🤫 Secret fishing spot

🎣 Black River

Okemo Valley · 🌊 river near Cavendish, VT

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The Black River flowing under Howard Hill Bridge in Cavendish - don't skip the deep water under the bridge itself.
The Black River flowing under Howard Hill Bridge in Cavendish - don't skip the deep water under the bridge itself. Photo: Tyler Goodrich via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The best trout water around, plain and simple. This stretch sits just below Vermont Fish & Wildlife's trophy-trout section — Downers covered bridge upstream four miles to Howard Hill Bridge — and the big two-year-old rainbows and browns don't all stay upstream. We've watched Fish & Wildlife put the fish in this river in the spring: thousands of brookies, rainbows, and browns, some over 18 inches. Work the pools and riffles below the bridge with nymphs or streamers, and don't skip the deep water under the bridge itself. The 40.8-mile Black River rises at Black Pond in Plymouth and runs to the Connecticut River; this trophy-trout stretch carries no length limit and a two-trout daily creel limit.

🐟 Fish you'll find: rainbow trout, brook trout, brown trout
🎣 Stocked by VT Fish & Wildlife: rainbow trout, brown trout (2-year-old trophy fish) - stocked each spring, late April through May
🥾 Getting there: Roadside pull-offs along VT-131 just downstream (east) of the Howard Hill Bridge in southeastern Cavendish, where Howard Hill Road crosses the river. No designated lot here — park well off the travel lane and walk down to the water.

🗺️ Directions to parking

Vermont fishing licenses are required for anglers 15 and older - check current regulations with Vermont Fish & Wildlife before you go.