The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department maintains 168 developed fishing access areas. These sites provide public access to waters in Vermont for shore fishing opportunities and launching of water craft. The Department manages 131 access areas with concrete or gravel ramps for launching and retrieving of boats. Additionally, there are another 21 Department access areas where non-motorized vessels can easily be launched and 16 access areas dedicated to shore fishing. All access areas are open to hunting, trapping, fishing, and boating.
    Management and administration of all access areas is primarily funded through the sale of motorboat registration fees and the Sport Fish Restoration Program (SFR). The SFR Program was created to restore and better manage America's declining fishery resources and was modeled after the successful Wildlife Restoration Program. Excise taxes on fishing equipment, motorboat and small engine fuels, import duties, and interest are collected and appropriated from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department uses these monies for acquiring land as well as developing and maintaining boat and fishing access areas. These excise tax dollars, coupled with motorboat registration fees, have been the predominate source of funding for the access program over the last 20 years. Prior to the use of motorboat registration fees, angler license dollars were used in a similar fashion.
     The Department has recently developed a search page for anglers and boaters in the state of Vermont to use in locating access areas and information about each site. Please note, only Fish and Wildlife Department fishing access areas are found in the web search below; there are a number of other public access sites available throughout Vermont that may not be found in this search.