Fall Turnover Puts Smallmouth and Walleye on the Feed in NH

What's biting

What's next

Expect the fall pattern to deepen over the next two to three days as the Last Quarter moon tilts feeding activity toward the low-light windows at dawn and dusk. If the cooldown holds, smallmouth should keep grouping tighter around current breaks and wind-exposed points, rewarding anglers who cover water with a crankbait or jerkbait before slowing down once a school is located, the approach Field & Stream lays out for this exact stretch of fall. Walleye should stay responsive to slow-presented bottom rigs worked along deeper breaklines as the seasonal cooldown continues. This weekend is a reasonable bet for both species, with the dawn and early-evening windows the highest-percentage times to be on the water.

Context

This timing sits right on schedule for NH freshwater fisheries. Early October falls squarely in the fall turnover window for Merrimack River and Lake Winnipesaukee, when cooling water pushes baitfish, and the predators following them, out of summer depths and toward current edges, points, and weed lines. Smallmouth bass and walleye both key into this transition every year and typically hold an aggressive feeding pattern through late fall until ice-up slows things down. Nothing about this week reads as early or late against that normal clock.