Housatonic River Fishing Picnic

Saturday June 1st, 2024

Come and show off your fly-fishing skills on the Housatonic River Trout Management Area, located 1/16th of a mile north of CT-4 (Sharon-Goshen Tpke) on US-7 in Cornwall Bridge, CT.

The state stocks both Rainbow and Brown Trout in the Housatonic River, and it has its own wild populations of Smallmouth Bass as well as other baitfish and gamefish. The park is located in the Fly-Fishing Only area of the river. If you don’t know how to fly fish and would like to learn, click below:

For those planning to fish, a 4wt or 5wt rod will work great, floating line or nymphing rod, and wading gear. You’ll also need a State of Connecticut Freshwater Fishing License and Trout Stamp.

When you come into the park, bear right past the first parking lot you see and take the road into the wooded area. At the end of the wooded area is another parking lot, we’ll be the folks with the Trout Unlimited sign. Fishing starts whenever you arrive. We should have coffee ready by 10 AM and lunch (free to NWCTU Members) by noon

In addition to trout, consider fishing for the Housatonic’s great populations of dace, smallmouth bass, common carp, and Northern Pike. While Smallmouth Bass will take just about anything a trout will eat, bass will take almost anything on the surface like terrestrial and small mammal imitations. Northern pike will strike anything that looks like an injured fish or mammal that they can possibly get in their mouth, especially tied with red, yellow, or white material. If you can make a topwater fly look like a struggling fish, all the better. Carp eat lots of crayfish and stoneflies, so have plenty available.

If you’re coming from Torrington, take CT-4 west, past Goshen, and follow it into Cornwall Bridge. Take a right onto US-7 and the park is on your right, 1/16th of a mile up. From New Milford, Gaylordsville or Kent, take US-7 North to CT-4 and go west toward Sharon. Turn right onto US-7 and the park entrance is on your right. From North Canaan, take US-7 south to the park, which is located just north of CT-4. Turn left into the Park Entrance.

If you’re coming up Route 8 from the Naugatuck area, take Route 8 north to Torrington then follow the directions from Torrington, or use navigation for a shortcut through backroads too long to type.