If you are an avid salmon fishing fanatic or you want to give it a whirl for the first time. New Hampshire will provide you with a great opportunity to do so.
This May, brood stock Atlantic salmon anglers in New Hampshire will be able to get out and enjoy some of the most exciting fishing they’ll have all year. New Hampshire Fish and Game plans to release more than 500 tagged brood stock salmon this spring, including 100 fish averaging 10.8 pounds (some nearly 20 pounds!), and 400 weighing about 6.5 pounds each, into the lower Pemigewasset and Merrimack and rivers.
“These are some of the largest brood stock salmon that we’ve ever stocked,” said Jon Greenwood, coordinator of the Anadromous Fish Restoration Program for Fish and Game. “So watch out — they’re going to put up a fight!”
The best fishing for brood stock salmon is during May, when the water temperature remains cool. Depending on the weather, by some point in June the water gets too warm (70 degrees F) for the fish, and they tend to migrate downstream out of the stocking area. “We’ve been waiting for the flood waters to recede before we release the brood stock salmon,” said Greenwood. “More normal conditions of water flow allow greater opportunities for angler success. Our best estimate of when that will happen is the week of May 7.”
New Hampshire has the only managed Atlantic salmon river fishery in New England. Only salmon marked by Fish and Game with a T-bar anchor at the base of the dorsal fin may be kept, and the bag limit remains 1 per day and 5 total for the season.
You can find out more information on New Hampshire’s Fish & Game website.
