Welcome to 2023 Vermont Fishing

A Special Message from the Commissioner

Being in the outdoors in the state of Vermont is both a gift and a responsibility. We as hunters and anglers witness the many beauties the natural world offers, from the migratory geese to the discovery of a jack-in-the-pulpit to the brilliant colors of a rainbow trout to the precious sounds of the natural world when we stop and quietly listen.

Conservation of these most valued resources is a primary mission for the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, and all of you play an important part of that effort. Your support allows us to conserve important habitat and reduce fragmentation of our lands. This is critical to the sustainability, balance, and success of our varied species of flora and fauna.

I call upon all anglers and hunters who spend time in Vermont to be the best stewards of the amazing natural resources that define our brave little state. Let’s all, together, choose only those safe and ethical actions which serve to protect and preserve that which we enjoy for the future generations of Vermonters.

I thank you for your partnership with all of us at the department in these efforts and leave you all with this thought from a noted conservationist!

“A peculiar virtue in wildlife ethics is that the hunter ordinarily has no gallery to applaud or disapprove of his conduct. Whatever his acts, they are dictated by his own conscience…”

-Aldo Leopold

Christopher Herrick, Commissioner