Fishing Report April 27, 2026

Thank you to everyone who attended our annual FishingFest® event! Hopefully, you can use some of that gear as fishing continues to pick up. Trout season opened in New Hampshire on Saturday and there were people catching stocked trout all over the state. Lake Winnipesaukee continues to produce landlocked salmon in the 3-pound class and Sebago is producing a lot of big salmon this year. We had reports of smallmouth and largemouth bass moving in shallow in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Haddock fishing is just beginning to heat up. Cold weather has slowed that down, but we heard better reports over the weekend. There are holdover stripers being caught in Boston, a few in the Merrimac, and even some in the Piscataqua River.

Maine:
Greg Cutting at Jordan’s Store in Sebago reported excellent salmon and lake trout fishing on Sebago right now. “You might want to get over here. The fishing is insane. They’re catching a lot of salmon and some really nice ones. A lot of people are doing well trolling smelt right on top. The shoreline by Nassan’s Beach has a lot of smelt on it. One group caught 14 salmon over there in four hours. The majority of the western shoreline has smelt runs happening, or about to happen, right now. They are starting to jig for lake trout in some of those deeper holes too. I’ve seen some nice browns coming from Square Pond. I know Hancock usually offers some nice ones too,” he said.

Tim Tower of the Bunny Clark Deep Sea Fishing in Ogunquit posted the following report on his website: “The fishing was excellent. The drift was perfect; the tangles were few and there were no dogfish seen or sharks hooked. The catching was good overall. My target species was haddock and there were haddock everywhere but no big schools of them anywhere that I could find. On the last stop, we saw the biggest haddock of the trip. But it wasn't a big haddock day. We did have a couple of anglers who captured their own bag limit. Legal landings included 132 haddock, 61 cusk, pollock and 21 redfish. Released fish included one legal haddock, 15 sub-legal haddock, 39 small cod to 4.5 pounds, three small cusk, three small pollock, three sub-legal redfish and a small wolffish. We drift fished most of the day, anchored twice. It didn't much matter. Bait and cod flies caught the most fish.”

“I truly believe that Chris Cichon (NJ) was high hook with the most legal fish. This is just a guess based on my perception of performance during the day. He was certainly the most consistent. Two fish of Chris' that I weighed included a 5.75-pound haddock and a 5-pound cusk. He also caught the small cat. Dana Decormier (NH) won the boat pool for the largest fish with the largest fish, a 7.1-pound Maine state trophy haddock. This is Bunny Clark's first state trophy of the season to date and the largest haddock of the Bunny Clark fishing season so far. I took a picture of Dana holding his prize fish. This digital image appears on the right. Lewis Hazelwood (MA) won the boat pool for the second largest fish with the second largest fish, a 7-pound cusk. Some of Lewis' other fish that I weighed included a 4.75-pound haddock and a 5.5-pound haddock. The third largest fish was a 6.1-pound haddock caught by Kevin Aucoin (VT).”

“Other Angler Highlights: Steve LaFlam (NH - an awesome guy and one hell of a fisherman) caught one of the first fish I could weigh, a 4-pound haddock. Dave Haberl (VT) caught a 5.25-pound haddock. Hannah Smith (VT) landed a 6-pound haddock, her best fish. Between Dave and Hannah, they released at least thirty cod. Hannah caught the largest cod of the day at 4.5 pounds. Brett Aucoin (VT) caught a 6-pound haddock, his biggest fish. Chris Silver (NH) landed a 5.5-pound cusk, his biggest fish.”

New Hampshire:
Tim from Tim Moore Outdoors/Lake Winnipesaukee Fishing Guide Service on Lake Winnipesaukee was happy to have his boat in and running trips again. “First off, thank you to everyone for coming out to my seminar at KTP on Saturday, and to KTP for having me. The boat is at the dock and it was a busy week. The week started out great, but the cold snap that moved in slowed things down. All of my clients caught fish, but things were noticeably slower lake-wide. I’m still trolling sewn smelt at 1mph down 5’-10’ on sinking fly line or one color of lead core. I keep hearing complaints about skinny salmon, but almost everyone we have caught has been plump and healthy-looking. Water temps should increase a bit over the next couple of days and then rain and cool overnight temps later in the week will stabilize temps. The coming full moon and midge hatches are going to throw a wrench in the works and slow the fishing down. I hope I’m wrong,” he said.

Alan Nute at Winnisquam Country Store in Tilton said that he was hearing of a lot of fish caught in the salmon and lake trout lakes, and the stocked trout ponds. “Trout ponds opened Saturday, so a lot of people went that route. We sold a lot of crawlers and Powerbait. On the big lake, the Grey Ghost lure seems to be working. Streamers with yellow and orange are still the hot flies, but some gray and red are heating up. Some are still doing well with smelt. Seems to be one color of lead down doing best, but the shorelines are still producing and the smallmouth haven’t moved in close yet,” he told us.

Ki at Dover Marine/Covered Bridge Sports had a very busy weekend with trout opener. “We got slammed this weekend. Between boat registrations and people buying bait for trout ponds and rivers, I was slammed. The haddock are starting to hit. They are using white bucktail bait and doing pretty well. The bass are on beds in the southern part of the state, but they haven’t really moved into shallow water around the big lakes. All the trout waters have been stocked. I heard of some pre-spawn crappies being caught locally. There are a few holdover stripers being caught, but the fresh fish are still south of Boston,” he said.

Massachusetts:
Pete Santini at Fishing Finatics in Everett reported better haddock fishing on Jeffrey’s, holdover stripers, and lots of trout. “We got a good haddock bite on Jeffreys. Trout fishing is good at Horn, Waldon, White’s, Griswold, Jamaica, and Spot Ponds are all hot with Powerbait and Power Eggs doing good. The bass are starting to move in for pre-spawn. Rubber worms are working good. Stripers are pretty thick at the Charles River Dam and Amelia Earhart Dam on tube and worm. They are getting a few flounder up at Swampscott Yacht Club,” he said.

Liz at Surfland Bait and Tackle on Plum Island reported shad in the Merrimack River. “There are shad up the Merrimac. All the usual spots. No reports of fresh stripers or flounder yet, though. I heard of a few holdover stripers, but that’s it. No mackerel yet, it’s too early. We have been busy getting ready for the Demo Day on May 9th from 9am – 1pm. Lots of vendors and demos will be happening. Division of Marine Fisheries will be here to answer any questions,” she said.