Beta

GuidedFloats is in beta. The full site launches March 1, 2027. The mobile app follows.

Guides: claim before March 1, 2027 and your first full season of Premium is free. Claim your founding spot →

Log in List your guide serviceFor guides
Home › Waters › Vermont › Otter Creek
Creek · Champlain Valley · Vermont

Otter Creek Fishing Guides

The longest river in Vermont, a slow Champlain Valley waterway that fishes for big northern pike and smallmouth far more than it does for trout.

A red covered bridge crossing a river in full New England autumn

Map of the Otter Creek

53 numbered points: 10 access points, 2 campsites, 2 bait & fly shops, 23 bridges, 6 parks and conservation areas, 3 regulation section limits, 6 hazards, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Sep 26, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Access / boat ramp (10)
  • Campsite (2)
  • Bait, tackle & fly shop (2)
  • Bridge crossing (23)
  • Park / conservation area (6)
  • Regulation section limit (3)
  • Dam / hazard (6)
  • 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 53 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Emerald Lake State Park
Vermont State Parks		Campsite43.28117, -73.00486Campground at the headwater lake.
2Otter Creek - Neilson Parcel
Vermont F and W, Mount Tabor		Access / boat ramp43.32690, -72.99120Steps down to the water.
3Brooklyn RoadBridge crossing43.34910, -72.98684
4Otter Creek WMA
Vermont F and W, Mount Tabor		Access / boat ramp43.36200, -72.99180Steps down to the water.
5Vermont Railway bridge, Mount Tabor
Trophy trout section limit		Regulation section limit43.36798, -72.99359Downstream limit of the Otter Creek trophy trout section in Danby and Mount Tabor. Its upstream limit, the Danby to Mount Tabor Forest Road 10 bridge, is not in OSM and is unmarked.
6Otter Creek Wildlife Management AreaPark / conservation area43.37535, -72.98705
7Hartsboro RoadBridge crossing43.44827, -72.98684
8Florence Avenue
Wallingford		Bridge crossing43.47166, -72.98120
9Elm Street
Wallingford		Bridge crossing43.47428, -72.98144
10Creek RoadBridge crossing43.47835, -72.97882
11Otter Creek - Clarendon
Vermont F and W, Clarendon		Access / boat ramp43.51100, -72.98340Boating and fishing access.
12Lower Clarendon Gorge State Park
Vermont River Conservancy		Park / conservation area43.51655, -72.96608
13Walker Mountain RoadBridge crossing43.52313, -72.97306
14Alfrecha RoadBridge crossing43.56295, -72.98815
15U.S. Route 4
Rutland		Bridge crossing43.58386, -72.98500
16River Street
Rutland		Bridge crossing43.60110, -72.99244
17Ripley Mills Dam
Weir, Rutland		Dam / hazard43.60294, -72.99769
18Center Rutland Falls
Special regulation reach limit		Regulation section limit43.60297, -73.01220Top of the falls is the upstream limit of the named Otter Creek special regulation trout stream reach, which runs down to the Lake Champlain boundary. The Center Rutland dam sits here - portage.
19Proctor Dam
Proctor		Dam / hazard43.66248, -73.03367
20Gorham Covered Bridge
Covered bridge, Pittsford		Bridge crossing43.68006, -73.03753
21Otter Creek - Kingsley
Vermont F and W, Pittsford		Access / boat ramp43.68030, -73.03800Steps down to the water, at the Gorham covered bridge.
22Depot Hill RoadBridge crossing43.70948, -73.04274
23Kendall Hill RoadBridge crossing43.72009, -73.05312
24Union Street
Brandon		Bridge crossing43.77892, -73.09716
25Pearl Street
Covered bridge		Bridge crossing43.78958, -73.11172
26Otter Creek - Sudbury
Vermont F and W, Sudbury		Access / boat ramp43.80990, -73.15520Gravel ramp.
27Vermont Route 73 EastBridge crossing43.81089, -73.15406
28Brandon Swamp Wildlife Management AreaPark / conservation area43.83284, -73.15095
29Leicester-Whiting RoadBridge crossing43.85541, -73.14817
30Old Jerusalem RoadBridge crossing43.86612, -73.14784
31Otter Creek - Cornwall Swamp
Vermont F and W, Cornwall		Access / boat ramp43.91800, -73.17450Gravel ramp at the Swamp Road crossing.
32Vermont Field Sports
Tackle and hunting shop, Middlebury		Bait, tackle & fly shop43.99005, -73.13898
33Otter Creek - Middlebury
Vermont F and W, Middlebury		Access / boat ramp44.00050, -73.16100Steps down to the water.
34Boathouse Bridge
Middlebury		Bridge crossing44.00331, -73.16417
35USGS gauge - Otter Creek at Middlebury
Live flow and stage		USGS gauge44.01314, -73.16802
36Middlebury Mountaineer
Outdoor shop on the creek, Middlebury		Bait, tackle & fly shop44.01326, -73.16887
37Battell Bridge
Main Street, Middlebury		Bridge crossing44.01333, -73.16870
38Cannon Park
Middlebury		Park / conservation area44.01266, -73.16937
39Pulp Mill Covered Bridge
Covered bridge, Middlebury		Bridge crossing44.02465, -73.17742
40Middlebury Lower Dam
Weir		Dam / hazard44.02575, -73.17777
41Beldens Dam
Weybridge		Dam / hazard44.05209, -73.17721OSM carries an east and a west structure about 30 m apart; this is the east one.
42Horse Farm RoadBridge crossing44.07113, -73.19421
43Huntington Falls Dam
Weybridge		Dam / hazard44.07066, -73.19538
44Weybridge Cave State Park
Vermont Agency of Natural Resources		Park / conservation area44.05999, -73.20351
45Weybridge DamDam / hazard44.06658, -73.21663
46Quaker Village Road
Weybridge		Bridge crossing44.06621, -73.21610
47Otter Creek - Kwonumosk
Vermont F and W, Weybridge		Access / boat ramp44.08600, -73.24720Steps down to the water at the VT 17 crossing.
48Vergennes dam
Lake Champlain boundary		Regulation section limit44.16617, -73.25645Top of the dam is the Lake Champlain boundary and the downstream limit of the named Otter Creek special regulation trout stream reach. The falls and dam are a hard portage.
49Boat launch below Vergennes Falls
Unnamed slipway in OSM		Access / boat ramp44.16786, -73.25794
50MacDonough Park
Vergennes		Park / conservation area44.16968, -73.25827
51Whispering Pines Campground
Ferrisburgh		Campsite44.16064, -73.27962
52Basin Harbor RoadBridge crossing44.18517, -73.31102
53Fort Cassin
Vermont F and W, Ferrisburgh		Access / boat ramp44.22173, -73.31587Concrete ramp at the mouth; the Fishing Access Areas layer files it under Lake Champlain.

