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Mohawk River Fishing Report

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

The canalized Mohawk: one of New York's most-fished waters, with smallmouth bass the top target and catch and release only at the Hudson end.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
1,260 cfs
Air / High
57 / 57 F
Wind
NNE 9 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 01357500, 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.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Mohawk River rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. The river is running 1,260 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 9 mph, rising pressure near 1029 hPa and a high of 57. Water sits around 62 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:28 AM-11:28 AM and 9:58 PM-11:58 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

MuskellungeExcellent

This band covers the spring spawn, which in Wisconsin runs at 49-60°F; spawning muskies eat little and rarely chase lures, Wisconsin DNR says. After the spawn, and again as fall water cools, work large lures along weed edges and structure.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Largemouth bassGood

In spring, pre-spawn bass push shallow as the water climbs through the mid-50s; in fall they feed actively until the water cools into the low 50s, then drop back toward deeper structure.

Northern pikeGood

The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Tomorrow: Similar at 59 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

New York requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $25.00 for residents. What a New York licence costs and where to buy it →

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

Water and weather

Live readings from Mohawk River at Cohoes.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 01357500.

1,4372,2893,1411,260 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 108 years of October 23

At 1,260 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 01357500 (Mohawk River at Cohoes) is at the 15th percentile for the date: below normal. In half of the 108 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 2,555 cfs; the highest was 23,000 cfs and the lowest 689 cfs.

p10 1,102median 2,555p90 8,524

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 01357500; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp57 F
High / Low57 / 36 F
WindNNE 9-12 mph
Pressure1028.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:17 / 17:59
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)57 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~62 F est.

Bite planner

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

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Mohawk River this week

The best day on Mohawk River this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 — good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:28 AM-11:28 AM and 9:58 PM-11:58 PM
Minor period
3:50 AM-4:50 AM
Sun
07:17 to 17:59
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 11 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

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

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Muskellunge illustration

Muskellunge

Fished from late spring into late fall where seasons allow

Muskellunge are solitary, fish-eating ambush predators of the pike family, holding in weed beds and other cover in lakes and rivers of the Great Lakes, upper Mississippi and Ohio basins. This band covers the spring spawn, which in Wisconsin runs at 49-60°F; spawning muskies eat little and rarely chase lures, Wisconsin DNR says. After the spawn, and again as fall water cools, work large lures along weed edges and structure.

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. In spring, pre-spawn bass push shallow as the water climbs through the mid-50s; in fall they feed actively until the water cools into the low 50s, then drop back toward deeper structure.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

When to come: the Mohawk River 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
Smallmouth bass
Walleye
Muskellunge
Largemouth bass
Northern pike
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 62 F (estimated, not a reading).

4050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~62 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 Mohawk River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Muskellunge led the card at excellent. High of 65 F, wind to 12 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Muskellunge led the card at excellent. High of 63 F, wind to 8 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Muskellunge led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 14 mph.

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

License

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

Regulations

New York fishing license. Mohawk River from the Hudson confluence to the Route 32 bridge: all species catch and release, all year (NYSDEC Region 5). Elsewhere, statewide seasons and limits apply unless a county special regulation is listed.

Access

38 launch sites between Rome and the Hudson (NYSDEC 2024 survey); locks and movable dams operate seasonally, so check NYS Canal Corporation notices.

About this water

A river across upstate New York to the Hudson near Cohoes, canalized as part of the Erie Canal east of Rome.

Fishing Mohawk River: the full guide

A canalized river

East of Rome, the Mohawk River and the adjoining Erie Canal form a complex waterway with five permanent dams, nine movable seasonal dams and five active hydropower plants, according to NYSDEC. USGS notes that construction of the positionable dams began around 1905 for the Erie Canal, each with a lock, and that from Delta Dam to the fixed dam at Lock 7 near Vischers Ferry the river is held at different levels in spring and summer than in fall and winter.

What anglers fish for

NYSDEC ranks the river and canal as the 18th most-fished water in New York, with black bass, walleye, northern pike, stocked tiger muskellunge and panfish. In its 2024 online angler survey, smallmouth bass were the main target throughout, followed by walleye and largemouth bass, and 55% of respondents fished mainly from shore.

Launch sites

The same survey counts 38 boat launch sites along the 120 miles from Rome to the Hudson, 19 of them hand launches and 17 hard-surface ramps, about one every 3.2 miles; only four are owned or maintained by NYSDEC. Respondents were generally not satisfied with the amount and quality of access.

Catch and release at the lower end

This page's gauge sits at Cohoes, near the river's lower end. From the confluence with the Hudson upstream to the Route 32 bridge, NYSDEC's Region 5 rules make all species catch and release all year, and bowfishing is prohibited. From Lock 2 to Guard Gate 2 on the Waterford Flight, using or possessing alewife or blueback herring is prohibited.

Common questions

Can I keep fish near Cohoes?

No. From the Hudson confluence up to the Route 32 bridge, NYSDEC requires catch and release of all species, all year.

What do most anglers target?

Smallmouth bass, according to NYSDEC's 2024 angler survey, followed by walleye and largemouth bass.

Why do water levels change in fall?

Movable dams hold the river at different levels in spring and summer than in fall and winter, according to USGS.

Is fishing good at Mohawk River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Onota Lake30 miBattenkill34 miGreat Sacandaga Lake34 miSomerset Reservoir41 miDeerfield River43 miSacandaga River49 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 01357500 — Mohawk River at Cohoes
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:30 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 42.7800, -73.7000 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.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
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 text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was 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.