Connecticut River (New Hampshire) Fishing Guides and Conditions, New Hampshire

About the Connecticut River (New Hampshire)

Above Pittsburg the Connecticut River is a chain of impoundments – First, Second and Third Connecticut Lakes and Lake Francis – and the river that runs between and below them is cold, controlled and fished hard by people who drive a long way to get there. The reach below Murphy Dam and downstream past the Indian Stream confluence is the heart of it. This is not the wide agricultural river of the Vermont and Massachusetts valleys; it is a north country trout stream, narrow enough to cross in places, running through spruce and hardwood with almost no development along it.

The fishery is built on cold water released from the impoundments, which keeps the river fishable through summers that would shut down a freestone stream at the same latitude. Brook trout are native and the reason many anglers come, holding in the pocket water and the shaded seams. Stocked rainbows and browns add size, and landlocked salmon drop out of the lakes into the river and give the reach its best fish of the year in spring and again in the fall. The well-known trophy-managed sections between the lakes carry their own tackle and limit rules, and those rules change often enough that checking the current New Hampshire digest is not optional.

Almost all of this is wade and bank fishing. The river is too small and too broken for drift boats through the Pittsburg reaches, and guides here work on foot, moving clients between short access points along Route 3. Flow is entirely a function of what the dams are doing, so the gauge below Indian Stream is the single most useful number available: it reads both discharge and water temperature, which together tell you whether the reach is wadeable and whether the trout will be active.

Access

Route 3 north of Pittsburg parallels the river for the entire reach; numbered pull-offs and unmarked gravel turnouts serve as the access points for most of the wadeable water.
Below Murphy Dam at Lake Francis - the top of the reach and the first cold water, heavily fished and easy to reach from the dam road.
The Indian Stream confluence near the gauge - a reliable holding area and the reference point for flow on this stretch.
Lake Francis State Park - camping, parking, and a walk-in route to the river a short distance downstream of the dam.
The trophy-managed sections between the Connecticut Lakes are signed on the ground; the boundaries and the tackle rules are posted at the pull-offs.
A good deal of the surrounding land is timber company ground open to public recreation, but that status is a courtesy rather than a right - respect posted closures and gates.
Dam release schedules change without much notice; sudden rises are the real hazard on this water, not depth.

Seasons

Spring: high and cold through ice-out and into May. Landlocked salmon move into the river and the fishing below the dams is at its most productive.
Summer: the releases hold the reach cold when nearby freestone streams are too warm to fish, which makes this the reliable July and August option in the north country.
Fall: prime. Cooling water, low steady flows, and brook trout in spawning colour through September and October.
Winter: the reach is snowbound and largely inaccessible, and the general season is closed on most of this water. Check the current digest before planning anything.