Second Lake dam to First Lake: the no-kill water
Start at the top. From the dam at Second Connecticut Lake down to the upstream side of the logging bridge on Magalloway Road, NH Fish and Game lists the river as fly fishing only with catch and release for every species; from that bridge to the inlet at Green's Point on First Connecticut Lake it is still fly only but two trout may be kept. Tall Timber's blog calls this the No Kill stretch and describes it as small, oxygenated water tumbling toward First Lake with wild brook trout and salmon, running around 60 cfs in a July release and about 100 in late May, a flow the lodge says is good for the fish and not easy for the wader. It warms more than the water below the other two dams. When First Lake is full in spring the water just above Magalloway Road is a hard place to fish, but salmon and lake trout hold there while the temperature allows.
The Trophy Stretch: First Lake dam to the signs on Lake Francis
Two and a half miles of fly-only water connect First Connecticut Lake and Lake Francis, and the bottom release from the First Lake dam keeps it cold. The rule here is two trout a day with a 12-inch minimum, and the season, as on the rest of the Pittsburg river, is January 1 to October 15. The pools have names the regulars use: the Dam Pools right under the release, where BlogFlyFish says few people wade and the salmon hold in the turbulence; the Corner Pool, which that writer says fishes best above 250 cfs; Judge's and Jury Box, side by side and easy on knees and kids; the Ledge Pool below a small waterfall; and the Bridge, Junction and Doc's pools that take the most pressure and have well-worn trails from the road. The Junction is where Perry Stream comes in, itself fly-only from the Happy Corner Bridge to the river with a two-fish limit. Lake Francis State Park sits at the bottom, with a trail up the river, and the Pittsburg Anglers Association stocks the stretch through early summer on top of whatever runs up from the lake; Tall Timber reported better salmon after the high water of June 2026 pulled fish out of Lake Francis.
Tall Timber's flow notes for this stretch are the practical ones: 150 cfs in July 2026 was wade-friendly with every pool reachable and the usual crossings open, 206 in late May was a good level, and 798 in June left only the edges. That number is the First Lake dam release, not the gauge on this page.
Murphy Dam to Beecher Falls: the tailwater most people skip
Murphy Dam, built in the 1940s just north of Pittsburg village, holds back Lake Francis and releases cold water for the miles down through Pittsburg, past the Indian Stream mouth and on to West Stewartstown and Beecher Falls. The gauge this page reads, USGS 01129200 below Indian Stream, measures that release plus Indian Stream, so it is the number for this reach and only this reach. Tall Timber calls 300 cfs a perfect wading flow below Murphy with crossings possible in places, called the 500 to 600 cfs coming out in May 2025 a good level for fishing, and warns that the fish here are fickle and that anglers expecting the Trophy Stretch's easy grabs are usually disappointed. Water temperatures stay in the 50s on most summer days. The river is wadeable to the West Stewartstown bridge and drift-boat water below it. The state record brown trout, 16 pounds 6 ounces, came from the Connecticut River at Pittsburg in 1975.
Late Hendricksons, stoneflies, and hoppers in July
Everything is late this far north. Big Y's chart for the New Hampshire Connecticut runs Blue-Winged Olives April 15 to October 15, little black caddis May 1 to June 15, Hendricksons May 1 to June 30, March Browns and the main caddis from May 15, Sulphurs, yellow salmonflies, Light Cahills, Brown Drakes and Yellow Drakes all starting June 15, and terrestrials July 15 to the end of September. Points North Outfitters, reporting for Orvis, sums up the upper sections as stones and caddis. Tall Timber's mid-2026 reports match: caddis and mayflies still coming off in the June high water, the main caddis, mayfly and stonefly emergences watched for in early July with hoppers already in the grass on July 8, and on Back Lake and Round Pond a Hexagenia hatch that wants hot humid nights and usually arrives around the start of July. In May the lodge's advice is nymphs and smelt-pattern streamers, Soft Hackle Streamers and Gray Ghosts, until the water warms.
Reading 01129200
This page compares the live reading below Indian Stream to 200 to 500 cfs, built from Tall Timber's 300 cfs perfect and 500 to 600 good calls, and treats the 1,245 cfs the dam put out in June 2026 as edges-only. Typical monthly flows from the USGS record here are about 700 cfs in April, 570 in May, 440 in June, 410 to 430 from July through September and 490 in October, so a summer reading in the window is normal and a spring reading above it is too. The Trophy Stretch has its own number, the First Lake dam release, and Tall Timber's site links all three dam flows; check the one for the water you intend to fish.
Rules dam by dam, and the interstate line
From the NH Fish and Game 2026 digest: Second Lake dam to the Magalloway Road logging bridge, fly fishing only, catch and release all species. Magalloway Road bridge to Green's Point inlet on First Lake, fly only, two trout. First Lake dam to the signs on Lake Francis, fly only, two trout, 12-inch minimum. Murphy Dam to the Vermont border, January 1 to March 31 catch and release with single barbless artificials, then April 1 to October 15 five trout or five pounds by any legal method. Trout season on all of it is January 1 to October 15, salmon April 1 to September 30 with a 15-inch minimum and two-fish limit. Below the Pittsburg and Canaan boundary the river is interstate water under separate rules: the section from that boundary to the West Stewartstown bridge is catch and release with barbless single hooks from January 1 through March 31, either state's resident license is valid, and the river is closed October 16 to December 31 from the Upper Ammonoosuc confluence in Northumberland up to Canaan's northern line. Points North's access note is that most of Pittsburg is under conservation easement and open unless physically posted.