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Home › Waters › Vermont › Wells River
River · East-central Vermont, the Wells River valley draining Groton State Forest to the Connecticut · Vermont

Wells River Fishing Guides

A short, steep Vermont tributary running out of Groton State Forest to the Connecticut River, stocked and wild trout throughout.

A bridge over a still river lined with autumn hardwoods in New England
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Wells River

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About the Wells River

The Wells River drains the ponds and hardwood ridges of Groton State Forest and falls east to meet the Connecticut River at the village that shares its name. It is a short river, under twenty miles from the high ground to the confluence, and it loses elevation quickly along the way. That gradient gives it a broken, pocket-water character through the middle reaches, with plunge pools, ledge drops and short runs rather than long flats.

Trout are the whole story. Wild brook trout hold in the upper river and the tributary brooks coming off the state forest, and the state stocks brown and rainbow trout through the more accessible middle and lower water. The mix means an angler can fish small native water in the morning and heavier stocked water near the village in the afternoon without moving far. Smallmouth bass push up from the Connecticut into the lowest reach during warm months.

Route 302 follows the river for most of its length, which makes this one of the easier Vermont trout streams to fish without a long approach. Pull-offs along the highway put an angler within sight of the water at a dozen points, and Groton State Forest provides parking, camping and trail access at the top of the drainage. It is a practical river for a half day when time is short.

The steep profile cuts both ways. The Wells rises fast in rain and drops fast afterward, so a storm that would ruin a week on a larger river often costs only a day here. Midsummer low water can leave the pocket water thin and push fish into the deeper plunge pools and the shaded ledge runs. Spring and early fall are the reliable windows, and the gauge at the village reflects the whole drainage above it.

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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.

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.

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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 Wells 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.

Access

Wells River village - the gauge reach and the confluence with the Connecticut River.
Route 302 pull-offs - roadside access along most of the river's length.
Groton State Forest - parking, camping and trail access at the head of the drainage.
Boltonville - bridge and bank access on the lower river.
South Ryegate - access to the middle reach through the village.
Ricker Pond - a headwater pond in the state forest feeding the system.
Kettle Pond - upper drainage still water reached from the forest road.

Seasons

Spring: fast, cold runoff that drops quickly once the snow is off the ridges.
Summer: thin through the pocket water, with fish holding in the deeper plunge pools.
Fall: cooling water and good flows make September and early October the best weeks.
Winter: closed and iced, with no open-water fishing on the river.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Wells River?

As of Sep 17, 5:45 am, the USGS gauge WELLS RIVER AT WELLS RIVER, VT reads 22 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Wells River?

Anglers target Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass on the Wells River in Vermont.

Where can you access the Wells River?

Wells River village - the gauge reach and the confluence with the Connecticut River. Route 302 pull-offs - roadside access along most of the river's length. Groton State Forest - parking, camping and trail access at the head of the drainage. Boltonville - bridge and bank access on the lower river. South Ryegate - access to the middle reach through the village. Ricker Pond - a headwater pond in the state forest feeding the system. Kettle Pond - upper drainage still water reached from the forest road.

When is the best time to fish the Wells River?

Spring: fast, cold runoff that drops quickly once the snow is off the ridges. Summer: thin through the pocket water, with fish holding in the deeper plunge pools. Fall: cooling water and good flows make September and early October the best weeks. Winter: closed and iced, with no open-water fishing on the river.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Wells River?

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