Only nine days left in the New Hampshire trout fishing season, and it’s lately been a challenge for anglers in navigating the weather, the river flows, and the vagaries of getting trout and salmon interested in your flies. The image above of TTL guest Charlie Massin angling is courtesy of Tall Timber guest Rich Wyman.
Okay, we didn’t just have a flood in northern New Hampshire, but the rivers and lakes are high after a couple days of hard rain that we just had. Over three inches of rain fell between Monday and Tuesday in Pittsburg, and the corresponding actions of the dam company to restrict flooding downstream have limited the fishing options the last couple of days.
The annual draw down of the Connecticut Lakes began today, in preparation for the long winter ahead – yup, winter’s never far from our minds here in northern New Hampshire, and even Great River Hydro (the local power company in charge of the lake levels and resulting dam flows) needs to prepare for it. What does this all mean for the river flows and those wade anglers that ply the water in search of trout and salmon?
Unlike the majority of central and southern New England, we have been fortunate to receive rain at the right times of the season, as the Connecticut Lakes and Connecticut River are in good shape as fall approaches. We received somewhere around 4 inches of rain just this past week, so there’s plenty of water in our system, meaning that more water will need to be released from the lakes to achieve the desired lake levels this fall.
It’s a balmy 56 degrees and rainy today at Back Lake, and while this is not typically weather that summer vacationers look for when they’re escaping to the north country, it is just what the doctor ordered for our lakes and rivers. Over an inch of rain has fallen between last night and this morning, and more importantly, the cooler weather should help the water temps moderate in the Trophy Stretch and brook trout ponds.
Summer’s flying by here in northern New Hampshire, and we have finally had our first dose of real “summer” weather. Hot and humid temps, with some serious thunderstorms mixed in, has made for changing river flow conditions on the upper Connecticut River lately. Still, the angling has remained good, due in large part to our bottom-release dams.