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 here.
If you plan on fishing, any size rod will work, but you’ll want a 4wt or 5wt rod, floating line (unless you’re nymphing), and wading gear. You’ll also need a State of Connecticut Freshwater Fishing License and Trout Stamp.
When you come into the park, veer 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 guys 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.
Normally, the water temperatures have returned to temperatures that are not stressing to trout by our September picnic. If they haven’t, 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 I-8 from the Naugatuck area, take I-8 north to Torrington then follow the directions from Torrington, or for a shortcut that saves at least 10 minutes, take I-8 to the Thomaston Exit. Turn left at the end of the exit, then
after making the left at the exit, cross over the Naugatuck River, go to 6 and take a left. Follow the road sign to 254 (Northfield Rd) and turn right onto 254. Take 254 about five miles and it ends at 118 (East Road) in Litchfield. Follow 118 to 341 (on the other side of Litchfield). Take 341 west to the 2nd intersection of 45. They’re about 1/2 mile apart. Take 45 North for six miles until it ends at US-7, about a mile south of Cornwall Bridge. Take a right onto US-7 drive through Cornwall Bridge and veer left where the road splits. Turn left onto 4, cross over the Housatonic RIver
and turn right onto US-7 North. The entrance to the park is 1/16th of a mile up, on the right.
Or, if you know how to use your GPS, here’s an address. Don’t use this address though, because its for the campground. When you get to the campground, follow US-7 South until you can see an entrance on your left to the park.