Sugar River
The rule for this water, with the receipt.
Special regulations for Sugar River, as the state words them
Sullivan County · River · NH
The rules for this water, verbatimOfficial text
Straight from NH's official regulations. Rules in force today lead; out-of-season rows are dimmed. Nothing is paraphrased. Not legal advice: verify the posted rules at the water.
- troutJan. 1 – Nov. 30Daily limit 2 fishGear Fly-fishing only
Statewide base layerParsed
These defaults apply where the rules above do not modify them.
- Season
- Not captured yet - consult the statewide regulations
- Gear
- two hooks may be used for bait per line, one with a single hook point and the other with no more than three hook pointsStatewide
- Bait
- Only the following species shall be possessed and used as live fish for bait when fishing any freshwaters of the stateStatewide
- Poles
- A person may use up to 2 lines for open-water fishingStatewide
Where the verbatim rules above name a species, season, or limit, they replace the rows below. Each row is tagged with the layer it comes from.
| Species | Daily limit | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|
White suckers | no bag limits | - | Statewide |
Crayfish | no daily bag or possession limits | - | Statewide |
smelt | 2 quarts liquid measure of whole (head and tail intact) freshwater smelt in the 24-hour period between 12 noon one day and 12 noon the following day | - | Statewide |
trout Varies by water: limit 5 fish or 5 pounds, whichever limit is reached first (Trout Ponds); limit 2 fish daily limit | 5 fish or 5 pounds daily limit, whichever is reached first | min. no length limit | Statewide |
cusk | No daily limits | min. no length or weight limits | Statewide |
lake trout Varies by water: lake trout minimum length is 16 inches (Exception to NH-Maine General Interstate Rules); Minimum length 15 inches., limit 2 fish daily limit.; minimum length 15 inches (General Fishing Rules for Rivers & Streams) | See size | min. 15 inches | Statewide |
brook trout | brook trout daily limit is 1 fish | min. brook trout minimum length is 18 inches | Statewide |
trout species (combined), lake trout | The combined daily bag limit for all trout species, is 2 fish; the daily limit for lake trout is 2 fish | - | Statewide |
Landlocked Salmon Varies by water: minimum length 15 inches, limit 2 fish daily limit (General Fishing Rules for Rivers & Streams) | 2 fish daily limit. | min. Minimum length 15 inches. | Statewide |
Chain Pickerel | 10 fish daily limit | min. no length or weight limits | Statewide |
Northern Pike | 1 fish daily limit | min. minimum length 28 inches | Statewide |
Walleye | 2 fish daily limit | min. minimum length 18 inches; no weight limit | Statewide |
Rock Bass | No daily limits | min. no length or weight limits | Statewide |
Carp | No daily limits | min. no length or weight limits | Statewide |
American Shad | Catch and release only. | - | Statewide |
Lake Whitefish | 2 fish daily limit | min. no length or weight limits | Statewide |
Suckers | No daily limits | min. no length or weight limits | Statewide |
How this answer was assembled
- StatewideStatewide river rules are the base layer: default season, gear, bait, and limits.
- This waterSpecial rules written for this exact water replace the statewide defaults where they speak.
- Emergency orderEmergency orders in effect today override everything else. They sync quietly when the phone has coverage and never lock you out of the app.
Where this stretch begins and ends
The drawn shape is the named water, matched from the official list against OpenStreetMap and accepted only because the name resolved to a single feature in this water's county.
Different sections of this water can have different rules. The exact section boundaries are not marked on the map yet; each rule above describes in plain words where it starts and ends, and that written description is the authoritative boundary. Map boundaries come water by water, never as a guess.
Season at a glanceDerived
Sampled mid-month from the dated rows; short windows can slip between samples. The rows above are authoritative.
At the water nowContext
Streamflow: 19.3 cfs at sugar river 0.2 mi below nh 11, at sunapee, nh (2026-07-29 05:00)
Forecast: National Weather Service. Flow: nearest active USGS gauge in this water's area, which may sit on a different reach. Conditions are context, not rules.
What are you fishing for here?Advice
Pick from the species named in Sugar River's rules. Setups are checked against the gear rules in force today, and your picks are remembered on this device only. These are rule-aware suggestions, not a claim about what is biting; advice, not law, and the rules above govern.
Receipts
Local services near Sugar River
Tackle shops, guides, and boat launches that serve this water will appear here - a separate lane below the rules, so a local business can reach you without ever getting between you and the regulation.
Run a shop or guide service on Sugar River? Get listed.