New Hampshire Fly Fishing Trip

[6.5_sWv]

I'm in the planning phases of a small stream blue line fishing trip to New Hampshire / Maine in search of native brook trout. It's always been a goal of mine to catch a brookie from every state from Maine to Georgia in my lifetime. To date, I have caught brookies in Maryland, WV, Virginia, and Tennessee.

I'm targeting the White Mountain National Forest due to its sheer amount of public land and natural features. I've done an absurd amount of internet sleuthing and I've determined that there is limited info out there compared to other states along the Appalachians (ex Virginia or North Carolina). In short I'll be fly fishing only with my Sage Dart 0wt, will only be catch and release fishing, and will likely not go back to New Hampshire / Maine for years or even ever. I plan on camping at one of the campgrounds within the national forest and use it as a base camp.

I was curious if anyone would be kind enough to point me in a right direction of a particular drainage I should explore or a stream that has smaller tributaries to fish. Or is there a particular person or agency (EPA, DEP, game and fish) I should contact?

If anyone would be kind enough to PM me with some starting points I'd be happy to share specific streams I have personally fished in WV, VA, and MD.

Thanks
Ben

 

[NYDAN]

I used to fish in White Moutain area back in the 1980's. You might want to check out the Gale River and a couple of feeder streams in Franconia, NH.

I have caught fish in the Gale River, Meadow Brook, and Hamm Branch. However, when I was back there a couple of years ago, I found that things had changed significantly.

I accessed Meadow Brook when I stayed at the Fransted Family Campground and RV Park. The stream runs right through the campground. In the 1980's there were photos of campers with trout that they caught right there in the office. When I stopped back in 2022, the campground was under new ownership. The new owners didn't even know that there were trout in the stream.

The Gale River held both brook and brown trout. It has a walking path beside it all through town. So, one has easy access to it. However, when I stopped in a couple of the local stores in 2022 no one even knew where I could buy a fishing license. I found only one person in town (she ran a local restaurant) that even remembered the hotels and fishing from the 1980's.

We caught a lot of brook trout in the Hamm Branch. We used to drive out route 116 and the stream was right beside the road. We would park on Lafayette Road where it crossed the Ham Branch, and wade down the stream. We could usually catch our limit. We stopped there in 2022 and spoke with a local resident who had her kids swimming in the stream. She wasn't even aware that there were trout in the stream.

I think that NH Fish and Game still stocks the Gale River. I am sure someone could make a call and find out.

There is a nice State campground nearby in Franconia Notch. There are a few hotels/motels in Franconia.

If you do get to Franconia, be sure to visit Polly's Pancake Parlor out Route 117 on Sugar Hill.

I think there is also fishing around Littleton, although I never fished there.

I suggest you call NH Fish and Game and ask them where to go.

 

[6.5_sWv]

NYDAN,

Thanks for the insight. I appreciate you giving me some direction on some places to start. I do intend on calling NH Fish and Game, and I hope to speak to a biologist in regards to see if they have any data or info about reproducing populations as I'm not really looking to make a 14hr trip to catch stocked trout. That being said, I would gladly catch one if it winds up in the business end of my line, but I want to specifically target native brook trout.

Again, thank you for the reply. I'm going to do some research in the areas you suggested.

Thanks
Ben