The Housatonic River is a freestone river in Connecticut, listed as Steelhead / salmon water by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), Fisheries Division.
1 USGS gauge on the water reports flow; Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) lists 3 species, including trout, smallmouth bass and atlantic salmon. 3 guides and 2 shops nearby are listed here; the nearest destination hub is Northwest Connecticut: the Farmington & the Housatonic.
The Housatonic River at Kent, Connecticut. Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Housatonic River is a freestone river in Connecticut. Our destination hub Northwest Connecticut: the Farmington & the Housatonic is 21 mi away in a straight line and lists it among its waters.
Pick one of its USGS gauges and hear from us when the flow moves into or out of its usual range for the date, or crosses a flow you set. We check the public USGS reading every 2 hours and email only when it crosses, at most once every 6 hours. Flow alone is not a fishing forecast or a safety call.
Signed in: one step. Otherwise we email a confirmation link first. Every alert has one-click links to stop it.
Start from the agency's public access map. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.
Nothing on this page grants or implies access.
Gauges, shops and guides within 40 miles
Map of Housatonic River: gauges, shops and guides
Map of Housatonic River with 1 USGS gauge, and shops and guides with an exact address within 40 miles.
Restrooms within 2 miles of Housatonic River in a straight line, nearest first, with what anglers found when they went. The map says a restroom is there, not whether it is clean or open today.
Map of the restroom near Housatonic River
Skip the map; every place is in the list belowMap of 1 restroom near Housatonic River, numbered as in the list, with the water’s point marked.
Not rated yet — be the first to tell other anglers if it's clean.
Mapped on OpenStreetMap · see or fix it on the map
Restroom locations and map details: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License, read Oct 24, 2026. Ratings, answers and photos are members' own; who shared them is never shown, and every photo is reviewed before it appears. Visits older than 18 months no longer count. Distances are straight-line miles, not driving. Nothing here grants access to private land. Community guidelines.
Special-regulation trout waterRepresentative photo · not Lake WononskopomucMooselookmeguntic Lake from Oquossoc, Maine. Photo: Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Lake Wononskopomuc.
Connecticut · about 4 mi
Wild Trout WaterRepresentative photo · not Blackberry RiverThe Farmington River at Collinsville, Connecticut (downstream of the West Branch tailwater). Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Blackberry River.
Connecticut · about 6 mi
Agency-named bass waterRepresentative photo · not Mudge PondRangeley Lake, Maine. Photo: Manuel Velazquez, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Mudge Pond.
Connecticut · about 7 mi
Designated trout waterRepresentative photo · not Housatonic RiverThe Deerfield River from the Monroe Bridge, Massachusetts. Photo: CobberCorsair, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Not Housatonic River.
Massachusetts · about 8 mi
Agency-named bass waterRepresentative photo · not West Side PondSunset at Lake Moultrie, South Carolina. Photo: Kcstanfield, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not West Side Pond.
Connecticut · about 9 mi
Catch and releaseRepresentative photo · not Hall Meadow BrookThe Naugatuck River at Derby, Connecticut. Photo: Staib, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Hall Meadow Brook.
Connecticut · about 10 mi
Seasons, limits, special regulations and closures for each reach are on the agency pages below. Read them before you go.
Each comes from the agency's own published list; where the list names a reach it is quoted. A designation applies to the listed reach, not necessarily the whole water. Listed in the finder under trout, salmon & steelhead, bass.
On the Atlantic Salmon Management Areas and other waters open to Atlantic salmon fishing list (Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), Fisheries Division, read 2026-10-20). All waters with this designation
On the Trout Management Areas — year-round catch and release list (Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), Fisheries Division, read 2026-10-16). All waters with this designation
On the Trout Management Areas — fly fishing only sections list (Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), Fisheries Division, read 2026-10-16). All waters with this designation
On the Trout Management Areas — year-round catch and release list (Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), Fisheries Division, read 2026-10-16). All waters with this designation
Quoted word for word from the agency page on the date shown. Many quotes name the reach they cover and apply only to that part of the water. Rules change; the linked page is the authority.
“Thermal refuges: Areas within one hundred feet of signs indicating such closure posted by DEEP at or near the mouths of Kent Falls Brook and Macedonia Brook are closed to all fishing from June 15 to September 15.”
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) · read 2026-10-14
“Areas within 100 feet of signs indicating such closure posted by DEEP at or near the mouths of tributaries that are closed to all fishing from June 15 to September 15. Trout: Catch and Release Only.”
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) · read 2026-10-14
“Large and Smallmouth bass: Catch and Release only.”
Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) · read 2026-10-14
Listings marked Unclaimed are built from open map records and the business's own website: confirm licensing, rates, dates and hours directly.
