Batten Kill Fishing Guides and Conditions, Vermont

About the Batten Kill

The Batten Kill rises under Mount Equinox and runs southwest through Manchester, Sunderland and Arlington before crossing into New York at West Arlington. It is the river most people picture when they picture Vermont trout fishing, and it earned that reputation honestly: spring-fed, gin clear, cold well into July, and full of wild brown and brook trout that have never been stocked over. Nothing about it is easy. The water is thin enough that a heavy first cast puts down a pool, the browns hold tight to undercut banks and downed timber, and the same clarity that makes the river beautiful is what makes its fish so hard to approach.

Vermont manages the main stem as a catch-and-release trout fishery. From the New York line upstream roughly twenty and a half miles to the downstream side of the Depot Street bridge in Manchester, every trout must be released immediately and only artificial lures and flies are permitted. The season runs from the second Saturday in April through 31 October and the river is closed to all fishing from 1 November until the following spring, which protects the fall spawn. The East Branch above Depot Street, upstream to the Route 7 bridge south of East Dorset, is a separate special-regulation stream: artificials only, an eight-trout limit with no minimum length through 30 September, then catch-and-release through October.

This page carries no live conditions, and that is deliberate rather than an oversight. The Arlington gauge stopped recording in 1984 and no instantaneous replacement was ever installed, so there is no honest number to publish. Read the river instead. It clears fast after rain because the valley drains quickly, it runs low and warm by late July in a dry year, and the best fishing of the season is usually the two weeks either side of the Hendrickson hatch in late April and the long, cool evenings of September. Anglers who want a flow number to anchor on generally watch the Battenville, New York gauge downstream and adjust for the tributaries that come in between.

Access

Arlington - Route 313 west of the village follows the river for several miles with pull-offs and marked angler parking.
West Arlington covered bridge - parking at the green, wadeable water up and down from the bridge.
Route 7A between Arlington and Sunderland - repeated highway pull-offs, all within a short walk of the water.
Manchester, Depot Street bridge - the upstream boundary of the catch-and-release main stem, easy access from town.
East Branch along Route 7A north of Manchester - the special-regulation branch, small water, roadside access.
Battenkill Valley Rail Trail between Manchester and Arlington - foot access to reaches you cannot reach by car.
No live gauge on this reach. USGS 01329490 at Battenville, New York, twenty river miles downstream and below the Green River, is the nearest indicator and reads higher than the Vermont water.

Seasons

Spring: the season opens the second Saturday in April. Hendricksons come off in the last two weeks of April and are the best dry-fly fishing of the year; the river is high and coloured after snowmelt but drops quickly.
Summer: early morning and the last hour of light. Terrestrials along the banks in July and August, and by late summer in a dry year the river runs low and warm enough that fishing it in the afternoon is hard on the fish.
Fall: September is the quiet best of it - cool nights, low clear water, browns feeding hard before the spawn. The season closes 31 October.
Winter: closed. The main stem and East Branch are shut to all fishing from 1 November until the second Saturday in April.