Fishing in New Hampshire

Freshwater Fishing

Eastern Brook Trout

New England's native char, the Brookie or Squaretail can be found throughout New Hampshire. Brookies like cold clear water and almost any back country stream will hold at least some little stunted Brookies. New Hampshire's holds many trout stream opportunities as well as some good sized Brook Trout in the many lakes. Brook Trout are day feeders and feed almost exclusively on larval and adult aquatic insects. Brookies are also known to take the occasional small fish, and small streamer flies can get their attention. Early in the spring, Brookies can be easily taken with worms.

Atlantic Salmon, Landlocked Salmon

Migrating Atlantic Salmon are on the New Hampshire Endangered Species list.

A subspecies of the Atlantic salmon that lives in the lakes of New England without ever descending to sea are known as landlocked salmon. Landlocked salmon are much smaller than migrating Atlantic Salmon. The New England population of Atlantic salmon are the Sebago Salmon.

Salmon feed mostly on smelt. A healthy Salmon population, therefore, depends heavily on a healthy smelt population. Spring fishing for Salmon with a live smelt of trolling a smelt imitation is recommended.

New Hampshire has an aggressive Salmon stocking program. Brood stock Salmon in the 3-12lb range are released into the Pemigewasset and Merrimack Rivers. Lake Winnipesaukee and other lakes in the New Hampshire Lakes Region are well known for their Salmon fishing.

Rainbow Trout

Rainbows are native to the Western rivers but have been stocked throughout New Hampshire. 'Bows are known for clearing the water during a fight and for their bright red or pinkish stripe down their lateral line. Rainbows are aggressive and are easier to take on lures than Brown Trout.

Brown Trout

Brown Trout are native to Europe and were introduced widely across the US. Small and average-sized Browns eat aquatic and terrestrial insects, but when they get larger they turn to larger prey such as sculpins, dace, crawfish, and even other trout. Live bait often works well when fishing for Browns. Brown Trout often feed at night, and during a hatch can be highly selective. This makes then hard to catch, and not surprisingly, highly prized and sought after.

Saltwater Fishing

Striped Bass

Striper fishing is the most popular type of saltwater fishing in New Hampshire. Stripers are found near shore and in the estuaries and open water areas. Large numbers of "schoolie" stripers show up around May. The larger "cows" come around some time in June. Fishing tends to slow up a bit during the summer. It picks up again around September when stripers start heading south again for winter.

Mackerel

Mackerel are plentiful for saltwater anglers, first arriving around the beginning of June. Buckets of Mackerel are a realistic possibility in Spring and again in Fall.

Bluefish

Bluefish begin arriving in New Hampshire waters about the end of July and peak in August before heading south again in September. Most of the bluefish caught off New Hampshire’s coast are in the 2 to 3-foot size range but some smaller "snapper" bluefish schools invade the estuaries.

Sea-run Brown Trout

In the late fall, sea-run brown trout fishing in Berry Brook in Rye picks up. New Hampshire Fish and Game stocks about 5,000 brown trout into this river each year. Brown trout are generally a wily fish and take great skill and patience to produce regular hook-ups.

FRESHWATER FISHING

Ammonoosuc

Basin Pond

Blue Brook

Cold River

Connecticut River

Lake Umbagog

Mad River

Patte Brook

Pemigewasset River

Province Pond

Saco