Fish

Delorme's “New Hampshire Fishing Maps” describes the Lamprey River as "...a truly exceptional river, offering a vast variety of fishing. It contains every type of stream and river fish you could expect to find in New England." Fisheries biologists regard the Lamprey as a "reference river", one that can serve as a model of what a natural river should be. The river has also been identified by the NH Fish and Game Department as "the state's most significant river for all anadromous fish species." Anadromous fish, such as shad, river herring, Atlantic salmon, smelt, and sea lampreys, are hatched in fresh water, spend most of their adult lives in salt water, and then return to fresh water to spawn. 

Anadromous fish

Anadromous fish populations have fallen sharply from historic highs due to the presence of many large dams in New Hampshire and elsewhere. The steep walls and fast flow do not allow fish to migrate upriver. To help address this problem, the McAllen Dam in Newmarket has a fish ladder, a structure that allows fish to migrate upstream past man-made dams. Another ladder is needed at the Wiswall Dam in Durham. Plans are underway to construct a fish ladder there to help upriver migrations and a “plunge pool” to soften the fall of downriver migrations for fish. The dam at Bunker Pond in West Epping has been slated for removal in the next few years. With the fish ladders in place and the West Epping dam’s removal, fish and other wildlife will have a much easier time getting from place to place along the river.

The lower river is fished primarily for warm water species, such as smallmouth and largemouth bass, pickerel, pike, catfish, sunfish, and white and yellow perch.  The upper reaches of the river and many of its tributaries, such as the North and Little Rivers, provide good habitat for cold water species such as brook, rainbow, and brown trout. These fish are stocked by the NH Fish and Game Department for a considerable distance along the river.

The Lamprey can continue to have abundant fish of many species if towns and residents can:

• protect headwater streams and the catchment areas around them
• maintain riverside buffers to provide natural structure and filtering
• design and construct adequate stream crossings so that water flows naturally and without constriction
• encourage better stormwater management, focus on filtering run-off through soil rather than dumping water from pavement directly into streams
• protect groundwater to ensure sufficient in-stream flow
• improve river continuity by removing barriers such as dams, undersized culverts, and stream flow pipes that are raised above normal stream flow due to erosion
• maintain large woody material, such as downed trees, in the river
• report spring-fed streams; they provide important refuges for many fish species.

For more information about the fish found in the Lamprey River, please see Appendix B in the Lamprey River Resource Assessment http://www.rivers.gov/publications/studies/lamprey-resource-assessment.pdf. In 2012, a more detailed fish survey will be available. Preliminary data are available by contacting Matt Carpenter, fisheries biologist, at matthew.carpenter@wildlife.nh.gov or 603-271-2612.