New Hampshire Trout Stocking Report 2026

Every sentence here comes from the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (NH Fish and Game), and each section names its sources. Updated .

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department (NH Fish and Game) stocks trout in 1,473 miles of streams and 375 lakes and ponds. Numbers, dates and places vary from year to year, so the agency sends anglers to its stocking report, which records each stocking on an interactive map and in a PDF. For fall anglers it adds yearling rainbows in a few lakes in mid-October and post-spawn brook and brown trout of 2 to 3 pounds in November.

From NH Fish and Game: New Hampshire Fish Hatcheries and NH Fish and Game: Opportunities Abound for Fall and Winter Anglers (5 November 2025).

The NH Fish and Game trout stocking report

The agency's stocking page: an interactive map where you select a water to see what has been stocked there, with the data in a table you can download, and the same record as a PDF. Use it as a guide rather than a timetable. Once stocking has been going on for a while, the agency says you will do better exploring a river than waiting for your spot to show up on the report.

Open the NH Fish and Game Stocking Report
  • Stocking Report PDF: The season's record so far, water by water, with the town, species, age, number of fish, pounds, date stocked and hatchery.
  • 2025 Stocking Summary: Last year's complete record, fall included, with the fall stockings in bold: the place to see which waters got fall fish in 2025.
  • Lakes and ponds stocked with trout and open year round: The stocked lakes and ponds where trout can be fished all year, with their species, beside a matching list of rivers and streams. These are the lists the agency points fall and winter anglers to.

From NH Fish and Game: Stocking Report, NH Fish and Game: Trout Stocking Secrets, NH Fish and Game: Stocking Report (PDF), NH Fish and Game: 2025 Stocking Summary (PDF), NH Fish and Game: Lakes and Ponds Stocked with Trout and Open Year Round and NH Fish and Game: Opportunities Abound for Fall and Winter Anglers (5 November 2025).

When New Hampshire stocks trout

Spring and summer

In 2026 the report holds stockings from April to early July: Airport Pond in Whitefield on 24 April, for one, and the Connecticut River at Colebrook on 7 July. Trout ponds get brook, rainbow or brown trout from yearlings of 8 to 12 inches up to two-year-olds of 12 to 15 inches, and on a river the fish usually go in a few net-fulls at a time. Nearly 50 remote trout ponds get fingerling brook trout by helicopter each year, and the fish often reach 8 to 10 inches by their second growing season.

Fall

In mid-October the agency stocks yearling rainbow trout into several lakes for fall anglers. In 2025 they included Akers Pond in Errol, Cedar Pond in Milan, Big Diamond Pond in Stewartstown, Pearl Lake in Lisbon and Streeter Pond in Sugar Hill. In November it stocks post-spawn brook and brown trout of 2 to 3 pounds into waters with no closed season. The agency names Tewksbury Pond in Grafton, Manning Lake in Gilmanton and Pleasant Lake in Deerfield among its annual ones.

From NH Fish and Game: Stocking Report (PDF), NH Fish and Game: Trout Fishing in New Hampshire, NH Fish and Game: Trout Stocking Secrets and NH Fish and Game: Opportunities Abound for Fall and Winter Anglers (5 November 2025).

Rules on stocked water

  • Designated trout ponds open on the fourth Saturday in April and close on 15 October, and are closed to ice fishing; closing dates and rules vary by pond.
  • In rivers and streams the trout season runs from 1 January to 15 October, but wild trout streams close at Labor Day.
  • Lake trout and salmon waters are open from 1 January to 30 September, with fish taken only through the ice from 1 January to 31 March.
  • All other waters have no closed season. Check the Freshwater Fishing Digest for special rules or closed areas on any of them.

From NH Fish and Game: Fishing Seasons, NH Fish and Game: Designated Trout Ponds, NH Fish and Game: Trout Fishing in New Hampshire and NH Fish and Game: Rivers and Streams Stocked with Trout and Open Year Round.

How to hear about a stocking

  • The stocking report is the place to look, and the fall programs are described in the agency's news releases on nhfishgame.com.
  • For questions about the hatcheries, the agency's Fisheries Division is at (603) 271-2501.

From NH Fish and Game: Stocking Report, NH Fish and Game: Opportunities Abound for Fall and Winter Anglers (5 November 2025) and NH Fish and Game: New Hampshire Fish Hatcheries.

Worth knowing before you go looking

  • Stocking locations can change, even on a familiar river: a new hatchery worker or conservation officer may do things differently.
  • The report PDF is reissued from time to time, and the agency warns your browser may hold an older copy: refresh, and check the date at the top of the PDF.
  • A slow day does not mean a water was not stocked. The fish may be full from feeding after rain, or put off by a sudden change in temperature or weather.

From NH Fish and Game: Trout Stocking Secrets, NH Fish and Game: Stocking Report and NH Fish and Game: Stocking Report (PDF).

Which day to fish it

The schedule says where the fish went in. Which day to go is a different question: the forecast scores each day of the week for trout at the water you pick, from its water temperature, the wind and the weather.

See the week for rainbow trout

Species guides: Brook Trout · Rainbow Trout · Brown Trout · Landlocked Salmon

Sources

Every sentence above was read on one of these pages, and a check re-reads each quoted line against the page it came from.

Spotted something out of date or plain wrong here? Tell us and we will check it.