Cranberry Pond Fishing near Alstead, New Hampshire

• Overview

  You will find Cranberry Pond in Cheshire County, New Hampshire. The water sits 1,161 feet up. Small at around 20 acres: two anglers spread out cover most of it. Head to Alstead, 6.2 miles away, for anything you forgot. Bellows Falls follows at 8.8 miles, then Keene at 10 miles. What else is close: Caldwell Pond some 1.1 miles off, Beaver Wood Pond roughly 2.5 miles, Lake Warren some 2.8 miles off, Lily Pond roughly 3.9 miles and Arch Pond some 4.4 miles off. No border sits close enough to matter.

• Where to Fish on Cranberry Pond

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. Inflow corners move water, and moving water gathers fish. Standing timber shows when the level drops, and fish sit against it. Across Cheshire County, recorded fish include rainbow trout, brown trout and smallmouth bass. Records at this level tell you what is in the area. At Cranberry Pond the water rewards a slow, careful approach.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The warmest month averages 68°F, the coldest about 19°F. Winter closes the water for a while, and the reopening is worth catching. Count the season from break-up, usually early April. Climate averages put the opening at about early April and the closing near mid December. The middle of summer slows a little, with dawn and dusk carrying it. At Cranberry Pond the season follows that pattern closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  We hold no note on access for this one. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Some ground is open by custom rather than by right, so tread carefully. Should this one be busy, Caldwell Pond is 1.1 miles off. Where Cranberry Pond is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.