New Hampshire fishing

New Hampshire’s coastline is small, but the fishing is big. Especially the monster-sized Bluefin Tuna that most New Hampshire Fishing Charters target. There are these offshore Tuna trips, but there is also great inshore and nearshore fishing. There are plenty of charter boats with experienced captains up and down the coast to choose from. And there is an excellent variety of fish to catch.

There are three main areas for fishing in New Hampshire. You have the Northern area, which borders Maine. Here you find marinas in Portsmouth, New Castle and Newington. Down south is Hampton Beach and the Hampton Harbor, where some great fishing charters are ready to take you to the rivers around the harbor or offshore towards Massachusetts. And between both of these is the fishing town of Rye, where there are many fishing charters just itching to take its clientele out for a day they will not forget.

Inshore fishing can be found in both the North and South. Up North, there is the Piscataqua River and Great Bay Estuary, with a tremendous Striped Bass and Bluefish Bite. The river takes up most of the area heading from Newington to the mouth, emptying into the Ocean. Along with Stripers and Blues are Pollack, Mackerel, and Brown Trout.

Down South, the inshore fishing is in the Hampton Harbor, around the Common Islands on four rivers that empty into the Harbor; the Hampton, Piscataquag, Blackwater and Merrimack. Here you can find Striped Bass, Bluefish, Black Sea Bass, Flounder, Pollack and other fish. Rye does not have any rivers, but it does have a harbor and about 8 miles offshore is the Isle of Shoals. Here you can find Striped Bass, Bluefish, Mackerel and a bunch of different Groundfish.

If you have ever seen “Wicked Tuna” on television, then you know that there is epic Tuna fishing off the coast of New Hampshire at Jeffrey’s Ledge. This is 20 miles long and 6 miles wide and is a haven for giant Bluefin Tuna. Charters from all three areas head towards the Ledge, spending a full extended day out there. You can also go for other fish offshore, including bottom feeders like Pollack, Cod and Sea Bass.

New Hampshire fishing is excellent, especially considering how few areas there are to fish. But the abundance of some of the most sought-after fish and many others makes fishing here in the “Mother of the River” state some of the best fishing in the Northeast. Whether you pick a 4-hour inshore Harbor or River trip for Striped Bass and Bluefish, a longer full-day trip to around the Isle of Shoals and other close ledges, or spend an entire day out searching for some reel screaming huge Tuna on Jeffrey’s Ledge or one of the other Ledges off the coast of New Hampshire and Massachusets, you will not be disappointed. Spend a day on the water, and you will want to come back again and again and again. A few Charters in Hampton Beach also offer Lobstering. On these, you will learn what it is like to be a Lobsterer, doing all their duties and, in the end, taking home a lobster for yourself. It is a fun day, but it can get a little rough.