Fishing Season: Vermont and New York OPEN

Battenkill - VT

Fishing Outlook & Conditions

Water Temp:

62

Orvis Manchester's Tip of the Week

Fish very gently — the Battenkill trout are selective. Use slack-line mends and avoid drag. Work edges, seams, banks, undercuts, and structure (wood, root wads). Be ready to shift between nymph → emerger → dry, based on what fish want that moment.

Directions open in app

Map of Battenkill

Water Flow Data

Orvis-Endorsed guides nearby

Peter Basta
Ralph Yusavage
Brew Moscarello

5-Day Outlook as of 9/25/25

A bit of rain has been helpful but the water is still very low. Keep an eye on the forecast and fish the appropriate times based on the weather and conditions.

Techniques & Tips as of 9/25/25

Recommended Patterns: Emergers / Duns / Spinners: BWO (size 16–18), small Caddis (size 14–16), Light Cahills in spinner/emerger form, various Sulphur patterns. Nymphs / Soft Hackles: Pheasant Tail, Hare’s Ear, Copper John, Parachute Adams, light soft hackles matching olives/caddis. Streamers / Sculpins: Articulated sculpin, olive/black Matuka sculpin, especially in deeper runs or for larger browns. Terrestrials (as edges warm): Ants, beetles, hoppers in late day.

Local Species Available Vermont and New York OPEN

  • Fish Icon

    Trout

Orvis Manchester's Recommended Fly Patterns

"Must-have" fly fishing patterns in descending order of importance:

Name: Colors: Size(s):
Tunghead Pheasant Tail brown/Rust # 12-16
Yum Yum Emerger Natural #12-14
Bead Head Stonefly N/A #14-16
Zonker White 4-8
Parachute Adams Rust 12-14
Rust Spinners rust 12-14
Sulphur Parachute White 14-16
Mosquito Dry Fly Olive 14-16
Sulpher Pale Yellow 16

Tunghead Pheasant Tail

Adding tungsten beads to mayfly patterns is relatively new.

2.99

Item #144J

Buy Now

Orvis Manchester's Recommended Gear

Description: About Battenkill

The Battenkill is a small to medium-sized river that is famous for its incredibly difficult brown trout and relatively abundant brook trout. A freestone stream but rising out of many springs in marble bedrock, it stays cold all summer long and is famous for its good midsummer fishing - although in the past 20 years this summer fishing has become difficult because of large crowds of canoes and inner tubes on warm summer days. The river is all wild brown and brook trout throughout its Vermont section, and both 2-year-old and yearling brown trout are stocked in the New York section almost to its confluence with the Hudson River. There are also wild trout in the New York stretch. The Battenkill used to be known for its abundance of small brook and brown trout, and although the brook trout are still abundant (it's rare to find wild brook trout in a river of its size outside of northern Maine), brown trout have become scarcer but much larger. Twenty-inch-plus brown trout are taken all season long on streamers and occasionally by the dry-fly angler patient enough to find and stalk one of these bigger fish. Best fishing is from mid-May to mid-July, but early mornings and evenings are good throughout the season, especially in midsummer. Fall fishing is un-crowded but seldom spectacular. The Battenkill is a difficult river because of its clear, silky, and fast currents, lack of large insects, and wary trout with little midstream cover. A few fish a day is considered very successful on this river. Anglers looking for easier fish (but tighter and tougher casting) should try its two headwater branches upstream (north) of the town of Manchester, or one of its tributaries like the Roaring Branch, Green River, or Bromley Brook.

Nearest Airport:

Albany International Airport (ALB)

Best Time to Fish:

Early mornings and evenings