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Broken Bow Lake Fishing Report

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

Broken Bow Lake: a 14,200-acre Corps reservoir in McCurtain County's Ouachita foothills, with Oklahoma's year-round Lower Mountain Fork trout area below the dam.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
363 cfs
Air / High
82 / 83 F
Wind
SSE 5 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 07339000, 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.

Broken Bow Lake offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. The release below the dam is running 363 cfs, falling. Today brings clear skies, wind SSE around 5 mph, steady pressure near 1019 hPa and a high of 83. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:55 AM-11:55 AM and 10:23 PM-12:23 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutExcellent

The top of this band is already stressful. In rivers fish mornings and evenings; in lakes WDFW notes rainbows turn sluggish and go deeper, so troll or suspend bait near the bottom.

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.

Smallmouth bassGood

Post-spawn and summer feeding: cover rock, wood and current breaks with crankbaits, jigs and tubes, and use live crayfish, minnows or hellgrammites where bait is the plan.

WalleyeGood

Summer pattern: nightcrawlers and leeches on rigs or jigs near bottom, trolled crankbaits to find scattered fish, and the shallows after dark in clear lakes.

CrappieFair

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

White bassFair

Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

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.

Tomorrow: Similar at 85 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

Oklahoma requires a fishing licence from age 18, from $31.00 for residents. What a Oklahoma licence costs and where to buy it β†’

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

Water and weather

Live readings from Mountain Fork near Eagletown, OK (outflow).

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 07339000.

3307001,071363 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp82 F
High / Low83 / 49 F
WindSSE 5-8 mph
Pressure1019.2 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:30 / 18:34
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)69 F USGS
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 Broken Bow Lake this week

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

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 β€” excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:55 AM-11:55 AM and 10:23 PM-12:23 AM
Minor period
4:17 AM-5:17 AM
Sun
07:30 to 18:34
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 Broken Bow Lake: 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.

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.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

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. Post-spawn and summer feeding: cover rock, wood and current breaks with crankbaits, jigs and tubes, and use live crayfish, minnows or hellgrammites where bait is the plan.

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.

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. Summer pattern: nightcrawlers and leeches on rigs or jigs near bottom, trolled crankbaits to find scattered fish, and the shallows after dark in clear lakes.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. The top of this band is already stressful. In rivers fish mornings and evenings; in lakes WDFW notes rainbows turn sluggish and go deeper, so troll or suspend bait near the bottom.

When to come: the Broken Bow 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
Largemouth bass
Crappie
Catfish (blue, channel)
White bass
Smallmouth bass
Hybrid striped bass
Walleye
Rainbow trout
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 Broken Bow 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. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 84 F, wind to 6 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 82 F, wind to 8 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 79 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

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

Regulations

Lake: ODWC lists no area-specific rules, so statewide limits apply (largemouth and smallmouth 6 combined, only 1 over 16 inches; spotted bass no limit). Lower Mountain Fork trout area: barbless hooks only, bait allowed, no cast nets. Area 1 (spillway to Old State Park Dam): 3 trout in aggregate, only one rainbow over 25 inches and only one brown, which must be over 30 inches. Area 2 (Old State Park Dam to US 70): one rainbow over 25 inches and one brown over 30 inches, counting toward the area-wide aggregate. Oklahoma fishing license.

Access

Recreation facilities run by Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation (Beavers Bend State Park, 580-494-6452, per the Corps). Trout area: unlimited bank access in the park to the re-regulation dam; Presbyterian Falls; ramps above and below the re-regulation dam.

About this water

A 14,200-acre Corps of Engineers reservoir on the Mountain Fork River, McCurtain County, Oklahoma; impounded 1968-1970.

Fishing Broken Bow Lake: the full guide

The reservoir

The Corps of Engineers built Broken Bow Dam on the Mountain Fork River at river mile 20.3, about 9 miles north-northeast of Broken Bow; impoundment began in October 1968 and the conservation pool filled in April 1970. The rolled earth-fill dam rises 225 feet above the streambed, and the lake stretches 22 miles into the Ouachita Mountain country. ODWC's lake page lists 14,200 surface acres, a maximum depth of 169 feet and 220 miles of shoreline. The Corps notes that all recreation facilities on the lake and the Lower Mountain Fork are run by the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department through Beavers Bend State Park.

What ODWC lists

ODWC's species of interest for Broken Bow are largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, white bass, hybrid striped bass, channel and flathead catfish, walleye, black and white crappie, bluegill and redear sunfish. Its Oct. 2, 2026 report had the lake 9.5 feet below normal and falling, 84 degrees and clear, with largemouth and spotted bass good around coves and points and crappie good on brush, creek channels and standing timber.

The Lower Mountain Fork trout area

ODWC designates 12 miles of the Lower Mountain Fork River and its tributaries, from the Broken Bow Reservoir spillway down to the US 70 bridge, as a trout area stocked year-round; about five miles lie inside Beavers Bend State Park. Barbless hooks only, bait is permitted and cast netting is banned. Bank access is unlimited within the park and down to the re-regulation dam, Presbyterian Falls is another public access point, and boat ramps sit just above and below the re-regulation dam. ODWC also warns that didymo has been found in the river and asks anglers to clean and dry waders and gear.

Common questions

Is the Lower Mountain Fork trout area fly-only?

No. ODWC requires barbless hooks and bans cast netting, but bait is permitted throughout the 12-mile trout area.

How much trout water is there below the dam?

Twelve miles of the Lower Mountain Fork and its tributaries, from the spillway to the US 70 bridge, about five of them inside Beavers Bend State Park.

Is fishing good at Broken Bow Lake 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

Pine Creek Lake24 miMillwood Lake55 miLake Greeson55 miWright Patman Lake70 miRobert S Kerr Reservoir80 miLake Ouachita81 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 07339000 β€” Mountain Fork near Eagletown, OK (outflow)
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 34.2118, -94.6844 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 8, 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 8, 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.