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Saugatuck River

Type
Tailwater, Connecticut (East)
Designation
Fly-fishing only · Special-regulation trout water
USGS gauges
3 live
Guides
3 nearby
Shops
2 nearby

Today on the Saugatuck River

Reading the gauge…

Regulations & access Guides & shops

The Saugatuck River is a tailwater in Connecticut, listed as Fly-fishing only by Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), Fisheries Division.

More about the Saugatuck River

3 USGS gauges on the water report flow. 3 guides and 2 shops nearby are listed here.

Updated · Sources: Trout Management Areas — fly fishing only sections, USGS Water Data

Representative photograph of similar water; not a photograph of this place.
Representative photograph, not this water.
Where it is

Saugatuck River is a tailwater in Connecticut. The nearest destination hub is across the state line: the Long Island: the Connetquot & the Carmans hub (New York) is 32 mi away in a straight line but 85 by road.

Flow now at 3 gauges
Reading the gauges…

Check any river's flow

Follow Saugatuck River for flow alerts

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.

Follow this water

Signed in: one step. Otherwise we email a confirmation link first. Every alert has one-click links to stop it.

Where to fish

About this

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.

Connecticut boat launches

Saugatuck River on the map

About this

Gauges, shops and guides within 40 miles

Map of Saugatuck River: gauges, shops and guides

RestroomsAccess map

Map of Saugatuck River with 3 USGS gauges, and shops and guides with an exact address within 40 miles.

Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors · OpenFreeMap · © OpenMapTiles

Restrooms near Saugatuck River

Restrooms near Saugatuck River

Restrooms within 2 miles of Saugatuck 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.

No restroom mapped within 2 mi yet — add one you know.

Campgrounds, fishing access sites and boat ramps often have one that isn't on the map yet.

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.

More water near Saugatuck River

  • The Naugatuck River seen from the Derby GreenwayCatch and releaseRepresentative photo · not Hawleys Brook
    Photo credit

    The Naugatuck River at Derby, Connecticut. Photo: Staib, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Hawleys Brook.

    Hawleys Brook

    Connecticut · about 1 mi

  • The Housatonic River at Kent, calm and reflecting bare trees and wooded hillsWild Trout WaterRepresentative photo · not Norwalk River
    Photo credit

    The Housatonic River at Kent, Connecticut. Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Norwalk River.

    Norwalk River

    Connecticut · about 7 mi

  • The Salmon River flowing through hardwood forest above the Comstock BridgeTrophy / quality trout waterRepresentative photo · not Pequonnock River
    Photo credit

    The Salmon River above the Comstock Bridge, Connecticut. Photo: H. Morrow Long, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Pequonnock River.

    Pequonnock River

    Connecticut · about 7 mi

  • Mooselookmeguntic Lake from a marina dock at Oquossoc, with boats and distant hillsAgency-named bass waterRepresentative photo · not Mamanasco Lake
    Photo credit

    Mooselookmeguntic Lake from Oquossoc, Maine. Photo: Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Mamanasco Lake.

    Mamanasco Lake

    Connecticut · about 11 mi

  • Rangeley Lake with a small wooded island under grey clouds, beyond early autumn treesAgency-named bass waterRepresentative photo · not Lake Kenosia
    Photo credit

    Rangeley Lake, Maine. Photo: Manuel Velazquez, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Lake Kenosia.

    Lake Kenosia

    Connecticut · about 12 mi

  • The Farmington River at Collinsville, a broad riffle under green trees with a truss bridge beyondCatch and releaseRepresentative photo · not Pootatuck River
    Photo credit

    The Farmington River at Collinsville, Connecticut (downstream of the West Branch tailwater). Photo: John Phelan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Pootatuck River.

    Pootatuck River

    Connecticut · about 12 mi

Sources Connecticut boat launchesOverture Maps places (guide map points)

Where the map point comes from

Position: the USGS gauge SAUGATUCK R BELOW SAUGATUCK RES NR LYONS PLAIN, CT.

The map shows USGS gauges (tap one for its flow reading), and shops and guides within 40 miles that publish a street address on their own website. Everyone else is in the lists below.

Regulations

About this

Seasons, limits, special regulations and closures for each reach are on the agency pages below. Read them before you go.

2 official designations

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.

The water on the map

About this

Measured from the NHDPlus High Resolution (flowlines and waterbodies) (U.S. Geological Survey, read 2026-11-04) for this water’s own mapped feature. Rounded figures; they describe the channel, not today’s conditions.

Length
23.7 mi (22.7 in CT)
Drains
90.4 sq mi
Drop
688 ft · 29 ft/mi
Watershed
Saugatuck, Long Island Sound

Guides and shops near Saugatuck River

About this

Listings marked Unclaimed are built from open map records and the business's own website: confirm licensing, rates, dates and hours directly.

Guides

All Connecticut guides

2 shops nearby

All Connecticut shops

How these are chosen

Guides whose own website names this water come first, nearest first. After them, fly-focused guides within 40 miles whose website does not name it. Distances are straight-line.

Shops: fly shops first. A distance is shown when the shop’s website gives its location (within 60 miles); otherwise the shop is in one of the towns within 25 miles of the water.

Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories.

Species and hatches

About this

What 3 nearby guide websites mention: what guides advertise, not a survey or a promise of what you will catch.

Named on 3 nearby guide websites

  • Salmon3
  • Brook trout1
  • Brown trout1
  • Steelhead1
  • Striped bass1
  • Trout1
How we put this together

Named by guides nearby (within 40 miles), counted from the species each guide lists on its own site. No agency page we hold lists species for this water.

Plan a trip here

About this

The Long Island: the Connetquot & the Carmans hub (New York) is 32 mi away in a straight line but 85 by road, so we don't call Saugatuck River near it. The trip planner builds a trip around the water itself: the guides and shops listed within 40 miles of it, its gauges and its nearest towns and airports.

Nearest hub: Long Island: the Connetquot & the Carmans, across the state line

Plan a trip hereOpen the hub

Gear checklist

About this

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.

An angler stands on a boulder at the edge of a fast forest stream and fishes the run

Small mountain streams

7′6″–8′6″ rod, 3–4 weight, floating line · Brook, cutthroat, rainbow and brown trout

Open the checklist
Videos for this water (5)

Watch: reading a trout stream

About this

Seams, 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.

  • How I Learned to Read Water (Fly Fishing)Embedded from YouTube · Mad River Outfitters · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • How To Read The Water with Tom RosenbauerEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Reading the Water to Successfully Locate TroutEmbedded from YouTube · Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on reading water

Watch: nymphing basics

About this

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.

  • 90° Nymph RigEmbedded from YouTube · Huge Fly Fisherman · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Casting with an Indicator & Better Nymphing TechniquesEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on nymphing

Fish Tales

About this

Trip stories anglers chose to share publicly and tagged with Saugatuck River.

No stories from here yet.

Write the first story Share your day

Sources for this page

Not a statement of access, fish presence or conditions.

Something wrong?

All 14 sources and dates

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 SAUGATUCK R BELOW SAUGATUCK RES NR LYONS PLAIN, CT. Water type is our own classification.