Fortunate

Whatever word you want to use: fortunate, lucky, opportune, etc., having the upper reaches of the Connecticut River in your back yard makes for a long and fruitful fishing season, all year long.

Known as New England’s “Great River”, the Connecticut journeys 410 miles from its start near the Canadian border in Pittsburg, NH all the way to Long Island Sound. While it eventually warms on its course south (it has to, with that long of a trip) and provides perfect water temperatures for warmer water species (largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike, pickerel and walleye), it is in the upper reaches of the Connecticut River that trout and salmon call home.

Here, in the northern reaches of New Hampshire, the Connecticut River maintains perfect temperatures for trout and salmon survival throughout the warmest of summer weather. This is largely due to bottom release dams at First Connecticut Lake and Lake Francis.

For instance, the temperature below Murphy Dam at Lake Francis was 58 degrees last week, and we took a temp of 63 degrees yesterday on our drift down towards Colebrook, NH. In other words, perfect water temperature for insect hatching, and corresponding trout activity. Yes, there were a lot of active trout yesterday, but the casting wasn’t always as accurate as it needed to be …

These conditions are not the case on most New England rivers that are not fortunate enough to have bottom release dams out of reservoirs. One exception might be the Swift River in Massachusetts that drains the Quabbin Reservoir, presumably keeping the river colder than most others in that area.

Most New England rivers warm up tremendously in the summer, with the trout seeking thermal refuge in the deepest of pools or the coolest water available. Trout shouldn’t even be fished for in these conditions.

I had to travel to central Vermont last weekend and followed a major river’s course along the road I was driving. Not an angler in sight, not much water, but there were plenty of swimmers during last weekend’s heat wave. This river won’t be fishable again until we have some cool nights in September, if then. That’s the case in a lot of places in this part of the U.S.A.

Another added benefit of the Connecticut River is our relationship with Great River Hydro, the company that owns the water rights. They have been good partners in communicating their management of the watershed’s resources as they sell hydro power to accomplish their company’s goals while maintaining adequate flows for the natural resources (fish and bugs) to thrive.

The Connecticut, while very large to the south of us, is too small here in Pittsburg to allow for white water rafting, so we don’t have the additional problem of recreational releases that can affect the fishing on other rivers (i.e. the Magalloway in Maine, the Deerfield in Massachusetts, along with many others). Our river flows stay steady for the most part, with flow changes being made gradually. Our trout are pretty happy.

So when most anglers living to the south are tending to their gardens or sharpening up on their golf games in this hot summer, we’re still fishing for trout and salmon up here on the upper reaches of the Connecticut River.

I think I’ll go again tomorrow …