How big do Raystown striped bass get?

The Pennsylvania inland record, 53 lb 12 oz, was caught here in 1994. In PFBC's 2016 survey the largest fish was about 38 inches and just over 21 pounds.

Is there a closed season for trout on Raystown?

No. Trout may be fished all year: 5 a day until Labor Day, then 3 a day until the next trout opener.

Where can I launch on Raystown Lake?

The Corps runs public launches at Seven Points, Tatman Run and Aitch; Seven Points fills early on summer weekends.

Is fishing good at Raystown 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.

Raystown Lake Fishing Report Today (October 2026)

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.

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. Michigan DNR gives 66-70°F as the water perch prefer, so this band is the heart of the open-water season: drift or slowly work weed edges and flats with small baits near the bottom until a school turns up.

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.

Lake trout

Spring and fall in shallow water, deep in summer, and through the ice in winter

Lake trout are slow-growing chars of large, deep, cold lakes, native from Alaska and northern Canada to New England and the Great Lakes, and introduced in many western lakes. Fish are moving deeper as the lake stratifies; troll or jig along the top of the cold water and use the depth finder to locate bait.

Raystown Lake Fishing Report

Today's Fishing Report

The plan, species by species

Before you go

Water and weather

Water level, last 30 days

Right now

Bite planner

Which day to fish Raystown Lake this week

Today, Oct 23 — Tough

Species guide

Largemouth bass

Striped bass

Catfish (blue, channel)

Crappie

Smallmouth bass

White bass

Walleye

Yellow perch

Muskellunge

Lake trout

When to come: the Raystown Lake calendar

Species activity by month

Water temperature through the year

Angler reports

Water log, last days

Before you go

License

Regulations

Access

About this water

Fishing Raystown Lake: the full guide

A two-story reservoir

What is stocked

Striped bass

Common questions

Nearby waters

Where this page's numbers come from