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Susquehanna River Fishing Report

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

Susquehanna River: a mile-wide smallmouth river where the 98 miles from Sunbury to Holtwood Dam are catch-and-release for bass all year.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
12,900 cfs
Air / High
61 / 61 F
Wind
NNE 7 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 01576000, 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.

Susquehanna River is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. The river is running 12,900 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind NNE around 7 mph, rising pressure near 1027 hPa and a high of 61. Water sits around 62 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:40 AM-11:40 AM and 10:09 PM-12:09 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

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.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

In spring after ice-out, Iowa finds channel cats feeding on winter-killed shad on the shallow, warmer mudflats at the upper ends of reservoirs; cut bait on the bottom works there.

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 from Susquehanna at Marietta.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 01576000.

13,99922,74531,49112,900 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 95 years of October 23

At 12,900 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 01576000 (Susquehanna at Marietta) is at the 56th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 95 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 9,950 cfs; the highest was 147,000 cfs and the lowest 2,300 cfs.

p10 4,064median 9,950p90 63,560

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 01576000; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp61 F
High / Low61 / 43 F
WindNNE 7-10 mph
Pressure1026.6 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:25 / 18:14
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~62 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 Susquehanna River this week

The best day on Susquehanna River this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 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
9:40 AM-11:40 AM and 10:09 PM-12:09 AM
Minor period
4:02 AM-5:02 AM
Sun
07:25 to 18:14
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 7 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Susquehanna River: 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.

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. In spring after ice-out, Iowa finds channel cats feeding on winter-killed shad on the shallow, warmer mudflats at the upper ends of reservoirs; cut bait on the bottom works there.

When to come: the Susquehanna River 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
Catfish (blue, channel)
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 62 F (estimated, not a reading).

4050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~62 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 Susquehanna River 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. Smallmouth bass led the card at good. High of 67 F, wind to 11 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Smallmouth bass led the card at good. High of 66 F, wind to 9 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Smallmouth bass led the card at good. High of 71 F, wind to 9 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

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 fishing license. PFBC 2026: from the inflatable dam near Sunbury to Holtwood Dam (98 miles), black bass catch-and-immediate-release all year, no harvest; tournaments catch-measure-release only, and none from April 11 to June 12.

Access

Public launches line the lower river; check PFBC's boating access listings for current status before you go.

About this water

444 miles from Cooperstown, N.Y., to Havre de Grace, Md. (SRBC); this page centers on the lower river at Marietta, Lancaster County, Pa.

Fishing Susquehanna River: the full guide

A big river

The Susquehanna flows 444 miles from Otsego Lake at Cooperstown, New York, to the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace, Maryland, and supplies half of the bay's fresh water; the Susquehanna River Basin Commission notes it is almost a mile wide at Harrisburg. The Marietta gauge on this page, USGS 01576000, sits on the lower river in Lancaster County.

Smallmouth under protection

PFBC traced poor smallmouth recruitment from about 2005 to disease in young-of-year bass, and in 2016 reported more adults in 2013-2016 surveys than in 2005-2012, while lesions on young bass were still being seen. In 2026 the 98 miles from the inflatable dam near Sunbury to Holtwood Dam, plus tributary mouths, are no-harvest, catch-and-immediate-release for black bass all year, and casting repeatedly to a visible bass nest is illegal.

Channel catfish

PFBC counts the middle and lower river, from the Fabri Dam at Sunbury to the Maryland line, among the state's most popular and productive natural channel catfish fisheries. Its 2016-2018 hoop-net surveys caught channel catfish from 12 to 31 inches, with good numbers of fish 24 inches and longer.

Eating your catch

Pennsylvania's 2026 consumption advisory lists PCB and mercury advice for several Susquehanna species, including one meal a month for channel catfish over 20 inches from the West Branch to the Maryland line. Read the full table before keeping fish.

Common questions

Can I keep bass from the Susquehanna?

Not from Sunbury to Holtwood Dam: PFBC makes that reach no-harvest, catch-and-immediate-release all year.

Has the smallmouth fishery recovered?

PFBC reported more adult bass in 2013-2016 than in 2005-2012 but still found lesions on young bass; harvest stays closed on the lower river.

Are the catfish safe to eat?

Pennsylvania advises one meal a month for channel catfish over 20 inches from the West Branch to the Maryland line, because of PCBs.

Is fishing good at Susquehanna River 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

Yellow Breeches Creek26 miGunpowder River33 miBlue Marsh Lake36 miLoch Raven Reservoir42 miJuniata River43 miSusquehanna Flats45 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 01576000 β€” Susquehanna at Marietta
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:15 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 40.0550, -76.5310 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.