Battenkill River Fly Fishing

The Battenkill River begins in the Green Mountains and flows about 50 miles into New York. There is a lot of history in this area and it is home of the Orvis headquarters which sits along side banks on Route 7A. This is a year round stream that holds native browns and brook trouts and is fed cold water from underground springs that cool off the stream in the summer.

The river between East Dorset and Manchester is a classic trout stream defined by its riffles, runs and pools. There is a fly fishing only section just below Manchester at Union Street for the next mile. The river gest a bit larger when some of the area creeks such as Lye Brook and Mill Brook feed into the river. This stretch of water has larger pools which hold larger browns, some of them in the 16" range.

The river continues through Arlington and West Arlington picking up speed and is a great place to fly fish because of the wider and shallow water. The river flows into New York just after West Arlington, but you are now subject to the New York fishing regulations. The fishing is equally good in New York from the border to the Hudson River.

There are some nice hatches on the river and they can be quite strong. You will find Red and Blue Quills along with Hendricksons early in the season. You will find Mayflies, Stoneflies and Caddis hatching from spring to July before you have to use terrestrial patterns. The Battenkill offers up some nice fly fishing and spectacular scenery and should be on every fisherman's list of places to fly fish.


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Vermont has some great fly-fishing whether it is the Clyde, the Battenkill or any of the many other rivers than are throughout the state. The state has some beautiful backdrops to these great rivers. If you are planning a trip to the Northeast why not stop in Vermont and take in some of the great fly-fishing!



New York Fishing Regulations

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