Guides on the 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.

About the Otter Creek

Otter Creek is the longest river in Vermont, running about a hundred miles north from the Green Mountain National Forest near Dorset through Rutland, Proctor, Middlebury and Vergennes to Lake Champlain. Despite the name it is a river, and through the Champlain Valley it is a wide, slow, deep, weedy waterway winding through farmland and the largest swamp in the state. It is one of the more overlooked fisheries in New England.

Northern pike are the headline. The slow weedy reaches from Middlebury down to Vergennes grow big pike, and the lower river below Vergennes Falls is essentially an arm of Lake Champlain, with pike, smallmouth, largemouth, walleye and even bowfin using it. Smallmouth fishing on the rockier reaches is excellent and underfished. Up above Rutland and in the tributaries the creek is smaller and colder and holds brown and rainbow trout, which gives the system a trout personality that most anglers never see. The falls at Middlebury, Proctor and Vergennes split the river into distinct sections that fish differently.

The Middlebury gauge reads the middle river. Because the valley is flat and the channel is deep and slow, this river responds to rain more slowly than a mountain stream and stays fishable longer. High spring water floods the swamp and scatters fish into the flooded timber, which is a pike pattern in itself; summer low water concentrates them on the weed edges and the deeper bends. Wind on the lower river matters as much as flow.

Middlebury, Vergennes, Proctor and Rutland are the access towns, and Lake Champlain is a short run from the mouth.

This water needs a real photo

The photo at the top of this page is not 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 See the badges

Pioneer badgeUnclaimed

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.

Never published. It is how the badge is held for you until member accounts open.

Posting to Otter Creek.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. Landscape orientation looks best at the top of the page. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name printed under the photo and on your badge. 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.

Fished this water? Add a photo

Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

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

Posting to Otter Creek.

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 Otter Creek cfs

Now: 646 cfs, read 3:30 am CDT, Mon Oct 19, 2026 (USGS 04282500, OTTER CREEK AT MIDDLEBURY, VT).

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

Access

Middlebury: town access at the falls and the gauge.
Vergennes: the falls, the city ramp and the deep lower river.
Otter Creek Wildlife Management Area: swamp and backwater access.
Weybridge and New Haven: quiet middle-river paddling access.
Proctor and Pittsford: upper river below Rutland.
Rutland and Center Rutland: the upper reaches and trout water.
Lake Champlain at the mouth: big-water access below Vergennes.

Seasons

April and May: high water in the swamp, pike spawning and the best big-pike window.
June and July: smallmouth on the rock reaches and pike on the weed edges.
August and September: low clear water, weed growth at its peak, early and late fishing.
October and November: pike feeding hard before ice and very few boats on the water.

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 Otter Creek?

As of Oct 19, 3:30 am, the USGS gauge OTTER CREEK AT MIDDLEBURY, VT reads 646 cfs, the 61st percentile for this date. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Otter Creek?

Anglers target Bowfin, Brown Trout, Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye on the Otter Creek in Vermont.

Are there fishing guides on the Otter Creek?

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

Where can you access the Otter Creek?

Middlebury: town access at the falls and the gauge. Vergennes: the falls, the city ramp and the deep lower river. Otter Creek Wildlife Management Area: swamp and backwater access. Weybridge and New Haven: quiet middle-river paddling access. Proctor and Pittsford: upper river below Rutland. Rutland and Center Rutland: the upper reaches and trout water. Lake Champlain at the mouth: big-water access below Vergennes.

When is the best time to fish the Otter Creek?

April and May: high water in the swamp, pike spawning and the best big-pike window. June and July: smallmouth on the rock reaches and pike on the weed edges. August and September: low clear water, weed growth at its peak, early and late fishing. October and November: pike feeding hard before ice and very few boats on the water.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Otter Creek?

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