73.50923Historic covered bridge over the gorge; parking and river access at the west end.
23Route 7 bridge - Gaylordsville
US 7 - New Milford		Bridge crossing41.66004, -73.49187Downstream limit of the Bull's Bridge Trout Management Area, which DEEP also extends up the Ten Mile River to the New York line.
24Kent Road river access - Gaylordsville
Off US 7 - New Milford		Access / boat ramp41.65866, -73.49216OSM carries this slipway unnamed; the road and village come from a reverse geocode.
25USGS 01200500 - Housatonic River at Gaylordsville
United States Geological Survey		USGS gauge41.65304, -73.48982The reference gauge for this river.
26Eleanor and Howard Hunt Nature Preserve
Northwest Connecticut Land Conservancy		Park / conservation area41.61561, -73.45915River frontage above New Milford.
27Sega Meadows Park
Town of New Milford		Park / conservation area41.60101, -73.45294Riverside town park with trail access to the water.
28Boardman Road bridge
New Milford		Bridge crossing41.59317, -73.44982Long-standing access point; the USGS New Milford gauge sits on this crossing.
29Route 202 and 67 bridge - New Milford
US 202 / Route 67 - New Milford		Bridge crossing41.57510, -73.41543
30Anderson Avenue river access
Off Anderson Avenue - New Milford		Access / boat ramp41.56447, -73.40797OSM carries this slipway unnamed; the road name comes from a reverse geocode.
31Bleachery Dam
New Milford		Dam / hazard41.56576, -73.41134DEEP names this dam as the downstream limit of the Housatonic bass management water.
32Grove Street river access - Addis Park
Off Grove Street - Lanesville, New Milford		Access / boat ramp41.55538, -73.40657Slipway at the town's Addis Park; OSM carries it unnamed.
33Sunny Valley Preserve
The Nature Conservancy - Bridgewater		Park / conservation area41.51292, -73.38260OSM maps the preserve as five separate tracts along Lake Lillinonah; one marker shown.
34Bridgewater town launch - Tappen Road
Off Tappen Road - Bridgewater		Access / boat ramp41.52542, -73.40031Slipway at the Bridgewater town park on Lake Lillinonah; OSM carries it unnamed.
35Route 133 bridge - Bridgewater
Route 133 - Bridgewater / Brookfield		Bridge crossing41.48013, -73.35058Crossing of Lake Lillinonah.
36Lake Lillinonah Boat Launch
State of Connecticut - Bridgewater		Access / boat ramp41.48022, -73.34885State trailer launch. OSM carries three nodes at this site; merged to one.
37Lake Lillinonah Park launch
Off Hanover Road - Newtown		Access / boat ramp41.47139, -73.33252Town park slipway; OSM carries the ramp unnamed beside the named park polygon.
38River Road canoe access above Shepaug Dam
FirstLight - Southbury		Access / boat ramp41.45028, -73.29601Tagged permissive for canoe use; the road name comes from a reverse geocode.
39Shepaug Dam
FirstLight - Southbury / Newtown		Dam / hazard41.44861, -73.29568Head of Lake Zoar. Portage.
40Lake Zoar Wildlife Area
Southbury		Park / conservation area41.42871, -73.23845Shoreline wildlife area beside the state launch.
41Lake Zoar Boat Launch
State of Connecticut - Southbury		Access / boat ramp41.42772, -73.23612State trailer launch on Lake Zoar.
42Lee Farm Drive canoe access
Off Lee Farm Drive - Lakeside, Southbury		Access / boat ramp41.43116, -73.22661Tagged for canoe use; OSM carries it unnamed.
43Kettletown State Park
Connecticut DEEP - Southbury		Park / conservation area41.42324, -73.20630State park on the Lake Zoar shore.
44Jackson Cove launch
Off Jackson Cove Road - Oxford		Access / boat ramp41.41154, -73.19041Slipway at the Town of Oxford's Jackson Cove Park; OSM carries the ramp unnamed.
45Old Bridge Road river access
Off Old Bridge Road - Newtown		Access / boat ramp41.39023, -73.18639OSM carries this slipway unnamed; the road name comes from a reverse geocode.
46Stevenson Dam
FirstLight - Monroe / Oxford		Dam / hazard41.38334, -73.17135Route 34 runs across the dam crest. Foot of Lake Zoar, head of Lake Housatonic.
47Lake Housatonic Dam
Derby / Shelton		Dam / hazard41.32538, -73.10214The Derby dam at the foot of Lake Housatonic; head of tidewater.
48Bridge Street bridge - Derby to Shelton
Derby / Shelton		Bridge crossing41.31919, -73.09110
49O'Sullivan's Island Recreation Park
City of Derby		Park / conservation area41.31471, -73.08388Riverside park at the mouth of the Naugatuck River.
50Sow and Pigs Jetty
Tidal Housatonic - Derby		Dam / hazard41.30899, -73.07650Navigation hazard mapped as a training jetty.
51Blanchette Sporting Goods
Sporting goods - Shelton		Bait, tackle & fly shop41.29310, -73.11123Independent shop about 2.7 km off the river; the nearest tackle source on the lower reach.
52NOAA Fisheries Milford Laboratory
Northeast Fisheries Science Center - Milford		Agency / conservation office41.21193, -73.05350Federal fisheries laboratory near the river mouth. OSM carries five nodes for the campus; merged to one.
53Housatonic River Boat Launch
State of Connecticut - Milford		Access / boat ramp41.20499, -73.10794State tidal launch on the Devon reach.
54Boardwalk Marina Boat Sales and Rentals
Boat rental - Milford		Outfitter / canoe rental41.20232, -73.11328
55Route 1 bridge - Devon
US 1 - Milford / Stratford		Bridge crossing41.20028, -73.11046
56Caswell Street canoe access
Off Caswell Street - Milford		Access / boat ramp41.22209, -73.10696Tagged for canoe use, no trailers; OSM carries it unnamed.
57Charles E. Wheeler Wildlife Management Area
State of Connecticut - Milford		Park / conservation area41.18482, -73.10816Tidal marsh at the river mouth.
58Birdseye Street boat launch
Stratford		Access / boat ramp41.19034, -73.12141OSM names this only 'Boat Launch'; the street comes from a reverse geocode.
59Bond's Dock
Town of Stratford		Park / conservation area41.18604, -73.12275Tidal river access park.

