New Hampshire runs the most finely sliced bass rules in New England — three different daily limits across one calendar year — and puts its trout ponds on a fourth-Saturday opener that almost no other state uses.
Every season we have verified in New Hampshire
One block per rule, because a single species can be on two calendars in the same state depending on the water. The band under each heading is the legal season; the row under it is what our own data says the fish are doing.
Trout — Trout ponds
Open on the fourth Saturday in April, closed to salmon on October 1 and to everything on October 16. The fourth Saturday is late even by northern standards, and it exists to let the ponds turn over before anyone fishes them.
- Limit
- 5 fish or 5 pounds, whichever comes first. No length limit.
Trout — Wild trout ponds
Same opener, six weeks shorter: wild trout ponds close on Labor Day rather than in mid-October. Rivers and streams run January 1 to October 15, and wild trout streams January 1 to Labor Day, so New Hampshire has four trout calendars running at once.
Bass — Lakes and ponds
Two fish a day until May 14, catch-and-release only from May 15 to June 15 over the spawn, then five fish a day to the end of the year. The closed month is the one to know; the two-fish winter limit is the one people break.
Lake trout — Lake trout and salmon waters
Ice fishing only from January 1 to March 31, open water to September 30, then closed to trout, lake trout, salmon and whitefish from October 1 and trolling prohibited. The method, not just the date, is regulated here.
- Limit
- 2 fish combined for all trout species.
Read on 2026-09-14 from New Hampshire Fish and Game Department. Read in the eRegulations edition of the official New Hampshire freshwater fishing digest, the designated publisher for NH Fish and Game. Legal dates were read on the agency’s own page on the date shown beside each entry. Seasons change: the agency link is always the last word.
What the water is doing while the season is open
This is the part an agency page will not tell you. The temperature row above is the seasonal curve we use for the 7 of 15 New Hampshire waters we track on a landlocked salmon lake profile, and it is why an opening date and a fishable date are not the same thing. A season that opens while the water is still in the forties is a legal invitation, not a biological one: the fish are there, they are just not eating on your schedule yet. Cross the legal band against the activity row before you book the day off.
Where to fish it
We publish a daily report for 15 New Hampshire waters, each with live flow or tide and today's conditions.
- Hampton — Rockingham County
- Lake Winnipesaukee — Belknap County
- Androscoggin River — Coos County
- Squam Lake — Grafton County
- Newfound Lake — Grafton County
- Connecticut River — Grafton County
- Lake Sunapee — Sullivan County
- Great Bay — Rockingham County
- Saco River — Carroll County
- Pemigewasset River — Grafton County
The licence is a separate question
An open season is not permission to fish. New Hampshire requires a licence from age 16, and residents pay from $45.00 against $63.00 for visitors. What a New Hampshire licence costs and where to buy it →
Questions
When does fishing season open in New Hampshire?
It depends on the species: trout april 25 to october 15; trout april 25 to september 7; bass january 1–may 14, june 16–december 31. Every date on this page was read off NH Fish and Game on 2026-09-14.
Do I need a licence to fish in New Hampshire?
Yes. New Hampshire requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $45.00 for residents. A season being open is not permission to fish: the licence is separate and so are the size and bag limits.
Are these New Hampshire dates going to change?
Some of them, and the page says which. Dates written as a rule in the regulations are calculated here for 2026, so they follow the rule rather than going stale. Dates the agency sets each year are shown as exactly that, with no calendar band, because inventing one would be worse than leaving it empty.