Housatonic River
The rule for this water, with the receipt.
Special regulations for Housatonic River, as the state words them
MA County · River · MA
The rules for this water, verbatimOfficial text
Straight from MA's official regulations. Rules in force today lead; out-of-season rows are dimmed. Nothing is paraphrased. Not legal advice: verify the posted rules at the water.
- TroutJan. 1 – Dec. 31Daily limit 1Size 20Mainstem Housatonic only, from the confluence of the East and West Branches to the border between MA and CT, except catch-and-release areas where no trout may be kept.
Statewide base layerParsed
These defaults apply where the rules above do not modify them.
- Season
- All Other Freshwater Species 9 Jan. 1 – Dec. 31Statewide
- Gear
- Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
- Bait
- Licensed anglers may take bait for personal use at any time by any legal method.Statewide
- Poles
- Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
Where the verbatim rules above name a species, season, or limit, they replace the rows below. Each row is tagged with the layer it comes from.
| Species | Daily limit | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|
Landlocked Salmon | 2 | min. 15 | Statewide |
Chain Pickerel | 5 | min. 15 | Statewide |
Black Bass | 5 | min. 12 | Statewide |
Northern Pike | 1 | min. 28 | Statewide |
Tiger Muskellunge | 1 | min. 28 | Statewide |
Walleye | 5 | min. 14 | Statewide |
Smelt | — | - | Statewide |
All Other Freshwater Species | — | - | Statewide |
Frogs (except leopard frogs) | 10 | min. 2.5 inches or less snout to vent | Statewide |
Bullfrog, green frog | 12 | min. none | Statewide |
Snapping turtle | 2 | min. 12 in. | Statewide |
How this answer was assembled
- StatewideStatewide river rules are the base layer: default season, gear, bait, and limits.
- This waterSpecial rules written for this exact water replace the statewide defaults where they speak.
- Emergency orderEmergency orders in effect today override everything else. They sync quietly when the phone has coverage and never lock you out of the app.
Where this stretch begins and ends
The drawn shape is the named water, matched from the official list against OpenStreetMap and accepted only because the name resolved to a single feature in this water's county.
Different sections of this water can have different rules. The exact section boundaries are not marked on the map yet; each rule above describes in plain words where it starts and ends, and that written description is the authoritative boundary. Map boundaries come water by water, never as a guess.
Season at a glanceDerived
Sampled mid-month from the dated rows; short windows can slip between samples. The rows above are authoritative.
At the water nowContext
Streamflow: 550 cfs at housatonic river at stevenson, ct (2026-07-29 06:30)
Forecast: National Weather Service. Flow: nearest active USGS gauge in this water's area, which may sit on a different reach. Conditions are context, not rules.
What are you fishing for here?Advice
Pick from the species named in Housatonic River's rules. Setups are checked against the gear rules in force today, and your picks are remembered on this device only. These are rule-aware suggestions, not a claim about what is biting; advice, not law, and the rules above govern.
Receipts
Local services near Housatonic River
Tackle shops, guides, and boat launches that serve this water will appear here - a separate lane below the rules, so a local business can reach you without ever getting between you and the regulation.
Run a shop or guide service on Housatonic River? Get listed.