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Squam Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Sep 4, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

On Golden Pond: Squam holds landlocked salmon, lake trout and smallmouth in New Hampshire’s quietest big lake.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~66 F est.
Air / High
78 / 79 F
Wind
NW 10 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
4
September 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Squam Lake lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind NW around 10 mph, rising pressure near 1009 hPa and a high of 79. Water sits around 66 F for the season (estimated). With the last quarter, the solunar majors run 5:39 AM-7:39 AM and 5:39 PM-7:39 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Landlocked salmonGood

Transition depths: work 15-30 ft along drop-offs and points with trolled smelt imitations, or find them where cold tributaries enter. Early morning is the honest window.

Brook troutGood

Prime pocket-water fishing. Work upstream with an attractor dry or a dry-dropper, hitting every seam behind boulders and the head of each plunge pool. Short casts, quiet feet.

Smallmouth bassGood

Peak season. Tubes, jerkbaits and swimbaits around gravel points, boulders and current seams.

Lake troutFair

Transition depths: work 40-80 ft structure edges with white tubes and flutter spoons. Early mornings can find fish surprisingly high over deep water chasing bait.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 70 F with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Sep 5, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovSep, ~66 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp78 F
High / Low79 / 63 F
WindNW 10-17 mph
Pressure1008.8 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain6% cloud, 1%
Sunrise / Sunset06:13 / 19:16
MoonLast Quarter, 50%
Water temp (seasonal)~66 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Next 7 days

Tap a day for the detailed outlook.

Fri Sep 4 · Showers, 79/63 F, wind 10 mph, rain 1%

Fair or better. A 10 mph breeze puts a working chop on the banks it hits: fish the wind-blown side.

Species guide

The species that matter on Squam Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Landlocked salmon illustration

Landlocked salmon

Best: ice-out through June, and September

Atlantic salmon that never see the sea: smelt-chasing acrobats of Maine and New England lakes, and the reason ice-out is a holiday up north. Transition depths: work 15-30 ft along drop-offs and points with trolled smelt imitations, or find them where cold tributaries enter. Early morning is the honest window.

Brook trout illustration

Brook trout

Best: May-Jun and Sep-Oct

North America’s native char: a small-stream specialist that demands cold, clean water and repays it with the prettiest fish in the woods. Prime pocket-water fishing. Work upstream with an attractor dry or a dry-dropper, hitting every seam behind boulders and the head of each plunge pool. Short casts, quiet feet.

Lake trout illustration

Lake trout

Best: ice-out and fall turnover

The char of the deep: 40-year-old predators patrolling the cold basins of glacial lakes, from the Finger Lakes to the Rockies. Transition depths: work 40-80 ft structure edges with white tubes and flutter spoons. Early mornings can find fish surprisingly high over deep water chasing bait.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: May-Oct

Current and rock. Finds gravel flats, boulders and drop-offs, and fights far above its weight. Peak season. Tubes, jerkbaits and swimbaits around gravel points, boulders and current seams.

When to come: the Squam Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Landlocked salmon
Brook trout
Lake trout
Smallmouth bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 66 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovSep, ~66 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Squam Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Sep 3

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Landlocked salmon led the card at excellent. High of 70 F, wind to 6 mph.

Wed, Sep 2

5/5 Excellent. Go now. Everything lines up: pressure, wind and light are in your favor. Landlocked salmon led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 8 mph.

Tue, Sep 1

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Landlocked salmon led the card at excellent. High of 73 F, wind to 6 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

New Hampshire requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

New Hampshire license. Salmon and lake trout limits and seasons per current NH Fish and Game regulations.

Access

Public ramps at Holderness and near Squam Bridge; limited shoreline access.

About this water

A 6,791-acre lake in Grafton and Carroll counties, New Hampshire, second largest in the state and largely undeveloped.

Fishing Squam Lake: the full guide

A protected lake

Squam Lake covers 6,800 acres in central New Hampshire, best known as the setting for On Golden Pond and protected by decades of conservation work that limited development and kept its shoreline wooded. Beneath the quiet surface lies a good coldwater fishery: landlocked salmon and lake trout in the deep basins, smallmouth bass on the extensive rock, plus pickerel, perch and panfish in the shallows.

Salmon and lakers

Ice-out in April brings salmon and lake trout near the surface, where trolling streamers and smelt imitations in the top twenty feet produces the year’s most exciting fishing. Summer stratification sends them deep: 40-80 feet for lakers, slightly shallower for salmon, worked with downriggers and lead core. Fall brings both back up and stages salmon near the tributaries.

Smallmouth on the rock

The smallmouth fishing is excellent and underfished: the lake’s many islands, rocky points and boulder shoals hold fish all season. Topwater at dawn, tubes and drop-shots through the day, with clear water demanding lighter line. The shallow coves hold pickerel and largemouth, and yellow perch are abundant for anglers who want steady action.

Holderness logistics

Public ramps at Holderness and Squam Bridge serve the lake, with limited but real shoreline access. Development restrictions mean fewer docks and less traffic than Winnipesaukee next door, and the lake keeps a genuinely quiet feel. Navigation among islands and shoals requires charts. Holderness and Ashland provide services, with the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center nearby.

Common questions

Is it quieter than Winnipesaukee?

Considerably: conservation limits on development kept the shoreline wooded and the boat traffic modest.

When is salmon fishing best?

The weeks after April ice-out, trolling near the surface, and again in the fall as water cools.

How is the bass fishing?

Excellent and overlooked: islands and rocky shoals hold smallmouth all season in clear water.

Is fishing good at Squam Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Pemigewasset River7 miLake Winnipesaukee14 miNewfound Lake14 miSaco River27 miLake Sunapee36 miConnecticut River40 mi
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