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Blue Marsh Lake Fishing Report

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

Reading’s reservoir: Blue Marsh holds bass, walleye and hybrid stripers in Berks County farmland.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Lake level
287.14 ft
Air / High
60 / 60 F
Wind
ENE 5 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 01470870, 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.

Blue Marsh Lake offers the kind of conditions this water was made for. The gauge reads 287.14 ft, easing 2.32 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 5 mph, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 60. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:38 AM-11:38 AM and 10:07 PM-12:07 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.

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.

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

Pennsylvania requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $27.97 for residents. What a Pennsylvania licence costs and where to buy it →

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

Water and weather

Live readings from Blue Marsh Lake near Bernville, PA.

Water level, last 30 days

USGS gauge 01470870.

287.88289.26290.65287.14 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp60 F
High / Low60 / 43 F
WindENE 5-9 mph
Pressure1027.0 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:23 / 18:12
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 Blue Marsh Lake this week

The best day on Blue Marsh 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, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 — Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:38 AM-11:38 AM and 10:07 PM-12:07 AM
Minor period
3:60 AM-4:60 AM
Sun
07:23 to 18:12
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 11 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Blue Marsh 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.

When to come: the Blue Marsh 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
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 Blue Marsh 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. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 67 F, wind to 13 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 66 F, wind to 10 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 70 F, wind to 10 mph.

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

License

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

Regulations

Pennsylvania license. Bass, walleye and hybrid limits per current PFBC regulations; the Tulpehocken tailwater has special trout rules.

Access

Corps ramps and day-use areas including Dry Brooks and Stilling Basin; Tulpehocken Creek access below the dam.

About this water

A 1,150-acre Corps reservoir on Tulpehocken Creek near Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania.

Fishing Blue Marsh Lake: the full guide

A Corps lake near the city

Blue Marsh Lake covers 1,150 acres on Tulpehocken Creek northwest of Reading, a Corps flood-control reservoir that has become southeastern Pennsylvania’s busiest fishing and recreation water. It holds a productive warm-water fishery: largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye, hybrid striped bass, crappie, catfish and panfish, supported by state stocking and fertile water.

Bass and hybrids

Largemouth relate to the wood, brush and coves: jigs, spinnerbaits and plastics through the seasons. Smallmouth hold the rockier points and riprap. Hybrid stripers school over the main lake chasing shad, providing surface action at dawn in summer and fall on slabs and swimbaits: they are the hardest-pulling fish in the lake.

Walleye and panfish

Walleye hold the channel edges and points, taking jigs and crankbaits at low light. Crappie stack the brush and the marina area in spring, and catfish work the flats through the warm months. Below the dam, the Tulpehocken Creek tailwater is a well-known trout fishery with a devoted fly-fishing following, fished year-round in the cold releases.

Berks County logistics

The Corps operates several ramps and day-use areas including Dry Brooks and Stilling Basin, with extensive trails around the lake. Summer weekends bring heavy recreational traffic given the proximity to Reading: fish early or in the shoulder seasons. The Tulpehocken tailwater below offers an entirely different fishery within minutes.

Common questions

What are the hybrids like?

Stocked hybrid striped bass that school over open water: the hardest-fighting fish in the lake, best at dawn in summer and fall.

Is the tailwater worth fishing?

Very: the Tulpehocken below the dam is a well-known year-round trout fishery with special regulations.

How busy does it get?

Very, on summer weekends: it is Reading’s recreation lake. Early mornings and shoulder seasons belong to anglers.

Is fishing good at Blue Marsh 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

Lehigh River34 miSusquehanna River36 miBeltzville Lake38 miLake Nockamixon42 miBrandywine Creek49 miYellow Breeches Creek52 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 01470870 — Blue Marsh Lake near Bernville, PA
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 40.4000, -76.0300 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.