Drawing Down

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?

Well, it means several things, most of which are beneficial for us anglers. First, a “freshening” of the water is usually a good thing for the fish, as more water is generally better for them than less (i.e. the last couple of years). They’ll move around and find new resting and feeding lies to thrive in and protect themselves from predators. It also means that they have a little more protection from us, as some areas we were able to wade through when the river was lower may be more difficult to do so now.

More water flow in to the lakes typically triggers some of the larger lake fish, particularly salmon, to begin to make their journey upstream that will eventually conclude in their annual spawning activity. Now, they won’t actually spawn until the fishing season is over (usually late October / early November), but a lot of those fish come in to the stretches of the river in September to get ready for the spawn. That means some great fishing for energetic and acrobatic salmon for us in the meantime.

As for the numbers, the flow was increased out of each of the Connecticut Lakes dams today. The flow below Second Lake was increased to 200 CFS, while below First Lake Dam (the Trophy Stretch – 63 degree water temp here today), the river now flows at 252 CFS, and below Murphy Dam at Lake Francis, the flow was increased to 400 CFS. Care should be taken when wading any of the stretches, but especially below Second Lake Dam – 200 CFS is a fair amount of water down there to be navigating. As always, a good wading staff is recommended for safety.

The flows will remain at these levels for the foreseeable future, and could last until the end of the season, if we continue to get periodic rainfall. Of course, if we were to get torrential rain, expect the flows to be raised again. For fishing purposes, these flows are particularly good for subsurface presentations (nymphs and streamers – “slow and low”), but catching late season lake-run salmon on dries (BWO patterns in particular) can be some of the best angling you’ll have all year.

There’s just something about fishing in the fall …