Weekly Fishing Report: April 1, 2024
Fishing Conditions & Updates for Maine, New Hampshire & Massachusetts
It was opening day for a lot of fisheries at the time this info was gathered, and many were waiting to get reports from those who headed out. Most reports were of salmon and lake trout fishing on Winnipesaukee and Sebago, but we did hear of good trout fishing in southern New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The stocking trucks have been running for a couple of weeks in Massachusetts and New Hampshire got rolling over the past week. As waters warm, expect to see the stocking activity to move further north. Haddock season also got underway with some good catches reported as well.
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago reported that there have been quite a few people fishing Sebago, but fewer boats on opening day than he expected. “They usually get a bunch of salmon at the north end of Sebago where the smelt run, even though there isn’t much of a smelt run these days, but the salmon still stack up there in the spring for the few smelt that do run there. There are still a lot of people jigging lake trout too. I expect things to really pick up after this next snowstorm,” he said. Greg was waiting on fresh smelt from northern Maine.
Full-time New Hampshire fishing guide Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors decided to put off his season start due to another snowstorm but was champing at the bit to get started. I know there are a ton of people out and they seem to be catching a lot of salmon. I fully expect this season to see far better numbers of salmon, with almost 60,000 salmon stocked last May. The boat will be in by next week,” he said.
Alan Nute at Winnisquam Country Store in Tilton reported that the store had been busy with people gearing up for opening day, but most of what he saw was from Facebook fishing groups but had been seeing a lot of salmon activity on Lake Winnipesaukee. “We should have smelt by next weekend. We need to get through this next snowstorm before we really start hearing stuff. A lot of people still have their boats covered. The crowds are out and their catching a lot of those 18-inch salmon, so that’s good,” he said.
Jason MacKenzie at Pawtuckaway Trading Post in Raymond said things had picked up in their shop as well, with stocking trucks reportedly running in southern NH. “I had a couple reports of trout being caught in Nottingham and Deerfield rivers, so there is a little bit of a pickup right now. This next snowstorm is going to slow things down, but it looks like warm weather right behind it,” he said.
Lon Berry at Berry’s Bait in Alton was swamped with a busy opening day but made time for a quick report. “It’s been a busy morning, but I haven’t heard back, as a lot of people. I saw a few pictures online when I had time to check. They caught some nice rainbows fly fishing in the river over the weekend. I should have a ton more next week,” he said.
Captain Les Eastman at Eastman’s Fleet in Seabrook reported that all their boats were running for the April 1 haddock opener. “The fishing was incredible, flat calm, lots of reds, 20-75 pp depending what boat you were on, more than 75 for a few, don’t think anyone had less than 20. Lots of haddock and tomorrow we can keep them. As you know, we don’t look for haddock the same places you look for reds, so to see so many with the reds is a great sign for April. We still have some openings on Tuesday. Looks like a pretty nasty storm coming for midweek, but too early to tell. Stay tuned here for updates.”
Pete Santini at Fishing Finatics in Everett reported that good trout catches are coming from Horn, Walden, Whites, Sluice, Jamaica, Baldpate, and Long Ponds. “They’re also catching a lot of holdover schoolie stripers down at the Amelia Earhart Dam, fishing from shore or in kayaks using Al Gags, Storm Shads, and little plugs or jigs. The trout are being caught on Thomas Buoyants, Vibrax, Meps, Powerbait, salmon eggs, and meal worms,” he said.
Because of inherent time restrictions of gathering fresh, up-to-date information, editing & producing this report in a timely manner, occasional errors or marginal information may slip by us. We try our hardest to provide accurate information. We urge readers to use this report as a tool to increase their fishing pleasure and not to rely on as their sole resource. First or second-hand information is offered by fishing guides, commercial fishing charters or party boats, bait & tackle dealers, well-known successful anglers, and state & federal fisheries and natural resources enforcement officials. We also welcome and use reports forwarded to us by fishermen that use this report. - Kittery Trading Post Fishing Report Editor