Upper Connecticut River Fishing Report: 5/17

The fishing season is definitely underway here in northern New Hampshire, though it seems to have gotten off to a slower start than we like. Still, there are signs of piscatorial life, and that is good news for all of us anglers. Long time TTL guest Marc Pipas caught and released this beautiful brown trout, under the expert guidance of Jon Howe.

First, the news of the fishing on the various stretches of the Connecticut River. Actually, before we get to the actual fishing, it might be more important to give a little context in terms of the river flows in the river stretches – low water makes for challenging angling, and that has been the case so far this spring.

The “Magalloway Stretch” that flows in to First Connecticut Lake boasts a meager flow of 50 CFS, which is substantially lower than what we like at this time of year. A flow that resembles 150 – 200 CFS encourages the salmon to chase the smelt upstream during the spring run, and it appears that might be over at this point.

The “Trophy Stretch” between First Connecticut Lake and Lake Francis is running only at 99 CFS, far short of the 150 CFS that is generally considered an acceptable amount of water in this section. Further to the south, Murphy Dam at Lake Francis has been releasing water in the 185 CFS range, once again far below the flow of 300 – 400 CFS that is typical of this time of year. Simply put, the lake levels are all low so the river flows cannot be adjusted upward until we have a substantial amount of rainfall. We will see when that happens …

While there are reports of the isolated salmon, brook or lake trout being caught and released in the Magalloway section, it is entirely likely that the best spring fishing has already come and gone up there. Thankfully, the Trophy Stretch has fresh brook, brown and rainbow trout in it, thanks to the stocking efforts of NH Fish & Game and the Pittsburg Anglers Association. With the low water, most of the fish will be relegated to the pools, and nymphs or streamers might be your best bet, though we observed one rising “slapper” this morning during a decent mayfly hatch.

The 185 CFS below Lake Francis sounds more promising for the uninitiated to Pittsburg’s waters, but that’s a pretty low flow down there, so any fish present will be spooky to say the least. Bring the 6X and a box of your best nymphs and you might just get in to a fish or two.

Our guests have done well on some of the outer ponds – brook trout are good for the soul – so you might want to bring some streamers or a box of your favorite dries when they get active on top. Moose Pond, Middle Pond, Round Pond, Coon Brook Bog and Big Brook Bog are all accessible right now and there might be more roads open than I know.

Back Lake was really productive for some of our guests this past weekend, and those trolling, as you would expect at this time of year, proved to be the most successful. We had a number of beautiful mornings late last week and on the weekend before the Back Lake wind machine would crank up around 10 AM. Still, lures seemed to work better than flies, a few feet down (perhaps because of the sunny conditions?) in most cases. However, those that prefer to troll with flies shouldn’t leave the dock without a Yellow Hornberg, Mickey Finn, or Golden Demon at this time of year – they can be very effective …