Guides on the Housatonic 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 Housatonic River

The Housatonic runs south out of the Berkshires through the northwest corner of Connecticut, past Falls Village, Cornwall and Kent, and on toward Long Island Sound. Through the Litchfield Hills it is a wide, shallow, ledge-and-boulder river with long flats, hard pocket water and a covered-bridge kind of beauty. It is a very different river from the Farmington: bigger, warmer, more freestone, and fished as much for smallmouth as for trout.

The trout management area between Falls Village and Cornwall Bridge is the famous water, holding brown and rainbow trout with good hatches, including a well-known hendrickson and a strong fall olive period. Because it is a freestone river it warms in midsummer, and thermal refuge areas near the cold tributary mouths are closed or restricted in hot weather to protect stressed trout, which every angler should check before fishing in July and August. Below the trout water the river becomes an excellent smallmouth fishery, with northern pike in the slower reaches and large carp on the flats for anglers who want them.

The Gaylordsville gauge sits on the lower river below the trout water. Moderate readings mean wadeable ledges and good float conditions; spring melt makes the river big and pushy, and the ledge drops that are fun in a raft at moderate flows get serious at high water. Late-summer low water is warm, clear and best fished at dawn, and that is when the smallmouth fishing below Kent is at its best.

Cornwall Bridge, West Cornwall, Kent and Falls Village are the base towns, with fly shops and outfitters. The Appalachian Trail runs beside the river for several miles.

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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.

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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.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Housatonic River cfs

Now: 787 cfs, read 3:00 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 01200500, HOUSATONIC RIVER AT GAYLORDSVILLE, CT).

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

Access

Falls Village: the top of the trout management area.
Housatonic Meadows State Park: campground, parking and the best-known trout water.
West Cornwall and the covered bridge: mid-river access and pocket water.
Cornwall Bridge: shops, guides and the bottom of the trout water.
Kent and Bulls Bridge: the transition to smallmouth water.
Gaylordsville: lower river access at the gauge.
New Milford and Lake Lillinonah: the bottom of the smallmouth reach.

Seasons

April and May: high water, Hendricksons and the strongest trout fishing of the year.
June: the last good trout weeks before it warms; smallmouth start.
July and August: warm water, check thermal refuge closures; excellent smallmouth fishing at dawn.
September through November: cooling water, fall olives, big smallmouth and beautiful weather.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Housatonic River?

As of Oct 19, 3:00 am, the USGS gauge HOUSATONIC RIVER AT GAYLORDSVILLE, CT reads 787 cfs, the 56th percentile for this date. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Housatonic River?

Anglers target Brown Trout, Carp, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass on the Housatonic River in Connecticut.

Are there fishing guides on the Housatonic River?

GuidedFloats lists 2 guides and outfitters on the Housatonic River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Housatonic River?

Falls Village: the top of the trout management area. Housatonic Meadows State Park: campground, parking and the best-known trout water. West Cornwall and the covered bridge: mid-river access and pocket water. Cornwall Bridge: shops, guides and the bottom of the trout water. Kent and Bulls Bridge: the transition to smallmouth water. Gaylordsville: lower river access at the gauge. New Milford and Lake Lillinonah: the bottom of the smallmouth reach.

When is the best time to fish the Housatonic River?

April and May: high water, Hendricksons and the strongest trout fishing of the year. June: the last good trout weeks before it warms; smallmouth start. July and August: warm water, check thermal refuge closures; excellent smallmouth fishing at dawn. September through November: cooling water, fall olives, big smallmouth and beautiful weather.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Housatonic 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