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Piedmont Lake Fishing Report

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

A 10-horsepower Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District lake that produced Ohio's state-record muskellunge and flathead catfish, both in 1972.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
64 / 64 F
Wind
NE 6 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.

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

Piedmont Lake offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 6 mph, rising pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 64. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:59 AM-11:59 AM and 10:28 PM-12:28 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

MuskellungeExcellent

Main open-water season: cast or troll large bucktails, spoons and plugs along weed edges and other cover where muskies wait in ambush.

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: Similar at 64 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

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

Chasing crappie 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 temp64 F
High / Low64 / 37 F
WindNE 6-10 mph
Pressure1024.9 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain10% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:44 / 18:33
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 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Piedmont Lake this week

The best day on Piedmont Lake this week looks like Thursday Oct 29, at 5 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Thursday, Oct 29 β€” excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:59 AM-11:59 AM and 10:28 PM-12:28 AM
Minor period
4:21 AM-5:21 AM
Sun
07:44 to 18:33
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 6 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

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

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.

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.

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. Main open-water season: cast or troll large bucktails, spoons and plugs along weed edges and other cover where muskies wait in ambush.

When to come: the Piedmont 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
Crappie
Catfish (blue, channel)
Muskellunge
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 Piedmont 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 65 F, wind to 8 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 70 F, wind to 4 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 5 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. Ohio 2026-27 rules: muskellunge one a day, no minimum (statewide); crappie 30 a day, 9-inch minimum at Piedmont; black bass five a day, 12-inch minimum. Motors are limited to 10 hp (MWCD).

Access

Two public boat launch ramps and two kayak launch ramps, including Reynolds Road with a fishing pier; Piedmont Lake Marina and campground at 32281 Marina Road, Freeport (MWCD).

About this water

A Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District lake of 2,270 acres (MWCD) in Guernsey, Harrison and Belmont counties, Ohio.

Fishing Piedmont Lake: the full guide

The lake

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District gives Piedmont Lake 2,270 acres of water, 4,418 acres of land, a 38-mile shoreline and a maximum depth of 38 feet, with a 10-horsepower motor limit. The Ohio Division of Wildlife's fishing map lists 2,368 acres and 36.9 miles of shoreline in Guernsey, Harrison and Belmont counties.

Two state records

Ohio's record muskellunge, 55.13 pounds and 50 1/4 inches, came from Piedmont Lake on April 12, 1972, according to the Outdoor Writers of Ohio record list, which Ohio's fishing regulations cite. The state-record flathead catfish, 76 pounds and 53 inches, was caught at Piedmont on July 17, 1972.

Rules on the water

Under Ohio's 2026-27 regulations, muskellunge fall under the statewide rule of one a day with no minimum length. Piedmont is on the site-specific list for crappie, with a daily limit of 30 and a 9-inch minimum. Black bass follow the statewide limit of five a day, 12 inches minimum.

Launches, marina and camping

MWCD lists two public boat launch ramps and two kayak launch ramps, including the Reynolds Road launch ramp with a fishing pier. Piedmont Lake Marina, at 32281 Marina Road in Freeport, has seasonal and transient docking, boat rentals and boat service, and the campground has full hook-up sites with 50-amp power.

Common questions

Is there a horsepower limit?

Yes. MWCD limits motors to 10 horsepower on Piedmont Lake.

What is the record from Piedmont?

Ohio's state-record muskellunge, 55.13 pounds, caught on April 12, 1972. The record flathead catfish, 76 pounds, came from Piedmont the same year.

Is there a minimum size for muskie?

Not under the 2026-27 statewide rule: one muskellunge a day with no minimum length.

Is fishing good at Piedmont 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

Salt Fork Lake19 miBerlin Lake62 miBuckeye Lake70 miCheat Lake78 miLake Arthur80 miMosquito Lake83 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 40.1500, -81.2000 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.