Squam Lake offers fishermen a beautiful spot to catch freshwater fish. In these waters, you’ll find landlocked salmon, trout, largemouth and smallmouth bass, pickerel, and yellow perch. The best time to target the salmon is right after an ice-out when the fish come closer to the surface to feed on smelt. The salmon respond well to shiny spoons and slow-trolled flies. As the season progresses, they move to deeper water. This is the point when downrigger trolling around bait schools very effective. For bait, try using spoons and flies. Most people come here looking to catch trout and salmon, but Squam Lake produces world-class smallmouth bass as well. When targeting the smallmouth bass, use flies and lures that look and act like crawfish, smelt and perch. Squam Lake is home to other fish species as well, including perch, sunfish, and pickerel, which tend to stick to the weedy, shallow areas of the lake. To catch the perch or sunfish, simply use a bobber and worm. For the pickerel, use small, weedless flies and spoons.

driving directions

Squam Lake boat ramps:

The following boat ramps provide access to Squam Lake.