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Claytor Lake Fishing Report

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

Claytor Lake: a 4,363-acre New River impoundment in Pulaski County, Virginia, known for black bass, stripers and hybrids, and protected walleye.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~74 F est.
Air / High
65 / 65 F
Wind
NE 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.

Claytor Lake sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. Today brings clear skies, wind NE around 4 mph, rising pressure near 1023 hPa and a high of 65. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:57 AM-11:57 AM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassExcellent

Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

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.

Smallmouth bassGood

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.

WalleyeGood

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.

Hybrid striped bassFair

Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

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 β†’

Before you go

Virginia requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $23.00 for residents. What a Virginia licence costs and where to buy it β†’

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

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp65 F
High / Low65 / 34 F
WindNE 4-5 mph
Pressure1023.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain1% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:37 / 18:35
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 Claytor Lake this week

The best day on Claytor Lake 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, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:57 AM-11:57 AM and 10:25 PM-12:25 AM
Minor period
4:19 AM-5:19 AM
Sun
07:37 to 18:35
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Clear, 7 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Claytor 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.

Striped bass illustration

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.

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. 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.

Hybrid striped bass illustration

Hybrid striped bass

Best: the spring shad spawn and fall; summer at dawn and dusk

A hatchery cross of striped bass and white bass, also called wiper or palmetto bass, stocked by state agencies into reservoirs and rivers as a sport fish that also eats gizzard shad. Schools roam open water after shad. Look for shad on flats with timber near creek channels and on windblown points; cast jigs and swimbaits where fish break the surface.

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. 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.

When to come: the Claytor 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
Striped bass
Smallmouth bass
Hybrid striped bass
Walleye
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 Claytor Lake 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. Striped bass led the card at excellent. High of 69 F, wind to 8 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 69 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 71 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

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

Regulations

Virginia fishing license. Claytor Lake rules in Virginia's current regulations (updated Aug. 17, 2026): largemouth and smallmouth bass 5 a day combined, no smallmouth under 14 inches; no limit on spotted or Alabama bass; striped and hybrid bass Sept. 16-June 30 2 a day combined, 20-inch minimum, July 1-Sept. 15 4 a day, no length limit; walleye 2 a day, none 19 to 28 inches; white bass 5 a day; crappie 25 a day.

Access

DWR lists public access at Allisonia (Route 693), Dublin (southeast of Dublin on Route 660) and Harry DeHaven Park; Claytor Lake State Park is on the lake.

About this water

4,363-acre impoundment of the New River, Pulaski County, Virginia. No gauge on this page.

Fishing Claytor Lake: the full guide

The lake

Virginia's Department of Wildlife Resources describes Claytor Lake as a 4,363-acre impoundment of the New River that stretches 21 miles northeast across Pulaski County. Its steep, rocky shorelines suit smallmouth bass.

Black bass

Smallmouth, largemouth and spotted bass are the lake's mainstay, and DWR counts about two-thirds of Claytor anglers fishing for them. Alabama bass are also present. DWR points smallmouth anglers to the shoreline across from the mouth of Dublin Hollow, the bank between Spooky Hollow and Texas Hollow, and Dublin Hollow itself, and largemouth anglers to Peak Creek, Clapboard Hollow and the large coves of the lower lake. The lake record largemouth weighed 14 pounds, 6 ounces (June 1991), and the state record spotted bass, 4 pounds 12 ounces, came from Claytor on Jan. 1, 2020.

Stripers, hybrids and walleye

DWR calls Claytor the top destination for hybrid striped bass in Virginia; the state record hybrid, 15 pounds 13 ounces, was caught here on March 16, 2016. Stripers are recovering from a 2016 die-off caused by poor summer habitat. Walleye spawn in spring where the New River enters the lake near Allisonia, and a year-round slot limit is designed to protect the large spawning females.

Habitat work

DWR, Appalachian Power, Claytor Lake State Park, the Friends of Claytor Lake and a state anglers' federation have placed rock piles, Mossback structures and Christmas tree reefs since 2001, and DWR publishes their coordinates and depths.

Common questions

What is the walleye limit at Claytor Lake?

Two a day, and no walleye from 19 to 28 inches may be kept. The rule covers Claytor Lake and the New River upstream; Virginia's 2026 regulation table runs it to Fries Dam in Grayson County.

Do the striper rules change in summer?

Yes. From Sept. 16 to June 30 the limit is 2 stripers and hybrids combined with a 20-inch minimum; from July 1 to Sept. 15 it is 4 a day with no length limit.

Can I keep spotted bass at Claytor?

Yes, any number and any size. DWR dropped spotted bass limits because Alabama bass in the lake are hard to tell apart from spotted bass.

Is fishing good at Claytor 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

New River4 miPhilpott Lake37 miBluestone Lake43 miGreenbrier River46 miSmith Mountain Lake55 miNew River Gorge64 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 37.0500, -80.6170 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 8, 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 8, 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.