Welcome to the New Season!

After an excruciatingly long wait, spring has finally arrived in northern New Hampshire. We’ve had two weeks of mostly spring-like temperatures and even some sun too, and the seemingly impregnable sheet of ice that had a hold of Back Lake has bid us “Adieu” for six or seven months.

Even a couple of Back Lake’s loons greeted the beautiful conditions with their familiar call today, another indicator of spring’s arrival. While the recent great weather has been a welcome sight, it has also brought with it an unfavorable byproduct as well – flooding and high river flows. 

In short, our considerable snowpack melted in a little over a week, instead of over the course of the entire month of April, which is what normally occurs. To be honest, there is still some snow in the northern reaches of Pittsburg which is still to melt, but the majority of our snow has now melted off.

The sudden melting of the snowpack has meant high river and stream flows in to the Connecticut Lakes (all of which are full to the brim) and, more importantly, the Connecticut River.

The abnormally high flows in all sections of the Connecticut River, make fishing in these stretches impossible as of right now. To give some context of what’s going on, here are the current river flows, and what flows we like to see, as fishermen in the stretches.

Believe it or not, those flows are lower than they were yesterday, so each day of nice weather will help lower the flows a bit. The stretch with the most promise could be the No Kill area below Second Connecticut Lake Dam, where the landlocked salmon run up river in the spring. Will it come down to a fishable level by this weekend? Great question, and one that will only be answered as the week goes on. Salmon like fast water, and they have plenty of it right now.

The Trophy Stretch and the stretch below Murphy Dam may take more time to calm down, so patience will be a requisite as our fishing season gets underway.

Other Options …

If you’re coming north to fish soon, there are some other options for anglers however. Back Lake and Lake Francis will both be open for fishing this weekend, and Ice Out fishing can be some of the best of the season on the lakes. Tall Timber has boats for rent on Back Lake, but you’ll have to bring your own if you’re looking to get out on Lake Francis this weekend.

Some of the outer brook trout ponds have also iced out – Moose Pond and Middle Pond are both open for fishing, and have been stocked by N.H. Fish & Game, so bring up your canoe, kayak or rowboat and get out there.

The season is upon us!