Lake Zoar

Lake Zoar is a 909-acre, roughly 10-mile reservoir on the Housatonic River between the Shepaug and Stevenson dams. DEEP keeps a walleye fishery going here with yearly stockings, the smallmouth and pike fishing is good, and in 2025 it gave up the biggest freshwater fish ever recorded in Connecticut, a common carp.

When to fish

• April: On The Water's western Connecticut guide fishes Zoar for pike and smallmouth with flies and lures.
• Year-round: walleye, stocked each fall as fingerlings since 2011.
• Early summer: the record carp was caught on a June night.
• Mid-October on: the lake is drawn down for dam maintenance (from October 17 in 2026).

Where to fish

• The lake's deeper, boat-only reaches: Zoar has deep water and little shore access, and On The Water notes the record carp came from a remote section you can only reach by boat.
• Stay clear of the Stevenson Dam: boats must keep a set distance from it.

How to fish it

For carp, the record fish took a flavored boilie. DEEP encourages releasing big carp. Pike and smallmouth respond to the same spring flies and lures that On The Water's guide uses on Lillinonah and the upper Housatonic.

Getting there

The state launch is at the end of Scout Road in Southbury: from I-84 Exit 14, go south on Lakeside Road, then right on Lee Farm Drive to Scout Road. DEEP warns not to trust map apps for directions here. Zebra mussels are in the lake, so clean and dry your boat before moving it to another water. Zoar is a Walleye Lake with its own rules, and the Housatonic impoundments carry a PCB fish consumption advisory; check the Connecticut Freshwater Fishing Guide.