Fishing Season: Open catch and release VT. NY open

Battenkill - VT

Fishing Outlook & Conditions

Water Temp:

58

Orvis Manchester's Tip of the Week

The excessive amounts of hurricane rain and cooler temps are setting up our fall trout fishing to be stellar! It's that time of the year to stick mostly subsurface with these conditions at hand. Streamers are a good bet especially if you are looking to catch some of the bigger fish. The flows and clarity are excellent right now! When the flow does bump up again and get slightly off colored try using white, olive, black, rust and even more flashy patterns near the bank and around current seams have been producing. Don't forget to nymph the deeper runs and seam breaks aswell. Always be careful wading in high water conditions, bring a buddy and make sure you have a wading staff!

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Map of Battenkill

Water Flow Data

Tidal Conditions

Orvis-Endorsed guides nearby

Ray Berumen Peter Basta

5-Day Outlook as of 9/11/21

We have been blessed with plenty of rain keeping those flows up and cooler temps at night keeping the water temps down. The rivers have been on the steady drop in flow from the past storm. We have great wadable conditions at the moment but we have a good amount of possible rain in the forecast for this next week. Get out there when it's coming down and catch em on the feed! Always err on the side of caution while wading when the flows are above 600cfs, anything above 600cfs on the Battenkill can get hairy fast especially in more narrow parts of the river.

Techniques & Tips as of 9/11/21

Get down deep with tungsten beadhead nymphs. There have been good reports from people tight line nymphing the deeper pools as well. Stop by the Manchester Flagship store and ask us what our favorite patterns are for this time of the year.

Current Conditions as of 9/11/21

We have been blessed with plenty of rain keeping those flows up and cooler temps at night keeping the water temps down. The rivers have been on the steady drop in flow from the past storm. We have great wadable conditions at the moment but we have a good amount of possible rain in the forecast for this next week. Get out there when it's coming down and catch em on the feed! Always err on the side of caution while wading when the flows are above 600cfs, anything above 600cfs on the Battenkill can get hairy fast especially in more narrow parts of the river.

Local Species Available Open catch and release VT. NY open

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    Trout

Orvis Manchester's Recommended Fly Patterns

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

Name: Colors: Size(s):
Schultzy's Single Fly Cray Olive/Rust #1
Conehead Bunny Muddler Brown/Olive/White #4-8
Tunghead Pheasant Tail Jig natural #14-16
RS2 BWO #18-20
Rusty Spinner Rust #12-18
Woolly Buggers Olive/Black #4-8
Tunghead Stonefly Black/Yellow #8-14
Adams Grey #14-18
Prince Nymph N/A #12-16
Hare's Ear nymph natural #12-16

Schultzy's Single Fly Cray

This molted crayfish fly is unbeatable anywhere crayfish are found.

5.99

Item #9R7T

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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)

Hatches:

Tricos (#18-24) Isonychia (#10-14) BWO ( #18-22) October Caddis ( #12-14) Caddis ( #12-18) Stoneflies (black #12-16 and yellow #8-12) Midges #18-24

Best Time to Fish:

early morning, evening

Best Access:

Lots of access through towns of Manchester, Sunderland and Arlington, VT as well Shushan, Salem, and Cambridge, NY. Rt 7A, 313, 22, and 29. Call the shop at 802 362-3750 for details.