Vermont's share of Lake Champlain includes some of its best water: the Inland Sea's smallmouth reefs, Missisquoi Bay's largemouth pads and a fall tributary run of landlocked salmon. One lake, a whole state's worth of fishing.
Reports current for Friday, October 23
Every one of the 13 Vermont waters we cover has a live read this morning. None reaches 4 out of 5 and 13 are slow. Water runs 47 F to 62 F. Pressure is rising on most of them, which costs a point in our model when the sky is clear.
Best right now: Battenkill 2/5, Clyde River 2/5, Lake Bomoseen 2/5
Live verdicts from this morning's reports.
The sixth Great Lake: 120 miles of bays and islands where bass tournaments meet salmon streams.
A 1,653-acre, 308-foot-deep lake between Mount Pisgah and Mount Hor, and the water that produced Vermont's record lake trout.
The Clyde at Newport: landlocked salmon from Lake Memphremagog run up it in spring to feed and in fall to spawn.
The hardest wild trout river in New England: the Battenkill hides big, educated browns and brookies in gin-clear Vermont water.
Lake Memphremagog at Newport: a border lake shared with Quebec, where both sides now allow just 2 trout or salmon a day.
A 59-mile Connecticut River tributary from Ripton to Hartford, with trout in its colder reaches and smallmouth bass in the main stem.
Somerset Reservoir: a hydro storage reservoir at the head of the Deerfield River, with an undeveloped shoreline inside the Green Mountain National Forest.
Waterbury Reservoir: an 850-acre CCC-built flood-control lake with rainbow and brown trout, smallmouth and perch, and 27 boat-in campsites.
Seymour Lake: a 1,769-acre Northeast Kingdom lake that Vermont Fish and Wildlife counts among its lake trout and landlocked salmon waters.
A Lake Champlain tributary with salmon and steelhead below the Winooski One dam and trophy trout water at Waterbury.
Missisquoi River: a Lake Champlain walleye spawning river up to the Swanton Dam, with spring closures just below the dam.
Otter Creek: Vermont's longest river, with trout in its headwaters and smallmouth and pike lower down toward Lake Champlain.
Lake Bomoseen: the largest lake located entirely within Vermont, with bass, pike, perch and brown trout in the Taconic slate country.
Species activity across the state's covered waters. Peak of the year: April.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.
Seasonal surface curve for this state's dominant water type (estimated).
| Water | Type | County | Live gauge | Peak month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Champlain fishing report | Lake | Grand Isle | USGS | Apr |
| Lake Willoughby fishing report | Lake | Orleans | modeled | Apr |
| Clyde River fishing report | River | Orleans | USGS | Apr |
| Battenkill fishing report | River | Bennington | modeled | May |
| Lake Memphremagog fishing report | Lake | Orleans | modeled | Apr |
| White River fishing report | River | Windsor | USGS | Apr |
| Somerset Reservoir fishing report | Reservoir | Windham | modeled | May |
| Waterbury Reservoir fishing report | Reservoir | Washington | USGS | Apr |
| Seymour Lake fishing report | Lake | Orleans | modeled | Apr |
| Winooski River fishing report | River | Chittenden | USGS | Jan |
| Missisquoi River fishing report | River | Franklin | USGS | Apr |
| Otter Creek fishing report | River | Addison | USGS | May |
| Lake Bomoseen fishing report | Lake | Rutland | modeled | May |
Vermont fishes bigger than its size: Lake Champlain's 120 miles anchor everything (bass tournaments, salmon depths, pike bays, ice culture), while the Green Mountains send down wild-trout rivers like the Batten Kill, White and Winooski, each with its own character. Landlocked salmon run the tributaries spring and fall: a New England tradition maintained with care.
May-June: everything begins: smallmouth flood Champlain's reefs, trout rivers hit their stride, salmon smelt runs finish. Summer: bays and evening hatches, high-country brook trout. Fall: foliage-season browns and salmon staging at river mouths: Vermont's finest weeks. Winter: Champlain's ice villages for perch, pike and the stray salmon.
The main lake honors either license in most border waters; bays and tributaries follow the state they sit in. Check the current reciprocity map before fishing the line.