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Berlin Lake Fishing Report

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

A 3,590-acre Corps of Engineers flood-control lake on the Mahoning River, which the Corps says is known for walleye and is one of the few lakes in the area where walleye reproduce naturally.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
19 cfs
Air / High
64 / 64 F
Wind
NNE 7 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 03090500, 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.

Berlin Lake rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. The release below the dam is running 19 cfs, falling. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 7 mph, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 64. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:58 AM-11:58 AM and 10:27 PM-12:27 AM: 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.

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.

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.

CrappieFair

Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

Tomorrow: Similar at 64 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

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

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with ODNR before you keep anything. The season dates for Ohio, read off the agency, are on the Ohio seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Mahoning River below Berlin Dam.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 03090500.

2336291,02619 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 17 years of October 23

At 19 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 03090500 (Mahoning River below Berlin Dam) is at the 10th percentile for the date: below normal. In half of the 17 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 61 cfs; the highest was 563 cfs and the lowest 8 cfs.

p10 19median 61p90 294

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 03090500; 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 temp64 F
High / Low64 / 36 F
WindNNE 7-8 mph
Pressure1025.5 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain17% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:44 / 18:31
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)62 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~55 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 Berlin Lake this week

The best day on Berlin Lake this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — 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
9:58 AM-11:58 AM and 10:27 PM-12:27 AM
Minor period
4:20 AM-5:20 AM
Sun
07:44 to 18:31
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 7 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

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

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.

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. Pre-spawn fish move toward shallow coves, and Iowa DNR points to wading as an effective way to reach them in spring; minnows or small jigs under a float.

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.

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.

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.

When to come: the Berlin Lake 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
Walleye
Crappie
Largemouth bass
Smallmouth bass
Muskellunge
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 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 Berlin Lake 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 66 F, wind to 10 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 66 F, wind to 5 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 68 F, wind to 7 mph.

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

License

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

Regulations

Ohio fishing license. See the current ODNR Division of Wildlife fishing regulations for walleye, bass, crappie and muskie limits (ODNR's website was not reachable on 2026-10-05). Corps rules: 10 mph speed limit at night.

Access

The ODNR Division of Wildlife and the Corps maintain boat launches and parking around the lake, reached from U.S. 224 and State Routes 14 and 225; Corps Mill Creek Campground. Berlin Lake Office: 7400 Bedell Road, Berlin Center, (330) 547-3781.

About this water

A 3,590-acre (summer pool) Corps of Engineers flood-control reservoir on the Mahoning River in Mahoning, Portage and Stark counties, Ohio, completed in 1943.

Fishing Berlin Lake: the full guide

A Mahoning River flood-control lake

Berlin Lake was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1938 and completed in 1943 on the Mahoning River, one of 16 flood-control projects in the Corps' Pittsburgh District. The Corps lists 3,590 acres at normal summer pool (elevation 1,024 ft), up to 5,500 acres when full, a length of 18.6 miles and a 249-square-mile drainage area, with the lake spread across Mahoning, Portage and Stark counties. It also supplies water to communities downstream, and the City of Alliance's Deer Creek Reservoir was built on project land.

Walleye and the rest

The Corps says Berlin is known for its excellent walleye fishing and is one of the very few lakes in the area where walleye reproduce naturally, alongside largemouth and smallmouth bass, muskie, crappie and bluegill. An older ODNR Division of Wildlife fishing map adds that stocking has supplemented natural walleye reproduction, that crappie are caught around flooded willows, fallen trees, brush and stumps in the headwaters in spring, and that bass use the lake's narrow arms and the flooded willows at the upper end.

Boating notes

The Corps reports a 10 mph speed limit at night, no horsepower limit, and stumps and snags that boaters should watch for; it gives the maximum depth as 55 feet. The Mahoning River gauge below Berlin Dam (USGS 03090500) measures the outflow.

Common questions

Is Berlin a good walleye lake?

The Corps says it is known for excellent walleye fishing and is one of the very few lakes in the area with natural walleye reproduction.

How big is Berlin Lake?

The Corps lists 3,590 acres at normal summer pool and 5,500 acres when full, about 18.6 miles long.

Are there boating limits?

No horsepower limit, but a 10 mph speed limit at night, according to the Corps, which also warns of stumps and snags.

Is fishing good at Berlin Lake 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

Mosquito Lake23 miLake Arthur47 miPymatuning Reservoir48 miGrand River49 miChagrin River50 miRocky River54 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 03090500 — Mahoning River below Berlin Dam
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:15 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 41.0300, -81.0000 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.