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Lake Mead Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

America's largest reservoir: stripers by the million, smallmouth on the rocks, and a fishery that thrives at any water level.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
71 / 74 F
Wind
E 5 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Lake Mead sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. Today brings clear skies, wind E around 5 mph, steady pressure near 1014 hPa and a high of 74. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:17 AM-11:17 AM and 9:45 PM-11:45 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassExcellent

Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Largemouth bassGood

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

CrappieFair

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Tomorrow: Warmer at 79 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Nevada requires a fishing licence from age 12, from $40.00 for residents. What a Nevada licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with NDOW before you keep anything. The season dates for Nevada, read off the agency, are on the Nevada seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp71 F
High / Low74 / 57 F
WindE 5-6 mph
Pressure1013.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain2% cloud, 1%
Sunrise / Sunset06:52 / 17:51
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Lake Mead this week

The best day on Lake Mead this week looks like Monday Oct 26, at 4 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 β€” good at 4/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:17 AM-11:17 AM and 9:45 PM-11:45 PM
Minor period
3:40 AM-4:40 AM
Sun
06:52 to 17:51
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 13 mph
Rain chance
1%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Mead: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

When to come: the Lake Mead calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Striped bass
Catfish (blue, channel)
Crappie
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Lake Mead today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

2/5 Slow. The wind owns today. 35 mph gusts make boat control the real battle. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 83 F, wind to 35 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 86 F, wind to 18 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 86 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Nevada requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Nevada or Arizona license with interstate stamp depending on side. Striper: no limit under 20 inches (20 fish over): confirm NDOW/AZGFD current rules.

Access

Hemenway Harbor, Callville Bay, Temple Bar and Echo Bay ramps: check level-dependent status via NPS.

About this water

~112,000 acres at recent levels on the Colorado River, NV/AZ. Hoover Dam (1935). Lake Mead NRA.

Fishing Lake Mead: the full guide

The desert's striper sea

Mead holds a self-sustaining striped bass population measured in millions: not giants on average, but limitless schooling action against a Grand Canyon-country backdrop. Smallmouth and largemouth work the coves, channel cats prowl every flat, and the occasional 30-plus striper still comes to anglers soaking anchovies deep.

Finding fish in big water

Follow the shad: boils erupt at dawn spring through fall (topwater and spoons), and the schools winter deep off the Basin's points where vertical spooning shines. Bass fishing concentrates on the rocky points and flooded brush that re-emerges as levels shift. Overton Arm and Temple Bar spread the pressure; Las Vegas Bay and Callville serve the city side.

The refill watch

Mead's fishery tracks its elevation drama: every rise re-floods brush that concentrates bass and bluegill, every drop reveals new structure and moves the ramps again. The constant through it all: stripers by the million, schooling on threadfin at dawn (topwater boils from Boulder Basin to the Temple), and a night-light anchovy fishery that fills coolers regardless of headlines. Check ramp status, then fish the news.

Common questions

Did the water-level drop kill the fishing?

No: it concentrated it. Stripers and shad care about food, not headlines, and the fishery has stayed productive through every stage. Ramp access is the real variable: check NPS status before towing.

Is fishing good at Lake Mead right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Lake Mohave55 miLake Havasu120 miAlamo Lake140 miPanguitch Lake144 miColorado River165 miMinersville Reservoir166 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 36.1725, -114.4298 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.