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Youghiogheny River Fishing Report

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

The Yough through Ohiopyle: a 9.18-mile All Tackle Trophy Trout section in the river gorge, with the Great Allegheny Passage alongside.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
1,060 cfs
Air / High
63 / 63 F
Wind
ENE 4 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 03081000, 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.

Youghiogheny River is in its winter mode: slow, deep and deliberate. The river is running 1,060 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 4 mph, rising pressure near 1024 hPa and a high of 63. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:52 AM-11:52 AM and 10:21 PM-12:21 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Smallmouth bassGood

Fish hold in slower, deeper water; fish slowly and expect fewer bites until spring warming.

Tomorrow: Similar at 61 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 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 Youghiogheny below Confluence.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 03081000.

1,4642,6443,8251,060 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 86 years of October 23

At 1,060 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 03081000 (Youghiogheny below Confluence) is at the 70th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 86 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 854 cfs; the highest was 6,200 cfs and the lowest 317 cfs.

p10 553median 854p90 2,333

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 03081000; 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 temp63 F
High / Low63 / 39 F
WindENE 4-6 mph
Pressure1024.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain3% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:37 / 18:27
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)64 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~47 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 Youghiogheny River this week

The best day on Youghiogheny River this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 3 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 — Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:52 AM-11:52 AM and 10:21 PM-12:21 AM
Minor period
4:14 AM-5:14 AM
Sun
07:37 to 18:27
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 5 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Youghiogheny 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. Fish hold in slower, deeper water; fish slowly and expect fewer bites until spring warming.

When to come: the Youghiogheny 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
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 47 F (estimated, not a reading).

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 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 Youghiogheny River today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Smallmouth bass led the card at good. High of 62 F, wind to 9 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Smallmouth bass led the card at good. High of 67 F, wind to 7 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 67 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

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

Regulations

Pennsylvania license plus trout permit for trout. 2026 PFBC rules: lake to Casselman River, stocked trout water open year-round; Casselman to Ramcat Run and PA 381 bridge to the mouth, no closed trout season, 5 trout opening day–Labor Day, 3 after; Ramcat Run to PA 381 bridge (9.18 mi), All Tackle Trophy Trout: 1 trout of 18 in. or more opening day–Labor Day, none kept the rest of the year. Fish-consumption advisory: smallmouth bass from Youghiogheny Lake Dam to Lick Run, 2 meals a month (mercury). A Pennsylvania or Maryland license is valid on Youghiogheny River Lake when fishing from a boat, not from shore.

Access

Ohiopyle State Park: Ramcat Launch Area and Trailhead Parking on the east side of the park, and the Train Station/Visitor Center in Ohiopyle, both on the Great Allegheny Passage. USGS gauge 03081000, Youghiogheny River below Confluence, reports flow.

About this water

The Youghiogheny River below Youghiogheny River Lake in Fayette and Somerset counties, Pennsylvania, through Ohiopyle State Park.

Fishing Youghiogheny River: the full guide

Three trout reaches below the dam

Pennsylvania's 2026 Fishing Summary divides the Youghiogheny below Youghiogheny River Lake into three sets of trout rules. From the lake down to the Casselman River at Confluence it is a stocked trout water open to year-round fishing. From the Casselman to Ramcat Run, and again from the PA Route 381 bridge at Ohiopyle to the mouth, there is no closed season on trout, with 5 trout a day from opening day through Labor Day and 3 a day after that. Between them, the 9.18 miles from Ramcat Run down to the Route 381 bridge at Ohiopyle are managed as All Tackle Trophy Trout.

The All Tackle Trophy Trout section

On the Ramcat-to-Ohiopyle section fishing is open all year and around the clock, with no tackle restrictions. From 8 a.m. on the opening day of trout season through Labor Day an angler may keep 1 trout of at least 18 inches; from the day after Labor Day to the next opening day no trout may be killed or kept. A trout permit is required, and other species follow inland rules. Ohiopyle State Park says fingerling trout are stocked, in cooperation with the Fish and Boat Commission, through the whole section of river within the park.

Ohiopyle and the trail

DCNR describes the Youghiogheny River Gorge as the centerpiece of the roughly 20,500-acre Ohiopyle State Park and says the river provides good wilderness trout fishing as well as some of the best whitewater boating in the eastern United States. The park's Youghiogheny River Trail is part of the Great Allegheny Passage between Pittsburgh and Cumberland; it runs from the Ramcat Launch Area and Trailhead Parking down to the Ohiopyle train station and then 17 miles on to Connellsville, and the park suggests pairing a ride or hike with trout fishing. Meadow Run, a tributary in the park, has 2.2 miles of delayed-harvest, artificial-lures-only water.

Common questions

Can I keep trout in the Ohiopyle trophy section?

One trout of at least 18 inches a day from 8 a.m. on opening day through Labor Day. From the day after Labor Day until the next opening day, every trout must be released.

Is the river open to trout fishing all year?

Yes on all three reaches below the lake, but harvest rules differ: the trophy section allows no harvest after Labor Day, and the reaches above Ramcat Run and below Ohiopyle drop from 5 trout a day to 3 after Labor Day.

Where can I park to fish the trophy water?

Ohiopyle State Park's Ramcat Launch Area and Trailhead Parking sits at the upstream end, and the Youghiogheny River Trail follows the river down to Ohiopyle.

Is fishing good at Youghiogheny 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

Cheat Lake22 miDeep Creek Lake28 miSavage River32 miTygart Lake48 miSouth Branch Potomac River52 miAllegheny River53 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 03081000 — Youghiogheny below Confluence
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:45 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 39.8680, -79.4970 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 6, 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 6, 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.