1 guide name it on their website
Bridgeport, CT · 54 mi
Beginners & lessons · Housatonic & Farmington
Names this water
The species the agency lists here; presence varies by reach and season.
Listed by the state agency
Species guide
Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), illustration by Timothy Knepp for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Photo: Timothy Knepp, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Species guide
Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), illustration by Duane Raver for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Photo: Duane Raver, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
New Hartford sits on the Farmington River in Litchfield County; the river's West Branch comes down from the Colebrook and Goodwin dams past Riverton and the People's and American Legion state forests, and the Housatonic runs south through Falls Village, Cornwall and Kent to the west.
Destination hub · 21 mi away in a straight line
Matched on the fish the agencies list for both waters first, then the same water type, an official designation or flagship listing on both, and a similar mapped size where USGS hydrography covers both.
At most two waters per country. A shared fish is a listing, not a promise: presence varies by reach and season.
Like the Housatonic River? Same fish, overseas.
Flagship waterThe Miramichi River at Doaktown, New Brunswick. Photo: Tourisme Nouveau-Brunswick, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
New Brunswick, Canada
Same fish: Atlantic salmon · also a freestone river
Flagship waterThe Gander River near Glenwood, Newfoundland. Photo: Shhewitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Flagship waterThe Afon Teifi. Photo: Anthony Parkes, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons
Freestone riverRepresentative photo · not TanaelvaThe River Etive in Glen Etive, Scottish Highlands. Photo: Alan O'Dowd, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Tanaelva.
Freestone riverRepresentative photo · not Jökulsá á DalThe Laxá below Mývatn at Skútustaðir, North Iceland. Photo: Hansueli Krapf, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Jökulsá á Dal.
Southern seasons open while ours close.
Flagship waterPenstock Lagoon, Central Highlands, Tasmania. Photo: Mike Cline, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Freestone riverRepresentative photo · not Río PetrohuéThe Río Puelo at Las Gualas, Cochamó. Photo: Nicolás from seno de reloncaví, Chile, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Río Petrohué.
Lake or reservoirRepresentative photo · not Lago LlanquihueThe Río Simpson passing Coyhaique, Aysén. Photo: Manxuc, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Lago Llanquihue.
Lake or reservoir
Flagship waterRepresentative photo · not Mataura RiverThe Oreti River near Lumsden, Southland. Photo: Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped, via Wikimedia Commons Not Mataura River.
Flagship waterGreat Lake, Tasmania. Photo: Peripitus, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A practical checklist for fly fishing small mountain trout streams: a short 3–4 weight rod, light line, a few buoyant dries and simple wet-wading gear, with estimated prices and where to buy.
7′6″–8′6″ rod, 3–4 weight, floating line · Brook, cutthroat, rainbow and brown trout
Open the checklistSeams, shelves and soft water, shown on real rivers.
Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.
Not sponsored All videos on reading water
Indicator rigs, depth and detecting the take.
Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.
Not sponsored All videos on nymphing
Trip stories anglers chose to share publicly and tagged with Housatonic River.
No stories from here yet.
Not a statement of access, fish presence or conditions.
A water page organises discovery. It does not assert public access, legal access, current fish presence, guide availability or fishing conditions.
Flows, gauge statistics and flood stages come from USGS and the National Weather Service when the page is shown. Regulations, stocking, species and season statements link to the agency that publishes them; this page copies only the species names and the quoted sentences. Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories. Position: the USGS gauge HOUSATONIC RIVER AT FALLS VILLAGE, CT. Water type is our own classification.
Special-regulation trout waterRepresentative photo · not Lake WononskopomucMooselookmeguntic Lake from Oquossoc, Maine. Photo: Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Lake Wononskopomuc.
Connecticut · about 4 mi
Wild Trout WaterRepresentative photo · not Blackberry RiverThe Farmington River at Collinsville, Connecticut (downstream of the West Branch tailwater). Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Blackberry River.
Connecticut · about 6 mi
Agency-named bass waterRepresentative photo · not Mudge PondRangeley Lake, Maine. Photo: Manuel Velazquez, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Mudge Pond.
Connecticut · about 7 mi
Designated trout waterRepresentative photo · not Housatonic RiverThe Deerfield River from the Monroe Bridge, Massachusetts. Photo: CobberCorsair, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Not Housatonic River.
Massachusetts · about 8 mi
Agency-named bass waterRepresentative photo · not West Side PondSunset at Lake Moultrie, South Carolina. Photo: Kcstanfield, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not West Side Pond.
Connecticut · about 9 mi
Catch and releaseRepresentative photo · not Hall Meadow BrookThe Naugatuck River at Derby, Connecticut. Photo: Staib, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Hall Meadow Brook.
Connecticut · about 10 mi
