The Upper Connecticut

New Hampshire · Connecticut Lakes tailwaters

The Upper Connecticut

Far-north cold water for wild brook trout and landlocked salmon — a chain of tailwaters dropping out of the Connecticut Lakes.

Up in Pittsburg, hard against the Quebec line, the Connecticut is born cold off the bottom releases of the Connecticut Lakes. The Trophy Stretch and the water below Murphy Dam fish well through August. A short season, and a glorious one.

The water

About the Upper Connecticut

Up in Pittsburg — New Hampshire's northernmost town, hard against the Quebec line — the Connecticut River is born as a chain of cold tailwaters dropping out of the Connecticut Lakes. Water is drawn from the cold depths of each lake and released below its dam, so the river runs cold and fishes well through August while the freestones to the south are too warm to touch. This is remote, high, north-country water, and its two marquee fish are wild brook trout and landlocked salmon, with browns and rainbows in the mix.

Working downstream, the fishery is really three reaches. The connecting river between Second and First Connecticut Lakes is dark, intimate pocket water full of wild brookies and salmon. Below First Connecticut Lake lies the Trophy Stretch — a little over two miles of pools and pocket water, cold off the bottom release, holding brook, brown, and rainbow trout and salmon. Below Murphy Dam (Lake Francis) runs the coldest, most consistent water of all — rarely much above the mid-50s even in a July heat wave — down toward Stewartstown and Colebrook. Route 3 follows the whole thing.

The season up here is short and it is glorious. Ice-out comes late — often not until late April — and the river closes in mid-October, so the whole show happens in about six months. It opens with the smelt run and the first push of landlocked salmon, builds through a big-water hatch season, holds cold and fishable all summer, and finishes with the fall spawning run. Streamers spring and fall, dries and terrestrials in between. Bring warm layers even in July; the nights are cold this far north.

Regulations & Stamp

Pittsburg has roughly five to six miles of fly-fishing-only water across these reaches:

  • Second Lake dam to the logging bridge: fly-fishing only, catch-and-release, all species.
  • Magalloway Road bridge to Green's Point: fly-fishing only, two-trout limit.
  • First Lake dam to Lake Francis (the Trophy Stretch): fly-fishing only, two-trout limit, 12-inch minimum.
  • Below Murphy Dam: seasonal — January 1 to March 31, catch-and-release, single barbless hook, artificial only; April through mid-October, general methods and limits.

Season: the river is open January 1 to October 15 (the big lakes close September 30). A New Hampshire fishing license is required.

Stocking: NH Fish & Game stocks the region, and the Connecticut Lakes carry a trophy program for lake trout and landlocked salmon. But the river also holds wild brook trout through the system and the salmon that run out of the lakes. Landlocked salmon run twice a year: in spring, roughly a week after ice-out, chasing the smelt spawn, and again in the fall as they push up to spawn near the end of September. The classic salmon flies — Gray Ghost, Magog Smelt, Black Ghost — earn their keep in both runs.

Second Lake dam to Colebrook

The Connecticut Lakes tailwaters — the connecting river, the Trophy Stretch below First Connecticut Lake, and the coldest water below Murphy Dam, all along Route 3 toward Stewartstown and Colebrook.
The Connecticut Lakes tailwaters — the connecting river, the Trophy Stretch below First Connecticut Lake, and the coldest water below Murphy Dam, all along Route 3 toward Stewartstown and Colebrook.

Key access, upstream to down

  1. The connecting riverBetween Second and First Connecticut Lakes — dark pocket water off Magalloway Road / Route 3; wild brookies and salmon.Get directions
  2. The Trophy StretchBelow the First Connecticut Lake dam; a trail runs most of its length with easy foot access from Route 3.Get directions
  3. Below Murphy DamThe coldest reach, near the dam and off River Road; the water the main USGS gauge sits on.Get directions
  4. Lake Francis State ParkRiver Road, off Route 3 — boat launches, visitor center, and access to the reservoir and upper river.Get directions
  5. Dam poolsAt Second Lake dam, First Lake dam, and Murphy Dam — all fish and all hold salmon at the right time of year.Get directions

This week on the water

River Report

The current read on the water, with live flow and water temperature from the USGS gauges.

River Report

August 6, 2026

The lower river's edging warm — fish up toward the cold releases this week

Down at North Stratford (01129500), the Connecticut is reading 521 cfs and 66.9°F this morning — the lower river warming as it slides toward Colebrook, and a number worth respecting on the two hot afternoons ahead. Up top it's a different river entirely. The bottom releases below First Connecticut Lake and Murphy Dam draw cold water off the depths, so the Trophy Stretch and the reach below Murphy hold in the fifties while everything downstream climbs. This week that gradient is the whole game: fish high.

