Tailwater · Mixed · Maine, US

Magalloway River

Magalloway River venue image

The Magalloway is remote Maine brook-trout-and-salmon water at its purest — a cold, dam-controlled river spilling out of Aziscohos Dam through big-woods country on the New Hampshire line, with fly-fishing-only reaches that have protected wild brook trout and landlocked salmon for generations.

Today · Not the day for it
Czech Nymph
Forecast · Today
Not the day for it
Not much stacked in your favour today. Worth an hour if you are nearby, not worth the special trip.
45% projected
Today's fly
Czech Nymph
Czech Nymph
Conditions on the water · Today
Proxy gauge
Level
Rising
Proxy
via Connecticut Lakes / Upper Connecticut River
Water temp11.5°C
ClarityUnfishable
Weather15°C
WindN 12 km/h
Pressure1023 hPa
Rain · recent0.8 mm
Rain · ahead19.7 mm

No gauge on this water — conditions are inferred from Connecticut Lakes / Upper Connecticut River. The trend transfers, the absolute level does not.

Water temperature for Brook Trout
Ideal
12°C est.ideal 1016°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Brook Trout
When
Nymphing can work through most of the day.
Where
Cover mixed depths.
Method
Start with tight-line nymphs and adjust if fish rise or drift higher.
Kit
9 ft #4 rod, floating line, 12 ft tapered leader to 4–5 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
Water at 17.4°C — above the brook trout caution line (16°C). Fish dawn or dusk only. Land it fast, wet hands, no air shots.
Likely species
Hatch timeline · todayPeak at 12pm

12pm(now) Eastern Blue-Winged Olive

Stage: On emergersApproach: Emerger or dryActivity: 52%
Also:Black Midge24%
Peak emergence window4 food groups active

Peak activity at 12pm — Eastern Blue-Winged Olive (Eastern Blue-Winged Olive, Peak emergence window)

Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

Top nymph shown — see all 3 guilds with Pro.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey(1)

Hatch predictions

Top prey shown — see all 3 with Pro.

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Evidence
Records-basedModerate confidence

Based on species-occurrence records, not local invertebrate surveys.

Through the year
0–3 scale · September highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
1
SulphurHatch
2
3
2
Trico (Eastern)Hatch
2
3
3
2
Eastern Blue-Winged OliveHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Eastern Summer BWO (Drunella)Hatch
2
3
3
2

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Ranked for today
Brook Trout fly box
Local fly shops: New England Fly Co.
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Maine general law April 1–Sept 30 with fly-fishing-only / special-law reaches below Aziscohos — verify exact reaches against the Maine 2026 law book
  • DAM-RELEASE: flow set by Aziscohos releases — check Brookfield SafeWaters
  • CONSERVATION: remote native brook trout (a heat-sensitive char) — careful handling, no trophy framing, strong thermal restraint.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Water here around 17°C. Nothing cooler within range — carry a thermometer.
Gallery · 1
  1. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

The Magalloway is remote Maine brook-trout-and-salmon water at its purest — a cold, dam-controlled river spilling out of Aziscohos Dam through big-woods country on the New Hampshire line, with fly-fishing-only reaches that have protected wild brook trout and landlocked salmon for generations. It runs on the Aziscohos release, so the flow you wade is what the dam sends down, and the water below the dam stays cold enough to hold real brook trout through the summer when lesser rivers fail their fish. This is conservation country: lightly developed, hard to reach, managed with care, and no place for trophy hero-talk. Walk in, fish stealthily, handle the brook trout — a heat-sensitive char — gently, and protect the autumn spawners. A remote native-brook-trout and salmon reach — as wild as this region gets.

  • Mixed
Water quality · US Clean Water Act
  • Aquatic lifeNot assessed
  • Fish consumptionImpaired
What this classification means

Fish consumption: Consumption advisory (Mercury) — fish for sport, not the table.

EPA ATTAINS assessment unit 'MAGALLOWAY RIVER' (NHRIV400010206-02), 2024 Integrated Report. Aquatic Life use: Insufficient Information. Listed impairment causes: Mercury. This is a Clean Water Act assessment-unit classification (the US analogue of WFD), not a live reading.

Status is for the Clean Water Act assessment unit covering this reach.

EPA ATTAINS (Clean Water Act) · NHRIV400010206-02

The full read · show the working · for Brook Trout · confidence 80%
How the 23 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature37 × 28%10.4
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time50 × 13%6.5
Pressure75 × 7%5.3
Insect activity61 × 12%7.3
Conditions total= 64
Can you trust it?
Water temperatureair-to-water estimateestimated
Level / flowproxy via Connecticut Lakes / Upper Connecticut Riverproxy
Prey activitymodelled from regional profilemodelled
What would change the calculation
Cooler water — back toward the 10–16 °C ideal band — would lift the score and ease welfare.
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Directions
Seasons & zones
  • Trout 1 April30 September
Related guides
Booking & contacts