Sargent Lake, New Hampshire: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  You will find Sargent Lake in Belknap County, New Hampshire. It sits at 774 feet above sea level. With some 43 acres of water, there is room for a boat but no need of one. The bank runs about 1.2 miles all the way round, so one visit can cover most of it. Start from Gilmanton, 2 miles down the road. The big place round here is Manchester, 31 miles distant. This one sits near enough to a boundary to be worth checking.

• Where to Fish on Sargent Lake

  There is no recorded depth, so work from what you can see. Rip-rap along the wall holds fish that the open bank never does. A reservoir gives you a hard edge, a shelf, and not much else. Survey and observation records for Belknap County include rainbow trout, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. On Sargent Lake the obvious spot is not always the productive one.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 68°F for July and 18°F for January. Expect a real winter and a strong spring after it. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near early April. Averages suggest open water from about early April through to roughly mid December. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. Sargent Lake runs to its own calendar within the local pattern.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. No car park, ramp or path is recorded within easy reach of the shore. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Bank access can be seasonal on ground like this. Keep proof of licence with you rather than in the car. Sawyer Lake sits 1.6 miles off and takes the overflow. Treat Sargent Lake as unsettled until someone local tells you otherwise.