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Lake Arthur Fishing Report

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

Moraine's muskie water: western Pennsylvania's glacial park lake, electric-only calm with tigers in the cabbage and crappie in the coves.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
62 / 62 F
Wind
ENE 4 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.

Lake Arthur is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 4 mph, rising pressure near 1025 hPa and a high of 62. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:55 AM-11:55 AM and 10:24 PM-12:24 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 49-60Β°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.

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.

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.

Yellow perchGood

Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

Tomorrow: Similar at 60 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

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

Chasing smallmouth 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.

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.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp62 F
High / Low62 / 41 F
WindENE 4-6 mph
Pressure1025.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain13% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:40 / 18:27
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
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 Lake Arthur this week

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

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:55 AM-11:55 AM and 10:24 PM-12:24 AM
Minor period
4:17 AM-5:17 AM
Sun
07:40 to 18:27
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 5 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

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

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 49-60Β°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.

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.

Yellow perch illustration

Yellow perch

Caught all year, including under the ice through winter

Yellow perch are schooling panfish of the Great Lakes and northern lakes, and Michigan DNR calls them the game fish most often caught in that state. Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

When to come: the Lake Arthur 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
Smallmouth bass
Muskellunge
Walleye
Yellow perch
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 Lake Arthur 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 63 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 65 F, wind to 6 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 67 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

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

Regulations

Pennsylvania license. Muskie 40-inch; electric motors only: check PFBC and park rules.

Access

Moraine SP ramps: Lakeview, Watts Bay, 528 Launch; rentals at the marina.

About this water

3,225 electric-only acres, Butler County, PA. Pittsburgh's muskie park water.

Fishing Lake Arthur: the full guide

The park-lake predator

Arthur fills a glacial valley in Moraine State Park: 3,225 electric-only acres that hold western Pennsylvania's flagship muskie program: pure-strain and tigers over the cabbage flats, 45-plus-inch fish annually. The horsepower cap keeps the water calm and the fishery honest: kayaks stalk fifties an hour from Pittsburgh.

Muskie method

The weed edges run the game: bucktails and gliders along the cabbage (Route 528's bays, the Propagation Area's edges: mind the refuge lines), sucker rigs in the proven fall windows, and figure-eights as liturgy. PFBC's stocking cadence keeps year-classes coming: follows outnumber fish, and the fish justify the follows.

Everything else in the coves

Crappie school the flooded brush and bridge pilings (spring's dependable bite), largemouth work the weedlines and laydowns (a quality electric-water fishery), hybrid stripers cruise open water at dawn, and the walleye stocking adds a dusk troll. Ice years cap the coves: Arthur's winter panfish villages are Pittsburgh's closest.

Moraine practicalities

Park ramps spread launch pressure (Lakeview, Watts Bay, the 528 access): rentals serve the boatless: and the electric-only rule means trolling motors and patience: bring charged batteries and the lake repays with quiet. The Propagation Area's no-entry zones protect broodstock: respect the buoys: they grow your next follow.

Common questions

Does Lake Arthur really produce big muskies?

Forty-five-plus-inch fish annually, with fifties documented: the electric-only calm and stocking program sustain it. Fall sucker season is the trophy window.

Why is Lake Arthur electric-only?

Park policy since creation: it keeps the lake quiet, the water clean and the fishery focused. Anglers inherit calm water most metro lakes lost decades ago.

Is fishing good at Lake Arthur 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

Allegheny River30 miMosquito Lake42 miBerlin Lake47 miPymatuning Reservoir49 miConneaut Creek74 miElk Creek76 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 40.9500, -80.1000 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.