Running at Susquehanna River at Conowingo this month
Seasonal claims cite the guide that backs them.Blue Catfish
Fresh cut bait on heavy bottom rigs in the channel
Invasive — no limits; harvest is encouraged.
Chain Pickerel
Inline spinners and jerkbaits along wood and weed edges
Smallmouth Bass
Tubes and swimbaits in the boulder seams below Conowingo
Striped Bass
Topwater at first light over structure; jig the channel edges after sun-up
Seasons, slots and closures change — check MD DNR before targeting stripers.
The next three days
Today
2026-10-17- Sunrise
- 7:16 am
- Sunset
- 6:23 pm
- Moonrise
- 2:00 pm
- Moonset
- 11:09 pm
- · Dusk — the evening feed.
- · Solunar major — moon overhead.
- · Solunar minor — moonset.
- · Forecast wind about 7 mph — comfortable water.
Tomorrow
2026-10-18- Sunrise
- 7:17 am
- Sunset
- 6:21 pm
- Moonrise
- 2:37 pm
- Moonset
- —
- · Solunar major — moon underfoot.
- · First light — low sun and feeding light.
- · Forecast wind about 5 mph — comfortable water.
- · Solunar minor — moonrise.
- · Forecast wind about 7 mph — comfortable water.
- · Dusk — the evening feed.
- · Solunar major — moon overhead.
- · Forecast wind about 2 mph — comfortable water.
Mon Oct 19
2026-10-19- Sunrise
- 7:18 am
- Sunset
- 6:20 pm
- Moonrise
- 3:07 pm
- Moonset
- 12:10 am
- · Solunar minor — moonset.
- · Forecast wind about 0 mph — comfortable water.
- · Solunar major — moon underfoot.
- · First light — low sun and feeding light.
- · Forecast wind about 3 mph — comfortable water.
- · Solunar minor — moonrise.
- · Forecast wind about 7 mph — comfortable water.
- · Dusk — the evening feed.
- · Solunar major — moon overhead.
- · Forecast wind about 3 mph — comfortable water.
Not in this forecast
A factor we could not measure is left out and named — never guessed at.
- Water temperature: No current reading from this gauge, so no temperature claim is made.
- Tide: No NOAA tide station on this water — river flow, not tide, moves it.
How a window earns its score
Three layers, in order of certainty. Astronomy is arithmetic and never missing: sunrise, sunset, moon phase, moonrise and set, and the lunar transits. Dawn and dusk are feeding fact; the solunar majors and minors are a century of angling tradition, and we label them as the theory they are. Season comes from our own guides — every species claim on this page links to the article that backs it. Live readings — water temperature against the species’ feeding band, tide movement, forecast wind — join the score only when the gauge or the NWS actually answered.
Overlap is the whole game: first light landing on a solunar major with a moving tide is what a Prime morning is. The score is the receipt, not the promise — weather changes, and fish have not read the theory.
| Factor | Weight |
|---|---|
| First light / dusk | +25 |
| Solunar major (moon over/underfoot) | +30 |
| Solunar minor (moonrise / moonset) | +15 |
| Tide moving through the window | +10 |
| Light wind (≤12 mph) | +5 |
| Heavy wind (≥18 mph) | -15 |
| New or full moon | ×1.2 on lunar factors |
The lookout grades itself
0 stamped reports in the bookEvery catch and fishing report filed on this site is stamped with the conditions it happened under — the moon, the light, the solunar period, and what this page was rating that hour. The stamps accumulate into the one thing no forecast anywhere publishes: its own record. Descriptive, not causal — this is where the community’s catches actually landed, never proof the rating made the fish bite.
The book is open — 0 of 20 reports stamped so far.
We publish the percentages when there is enough in the log to mean something. Small-sample percentages are how honest data becomes a dishonest claim. File a report and the book fills.
Fished a window? Tell the fleet how it held up.
Field reports are how the lookout gets sharper — and how the next angler decides.