Inland waters have no closed season, so Ohio's winter changes little by rule: the rules period runs to February 28, Lake Erie's limits hold to April 30, and an annual license lasts 365 days from the day it is bought. Ice fishing, when the ice comes, runs under limits of six tip-ups and three rods a person and holes no wider than 12 inches, and there is no winter free fishing day.
What to fish for in early November
Ohio's winter turns on Lake Erie. The walleye that fed all autumn in the western and central basins are the fish of the season, steelhead fill the tributaries east of Cleveland whenever the water comes up, and ice, in the winters the western basin gets it, is a fishery of its own. Inland the saugeye carry the shallow central lakes and the hill-country reservoirs, and sauger gather below the Ohio River dams.
These notes cover the whole winter, the ice included. In early November, Indian Lake and Mosquito Creek Lake are usually still open water, at 54 to 56F.
Walleye
Fattens through the cold months and is the season's prize, from boats on open water and, in a cold winter, from the ice off the islands.
Where. The western basin reefs and the island country off Port Clinton and Catawba, and the mouths of the Maumee and the Sandusky.
The walleye waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Lake Erie not modeled Best Mon, Nov 9, A+Today's forecast Ohio River at Ironton about 59F Best Fri, Nov 6, A+Today's forecast Steelhead
Runs the tributaries on every rise of water and settles into the pools as they drop and clear, the fishing best in the days a high river spends coming back down.
Where. The Rocky, the Chagrin, the Grand and Conneaut Creek, from Cleveland east.
Yellow Perch
Bunches into big schools in deep water off the central basin's harbors, and is caught through the ice when the western basin freezes.
Where. Off Cleveland and Fairport Harbor, and under the ice off Catawba and the Bass Islands.
Crappie
Gathers on deep wood in the inland reservoirs and holds there until spring, coming up under the ice in the lakes that freeze.
Where. Brush and standing timber in Indian Lake, Alum Creek and Mosquito Creek, and the Muskingum valley lakes from Tappan to Piedmont.
The crappie waters we forecast Water Usual water now Forecast Mosquito Creek Lake about 54F Best Mon, Nov 9, A+Today's forecast Indian Lake about 56F Today's forecast Salt Fork Lake about 57F Best Fri, Nov 6, A+Today's forecast Rainbow Trout
Stocked for the winter in the Cleveland Metroparks' lakes, which ice over early enough in the northeast to be fished on foot.
Where. Wallace, Ledge and the other Metroparks lakes and ponds, and the stocked lakes of the northeast.
Usual water now is that water's normal for this point in the season: a lake's modeled seasonal curve or a river gauge's long-run average, not this year's reading. The forecast link reads this week's.
What changes soon
Nothing on this report's calendar for Ohio in the next six weeks.
Every date for Ohio from November to February (1)
- Sun February 28Ohio's rules period ends.
This week's fishing reports
This report covers the season. For what was caught this week, read the people who report on this water.
Northeast Ohio is well reported in winter: D'Arcy Egan's NE Ohio fishing report on cleveland.com every Friday, Cleveland Metroparks every Thursday, and Orvis Westlake's pages for four steelhead rivers. Central and western Ohio's ice lakes, the southern lakes and the Ohio River had no free winter reporter, only Outdoor News's report for subscribers, and ODNR's own Lake Erie report was last filed in August.
Where to fish in Ohio, area by area
Each water links to its live forecast. The engine outlook in these areas was generated November 3, 2026, for the 14 days from that date; good hours are the hours at or above a B+.
Lake Erie
Lake Erie western basin · Lake Erie central basin · Maumee River · Sandusky River · Rocky River
Ohio's shore of Lake Erie from Toledo to Conneaut: the shallow western basin with its reefs and islands, the deeper central basin off Cleveland and Fairport Harbor, and the short tributaries east of Cleveland where the steelhead run.
Who reports here. D'Arcy Egan's NE Ohio fishing report on cleveland.com ran every Friday last winter and followed the Western Basin ice off Catawba and South Bass Island. Cleveland Metroparks posts every Thursday from September to May, and Orvis Westlake keeps a page each for the Grand, the Chagrin, the Rocky and Conneaut Creek, updated through the winter. ODNR's own Lake Erie report was last filed on August 20.
Engine outlook
- Best: Mon, Nov 9, A+11 good hours61F read by satellite from this water's surfacebest run 7h
Northeast Ohio's inland lakes
Pymatuning Reservoir · Mosquito Creek Lake · West Branch Reservoir · Portage Lakes · Cleveland Metroparks lakes
The reservoirs and park lakes of the northeast, from Pymatuning and Mosquito near the Pennsylvania line to Akron's Portage Lakes and the small stocked lakes of the Cleveland Metroparks: the corner of the state where ice comes earliest and most often.
