World Class Fishing in New England

Sometimes the phrase world class is over used. No doubt outdoors folk are known to exaggerate. I have heard many anglers talk about how wonderful the fishing is in New England. I have heard them say things like " Theres no reason to go any where else for world class fishing we have it right in our backyard" I think to a certain extent this is absolutely true, but it depends on what you are fishing for.

If we are going to be totally honest, we certainly do not live in the largemouth capitol of the world. Understanding that largemouth bass are the number one fished for fish in the USA. People spend over a billion dollars a year trying to catch them. Money spent on rods, reels and bass boats make largemouth bass number one. Although we do hold some pretty decent lakes and ponds New England can not compete with Florida, Texas, the San Diego area of California or really anywhere in the sun belt.

If we are going to talk about trout, New England can almost hold its own. Unfortunately there is a catch. For most of New England, trout can not reproduce in our waters, therefore most all of the trout you try to catch on opening day are stocked. Most of these fish are of the put and take variety. Many lakes are stocked with enough trout to get them through the spring surge of fishermen. Any trout that survives until June avoiding lures and bait in a warmwater pond will die from warm water temps in the fall.

I am not talking about these trout waters. There are a few places in southern New England and many up north that offer really good trout fishing. New Hampshire stocks many of there lakes with " fingerlings". These are little baby trout that after a couple years become decent size fish. They are placed in lakes with cool enough water temps to survive summers but do not have enough spawning habitat to reproduce. Do not expect trophies, but the fishing can be fun.

We have a few major rivers that have excellent trout fishing. To name some we have the Housatonic, and Farmington in Connecticut. Wood River in RI. Mass has the Deerfield and Swift.

New Hampshire has the Upper Connecticut River and Androscoggin, Maine and Vermont have quite a few trout streams

Many of these rivers are excellent, my issue is they are all stocking dependent. Without stocking these rivers would be almost empty. There are holdover fish that grow quite big, and some have limited spawning. These are pretty dam good rivers and I want to fish them.Many people would consider these rivers as world class.

I would argue Montana has world class trout fishing. According to one magazine article I read, 5 of the top 10 trout streams in the country are in Montana. The Yellowstone, Madison, Gallatin, the Bighorn and Missouri are in Montana. All the trout are wild and they average about 16 inches!!! If I wanted to do some world class trout fishing, that would be my destination. Also, the Green River in Utah is probably the best trout stream in the country. I can say I saw many 6 pound rainbows and browns in the Green!!! They are all wild!!!

To keep this from getting out of hand I will condense the other non world class gamefish we have. Pike and Musky fishing is great in a belt running from New York- South Dakota. Our catfishing is a joke compared to southern reservoirs. Deep sea fishing although not bad is much better down south of Virgina. If you like carp as much as I do, you would want to fish the St Lawrence River.Sadly, our one and only salmon species is on the endangered species list and I seriously doubt there population will ever recover.

NOW THE WORLD CLASS FISHING IN NEW ENGLAND

Now that I've made you think of how pathetic our little corner of the country is, here is the good news. In New England we have world class fishing for two species. They are... pause for dramatic effect... striped bass and smallmouth bass.

You have read many times about my complaints about h0w bad the fishing was in Rhode Island this summer for stripers. It is true. Also the stocks are going down. This means the population of striped bass is not what it was 5 years ago ( the good old days). There is reason for concern their population is crashing. That said we live in the striper capital of the world. If they rebound this is where they will do it. Cape Cod had a pretty good year for stripers. The Cape Cod Canal was red hot all the way from the herring run in May through July. People from far away will plan their vacations around the fall run at places like Race Point and Narragansett. I have been told schoolie fishing can be great all summer as far north as the Penobscot River. Of all the fish out there I consider striped bass to be the best gamefish in the world. We are lucky to have a truly great fish in our backyard.http://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-love-of-striped-bass.html

Smallmouth Bass

If you are looking for world class smallie action in the lower three New England states, I think you will be disappointed. There are some good smallmouth lakes. The Cape Cod kettle ponds are good as is Candlewood Lake and Wachusetts Reservoir. If you really want some great action you will have to take a little drive up north. Lake Champlain, Lake Winnipesaukee are as good as any lake in the country. National tournaments are held on both lakes. They are huge and a little intimidating. Hiring a guide or doing some research could prove the difference in a skunking and a great day.

On top of those two huge lakes, The lakes regoin of New Hampshire has a lot of really good smallmouth lakes. Many lakes in the 200 acre range have some nice fish. I have fished Squam Lake ( from the movie Golden Pond) and had my best bass day ever. I caught 34 bass. The top five weighed about 15 pounds. That is a 3 pound average. The truth was I had 7 or 8 that size. Squam is a big lake, but we found fish everywhere we stopped to fish. I don't think any place in the world could be better than Squam. As good... maybe, better... I doubt it.

Maine has so many underfished smallmouth lakes, its almost ridiculous. There are litterally hundreds of bass lakes in Maine. Most people are fishing for the trout. The lakes on the entire coast region from Sebago Lake to the Canadian border have good populations of smallmouth. I would love to have a summer to explore some of them.

So to sum up. To have top notch fishing for two great gamefish, I think we are pretty lucky. No one would ever say that smallies are stripers are over rated. They compare with all the greatest fish in the world. If you get a chance to head up north or can get a day off to head to the Cape get out and enjoy our world class fishing!

By the way the picture at the top was just a typical bass I caught on Squam Lake.I caught 33 more about the same size. I know what your thinking " Those shades make me look hot"... I know right