Vermont Freestone
Battenkill River Fishing Report, Flows and Hatches
A world-famous wild brown trout river and the Orvis home water, 60 miles of clear, technical freestone. It rewards patience and stealth, and closes in Vermont from November through the second Saturday of April.
Freestone
Vermont
680 ft
Gauge 01329490
Right now
Live conditions
The hatch chart
Battenkill River hatch chart
The emergences that come off the Battenkill by month, straight from the Rivus hatch model.
| Hatch | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Midge Midge, #20-24 | ||||||||||||
Quill Gordon Mayfly, #12-14 | ||||||||||||
Hendrickson Mayfly, #12-14 | ||||||||||||
Blue Winged Olive Mayfly, #18 | ||||||||||||
March Brown Mayfly, #12 | ||||||||||||
Grannom / Mother's Day Caddis Caddis, #14-16 | ||||||||||||
Light Cahill Mayfly, #12-16 | ||||||||||||
Brown Drake Mayfly, #8-12 | ||||||||||||
Caddisfly Caddis, #14-16 | ||||||||||||
Sulphur Mayfly, #18 | ||||||||||||
Trico Mayfly, #24 | ||||||||||||
Isonychia / Slate Drake Mayfly, #10-12 | ||||||||||||
Flying Ant / Carpenter Ant Ant, #14-18 |
How it fishes
A Vermont freestone
A freestone river runs free off snowmelt and rain, so it swings hard with the seasons. It blows out and browns up in spring runoff, then drops and warms into summer. The hatches track the water temperature more than the calendar, so you time your trip to the flow and the thermometer.
Flow and gauge
Reading the flows
The Battenkill is metered at USGS gauge 01329490. Watch the trend as much as the number: a river that is dropping and clearing fishes very differently from one that is coming up.
Access and regulations
Before you fish
Access and the right to fish are the angler’s responsibility, every time. Public access, private water, and seasonal closures vary along the river, so confirm where you can legally stand and wade before you go. We do not point you to a specific spot.
Read the current rules, license requirements, and any special-regulation water before you go. Regulations change season to season, so check them fresh.
Flow and water temperature from USGS, weather from NWS and NOAA, refreshed hourly. Real-time USGS readings are provisional and subject to revision. The hatch chart and river read are Rivus model output.