Who reports here. Egan's column covers these waters as well: on January 30 it had anglers already through the ice on the Metroparks' trout lakes, which took more than 6,000 pounds of rainbows for the winter, and on the farm ponds.
Engine outlook
- Best: Mon, Nov 9, A+12 good hours57F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 12h9 cfsat Mosquito Creek bl Mosquito Ck Dam nr Cortland OH5 mi away
Central and western Ohio's lakes
Indian Lake · Grand Lake St. Marys · Buckeye Lake · Alum Creek Lake · Hoover Reservoir
The shallow, fertile lakes of the flat middle and west, Indian Lake, Grand Lake St. Marys and Buckeye Lake among them, with the Columbus reservoirs close by: saugeye, crappie and bluegill water that freezes in the colder winters.
Who reports here. No free winter reporter could be found. Last winter only Outdoor News, for subscribers, reported these lakes, and in February it called Indian Lake the top inland ice in the state. The Dayton Daily News column that search still offers for Indian Lake ended years ago.
Engine outlook
- Its best day in this outlook has passed.
Southeast Ohio's hill-country lakes
Salt Fork Lake · Tappan Lake · Piedmont Lake · Seneca Lake · Atwood Lake
The reservoirs of the Muskingum valley and the hills toward the Ohio: the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District's flood-control lakes, Tappan, Piedmont, Seneca, Atwood, Clendening and Leesville, with Salt Fork, Burr Oak and Dillon in the state parks. Deep lakes between wooded ridges, holding saugeye, crappie, bass and, in a few of them, muskellunge.
Who reports here. No free winter reporter could be found, after searches by lake name for last winter. The conservancy district's fishing pages describe its lakes without dating anything, and the newest winter report that turned up, for Dillon Lake below its spillway, is from 2015. Outdoor News's statewide Ohio report runs all winter for subscribers.
Engine outlook
- Best: Fri, Nov 6, A+12 good hours61F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 12h
Southwest Ohio's lakes
Caesar Creek Lake · East Fork Lake · Rocky Fork Lake · Paint Creek Lake · Cowan Lake
The Corps and state lakes between Dayton, Cincinnati and Chillicothe, Caesar Creek, East Fork, Rocky Fork, Paint Creek, Cowan and Acton among them: saugeye, crappie and bass water close to both cities, in lakes that freeze over only in the colder winters.
Who reports here. No free winter reporter could be found. The Dayton Daily News area fishing report that search still offers for Caesar Creek, Rocky Fork and Acton is years old, and its pages now return errors; Outdoor News's statewide Ohio report runs all winter for subscribers.
Engine outlook
- Best: Thu, Nov 5, A+11 good hours62F modeled from this lake's own seasonal curvebest run 6h
The Ohio River
Ohio River · Pike Island Locks and Dam · Hannibal Locks and Dam · Belleville Locks and Dam · Racine Locks and Dam
Ohio's eastern and southern line, from the Pennsylvania border past Marietta, Portsmouth and Cincinnati to the Indiana line, held in pools by the locks and dams from New Cumberland down to Meldahl: sauger and hybrid striped bass in the tailwaters below the dams, and big catfish in the deep pools between them.
Who reports here. Nobody publishes a dated winter report for the river, from the Ohio bank or from the West Virginia and Kentucky sides. Ohio State researchers tagged sauger below Meldahl Dam in the fall of 2025 to learn when they arrive and leave the tailwater, which is research rather than a report.
Engine outlook
- Best: Fri, Nov 6, A+12 good hours63F measured Nov 3 at OHIO RIVER AT IRONTON, OHbest run 7h32049 cfsat Ohio River at Greenup Lock and Dam12 mi away
The rules from November to February
What changed this time
- This year's state rule changes are all for spring or for single sites: a new landmark for the Maumee River's restricted hours, bait traps with openings up to 2 inches, and no sale of wild turtles. None of them touches the ice season.
- New since July 18 at Cleveland Metroparks: only two lines per angler, tip-ups included, on Wallace, Ledge, Judges, Ranger and Bunns lakes, on Beyers, Strawberry, Acacia, Garfield and Astorhurst ponds and on Oxbow Lagoon. The waters it manages with the Division of Wildlife keep the state's three lines and six tip-ups.
Read on October 20 and 21, 2026, from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife (its fishing regulations, license, ice safety and Lake Erie report pages), from chapter 1501:31-13 of the Ohio Administrative Code, and from Cleveland Metroparks' fishing report of July 2, 2026.