We get low-80s Thursday and Friday, then a genuine soaker Saturday — better than half an inch — with the high falling into the mid-70s behind it. The nights stay cold this far north, so the system never fully loses its edge. Before the rain it's terrestrial water: work a Chubby Chernobyl or a hopper tight to the grassy banks of the Trophy Stretch, and hang a Pheasant Tail a couple feet under it for the fish that won't commit up top. Drift a flying ant down the shaded seams on a bright, low afternoon. When Saturday's rain bumps and cools the water down toward Colebrook, expect the lower river to come back on.

Underneath, this is nymph country right now — most fish are still coming subsurface. Get a Prince or a Hare's Ear down through the cold pocket water below the dams, where the release keeps things honest. The Pittsburg Anglers Association has kept trout in the river through the summer, and there's a salmon or two holding in the coldest reaches if you'd rather swing for one. Bring a layer for the morning — it's the north country, and it fishes like it.

— the Homewater guide desk

Conditions & Access

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Season & hatches

The Upper Connecticut, month by month

A compressed, far-north season: essentially frozen in deep winter, exploding at ice-out, and holding cold and fishable through the summer. Sizes are typical ranges.

Month What's hatching / conditions Go-to flies
January River open on paper but mostly ice; below Murphy Dam is C&R, single barbless. Effectively lake-and-ice season. Midges (rare open water)
February Deep winter; minimal river fishing. Midges
March Still winter; C&R artificials below Murphy Dam through month's end. Midges, small nymphs
April Ice-out begins late month. First BWOs; streamers as salmon stage for the smelt run. Streamers (Gray Ghost, smelt), BWO, Pheasant Tail nymphs
May Smelt run and the first landlocked salmon run; Hendricksons, little black caddis, March Browns, caddis begin; BWOs midday. Streamers, caddis pupa, Prince & Pheasant Tail nymphs, Adams/Wulff dries
June Peak dry-fly from mid-month: heavy caddis, Sulphurs, Light Cahills, Brown/Yellow Drakes, and the famous Hexagenia (the Hex) in the slow water around the Back Lake, roughly June 20 into early July. Wulff & attractor dries, caddis pupa, big drake patterns, Pheasant Tail nymphs
July Caddis, small mayflies, tail of the Hex; terrestrials come on mid-month — ants, beetles, hoppers. Cold tailwaters fish when the freestones can't. Terrestrials, Wulffs, caddis pupa, Prince & Pheasant Tail nymphs
August This month Cold releases keep it prime; terrestrials dominant, plus caddis, midges, and small mayflies; cool nights; salmon in the cold reaches. Hoppers, ants, beetles, Royal Wulff, caddis pupa, Pheasant Tail nymphs
September Fall salmon run begins late month; browns and brookies coloring up; streamers and BWOs. Streamers, BWO, Prince & Pheasant Tail nymphs, attractor dries
October Season closes Oct 15; aggressive fall fish on streamers, BWOs mixed in; peak foliage. Streamers, BWO, soft hackles
November Closed / freezing. —
December Closed / freezing; ice fishing starts on the lakes. —

Hatch timing shifts with the season and the weather. Watch the water, not the calendar.

Know the fishery

  • Wild or stocked

    Wild brook and brown trout through the north country, with stocking on the lower reaches.

  • The rig

    A 9 ft leader to 4X–5X for attractors and terrestrials; go lighter on the flats.

  • Release

    These are fragile headwaters — handle wild fish gently and fish barbless.

The box for this water

The Upper Connecticut Box

Wild water through the north country asks for confidence flies, not fussy ones. Attractors, a terrestrial for the banks, and the mayflies that come off when the season turns.

$74.36$80.838 patterns · in a Day Tripper fly box

Save $6.47 vs. buying à la carte

Curated for the Upper Connecticut. Hand-tied flies, shipped direct.

What’s in the box

  • Parachute AdamsSize 14 · 3-packThe one dry to have.
  • Elk Hair CaddisSize 14 · 3-packNorth-country riffles.
  • Hare’s EarSize 14 · 3-packWild-trout searching nymph.
  • Pheasant TailSize 16 · 3-packA confidence dropper.
  • StimulatorSize 12 · 3-packAttractor and stonefly in one.
  • Prince NymphSize 14 · 3-packSearching pattern for pockets.
  • Chubby ChernobylSize 10Big foam terrestrial and indicator.
  • HendricksonSize 14 · 3-packThe classic spring mayfly.
  • Day Tripper Trout Fly Box The box Your flies arrive ready to fish, in a real fly box.

The flies

Flies That Fish Here

The flies we'd carry for the Upper Connecticut right now — one pattern per card, pick your hook size.