By Tim Moore:
It seems that spring is coming sooner than predicted. Warm temperatures and periods of high winds have blown most of the ice off of Lake Winnipesaukee. Early ice-out salmon fishing is some of the best of the year. Salmon in the three to four pound range are very common. Spoons, streamer-flies or live bait trolled a few feet down along the upper edge of break-lines can be very productive, and a little bit of “salmon chop” is always a good thing too. Some go-to lures on the big lake are DB Smelt, Guide Special or Mooselook Wobblers. Due to high demand, we will be offering kayak fishing trips for salmon this spring, but only for a
limited time.
One overlooked (and often missed) event is the white perch spawn that occurs for about two weeks in May. If you watched our Facebook page this winter, you saw how big they get in Lake Winnipesaukee. White perch is one of our favorite fish species to guide for due to their size, numbers and flavor. They will hit lures aggressively during the spawn. Slip-bobber fishing or spinning lures can be deadly. You can sometimes catch fish all day. We strongly encourage catch and release at this time of the year, but there is nothing wrong with taking a few fish home for supper, especially if they look like they are spawned-out.
Reports of striped bass are already coming in from Connecticut, which means about another two weeks before they arrive in New Hampshire. Once the annual alewife run begins, the stripers will be hot on their tails (pun intended). Below the dam on the Lamprey River in downtown Newmarket is one of the first places to see stripers. Snagging alewives and livelining them for hungry stripers is the most popular technique. Weighted snag hooks that are 3/0 are a hot commodity at shops such as Suds N Soda Sports in Greenland, N.H. Just remember that it is illegal to snag alewives on Wednesdays.
We have caught some nice walleye in the Connecticut River this spring. Once the spawn ends this month though, the fishing will slow down for a while. In the meantime, ¼ ounce jigheads with 3 inch curlytail grubs bounced or dragged along the bottom is our preferred method. Below almost any dam on the Connecticut River is a good place to find pre-spawn walleye. Once the fish spawn and spread out, bottom bouncer rigs with floating crawler harnesses slow-trolled along break-lines will be our go-to technique for what we consider the best eating freshwater fish out there.
FORECAST BY: Tim Moore, (603) 842-3572. Tim is owner of Tim Moore Outdoors LLC, offering NH kayak and ice fishing charters, and turkey hunting. He is also a member of Clam, Ice Team, Vexilar, Maki Plastic, Release Reels, and Oozzie Jig Pro Staff. Visit www.TimMooreOutdoors.com for more information.