Licenses, and which state's rules apply
- An annual license is good for 365 days from the day it is bought. Residents pay $25 ($10 at 65 and older) or $14 for a day; nonresidents $76.96 a year, $52 for three days or $27.04 for a day. Anglers under 16 need no license.
- On the Ohio River, Ohio and West Virginia honor each other's licenses along their shared border; on the Kentucky stretch a boat angler follows the rules of the state that licensed them, and a bank angler Ohio's.
Bait, gear and fish you cannot keep
- No more than three lines in all, hand lines and rods together. Never release a fish or a bait animal into water it did not come from.
Lakes, ponds and rivers
- Inland waters have no closed season. Statewide daily limits: six walleye, sauger and saugeye combined, one muskellunge, five black bass of at least 12 inches, five trout and 30 yellow perch. Walleye must be at least 15 inches on Lake Erie and a list of inland lakes.
- Lake Erie limits change each May 1 with the lake-wide quota and hold to the next April 30: walleye six of at least 15 inches; yellow perch 30 in the west zone (about Toledo to Huron), 10 in the central zone (Huron to Fairport Harbor) and 20 in the east zone (Fairport Harbor to Conneaut).
- Steelhead and other trout and salmon on Lake Erie and all its tributaries: two a day from September 1 to May 15, each at least 12 inches.
Through the ice
- Through the ice: no hole wider than 12 inches, no more than six tip-ups and three rods per person, and the owner's name and address or Division of Wildlife customer number on every tip-up and shelter.
- The Division of Wildlife says no ice is 100 percent safe. Its minimums, for new clear ice only: 4 inches on foot, 5 for a snowmobile or ATV, 8 to 12 for a car or small truck.
Read on these agency pages: Ohio DNR: Fishing licenses, Ohio DNR: 2026-27 Ohio Fishing Regulations (PDF), Ohio Adm. Code 1501:31-13-01: Sport fishing, Ohio Adm. Code 1501:31-13-08: Fish daily bag limits, Ohio Adm. Code 1501:31-13-09: Length limits on certain game fish, Ohio Adm. Code 1501:31-13-14: Lake Erie walleye and yellow perch limits, Ohio DNR news: Lake Erie daily limits announced for 2026, Ohio DNR: Ice thickness guidelines.
The season at a glance
What these months usually do
Each lake's own seasonal curve, the one the engine scores the lake on: what these dates usually do, modeled rather than measured, and not a forecast for this year.
| Water | Nov 1 | Dec 1 | Jan 1 | Feb 1 | Feb 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caesar Creek Lake | 58F | 48F | 41F | 38F | 40F |
| Indian Lake | 57F | 47F | 39F | 36F | 38F |
| Mosquito Creek Lake | 55F | 46F | 39F | 36F | 37F |
| Salt Fork Lake | 58F | 48F | 41F | 37F | 39F |
Each river's own gauge: its average for these dates across the years it has recorded, measured, and not a forecast for this year.
| Water | Nov 1 | Dec 1 | Jan 1 | Feb 1 | Feb 28 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio River at IrontonOHIO RIVER AT IRONTON, OH, 2015 to 2025 | 61F | 47F | 42F | 38F | 43F |
The moon from November to February
| Month | New moon | Full moon |
|---|---|---|
| November 2026 | Mon, Nov 9 | Tue, Nov 24 |
| December 2026 | Tue, Dec 8 | Wed, Dec 23 |
| January 2027 | Thu, Jan 7 | Fri, Jan 22 |
| February 2027 | Sat, Feb 6 | Sat, Feb 20 |
The U.S. Naval Observatory's dates, on local time.
Daylight in each area from November to February
Worked out for one place in each area, on its own clock.
| Area | Shortest day | Earliest sunset | Latest sunrise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Erieat Lake Erie | 9h 9m, Dec 21 | 5:03pm, around Dec 9 | 8:01am, around Jan 4 |
| Northeast Ohio's inland lakesat Mosquito Creek Lake | 9h 11m, Dec 21 | 4:55pm, around Dec 9 | 7:50am, around Jan 3 |
| Central and western Ohio's lakesat Indian Lake | 9h 16m, Dec 21 | 5:10pm, around Dec 8 | 8:00am, around Jan 4 |
| Southeast Ohio's hill-country lakesat Salt Fork Lake | 9h 19m, Dec 21 | 5:02pm, around Dec 8 | 7:50am, around Jan 4 |
| Southwest Ohio's lakesat Caesar Creek Lake | 9h 22m, Dec 21 | 5:14pm, around Dec 7 | 7:58am, around Jan 4 |
| The Ohio Riverat Ohio River at Ironton | 9h 28m, Dec 21 | 5:11pm, around Dec 7 | 7:50am, around Jan 5 |