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Hoover Reservoir Fishing Report

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

Columbus’ north-side reservoir: Hoover holds saugeye, hybrid stripers and crappie in city water.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
67 / 67 F
Wind
NNE 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.

Hoover Reservoir lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 5 mph, steady pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 67. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:06 AM-12:06 PM and 10:35 PM-12:35 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

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.

Hybrid striped bassFair

Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

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: Similar at 67 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 largemouth bass 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.

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 temp67 F
High / Low67 / 41 F
WindNNE 5-8 mph
Pressure1025.3 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain10% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:50 / 18:40
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 Hoover Reservoir this week

The best day on Hoover Reservoir this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:06 AM-12:06 PM and 10:35 PM-12:35 AM
Minor period
4:28 AM-5:28 AM
Sun
07:50 to 18:40
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 6 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Hoover Reservoir: 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.

Hybrid striped bass illustration

Hybrid striped bass

Best: the spring shad spawn and fall; summer at dawn and dusk

A hatchery cross of striped bass and white bass, also called wiper or palmetto bass, stocked by state agencies into reservoirs and rivers as a sport fish that also eats gizzard shad. Schools roam open water after shad. Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

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 Hoover Reservoir 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
Hybrid 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 Hoover Reservoir today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

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 68 F, wind to 7 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

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 68 F, wind to 6 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 69 F, wind to 6 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 license. Saugeye, hybrid striped bass and crappie limits per current ODNR regulations; horsepower restrictions apply.

Access

City and metropark ramps, trails and extensive shoreline access northeast of Columbus.

About this water

A 3,300-acre water-supply reservoir on Big Walnut Creek northeast of Columbus, Franklin and Delaware counties, Ohio.

Fishing Hoover Reservoir: the full guide

A water-supply lake

Hoover Reservoir covers about 3,300 acres on Big Walnut Creek northeast of Columbus, a city water-supply lake with horsepower restrictions that keep it calm. Ohio stocks it with saugeye and hybrid striped bass, and it also holds largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, channel catfish and white bass in fertile water with timber and brush structure.

Saugeye and hybrids

Saugeye hold the riprap, points and channel edges, taking jerkbaits and jigs from fall through spring with the cold months best: dusk and windy evenings produce. Hybrid striped bass school over open water chasing shad, providing hard-fighting summer action on slabs and swimbaits when they push bait to the surface.

Bass and crappie

Largemouth relate to the timber, brush and shoreline cover, with spring pushing them into the coves. Crappie stack the brush and standing timber at 8-20 feet, best in spring and fall. The horsepower limit keeps the water calm and pressure moderate despite the Columbus proximity, and bank access is extensive.

Franklin County logistics

City and metropark access provides ramps, trails and extensive shoreline, with horsepower restrictions in force. Westerville and Columbus surround it. Because gas motors are limited, the lake stays quiet and is popular with kayak and small-boat anglers, who can fish comfortably even on summer weekends.

Common questions

Are gas motors allowed?

Restricted: horsepower limits keep the lake calm, which suits kayak and small-boat anglers.

When is the saugeye bite?

Fall through spring on the riprap and points, with cold windy evenings the best conditions.

Is bank fishing good?

Yes: extensive shoreline and trail access make it productive without a boat.

Is fishing good at Hoover Reservoir 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

Alum Creek Lake7 miBuckeye Lake26 miDeer Creek Lake41 miIndian Lake59 miSalt Fork Lake70 miCaesar Creek Lake78 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 40.1500, -82.8700 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.