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Home › Waters › Ohio › Muskingum River
River · Southeastern Ohio, the navigable lower river from Zanesville through McConnelsville and Beverly to the Ohio River at Marietta · Ohio

Muskingum River Fishing Guides

Ohio's biggest inland river, a hand-operated lock and dam system from Zanesville to Marietta with strong sauger and catfish fishing.

A wide sand and gravel bar on a slow river below a timbered bank
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Muskingum River

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About the Muskingum River

The Muskingum is the largest river entirely within Ohio and it does not fish like anything else in the state. Formed at Coshocton where the Walhonding and Tuscarawas meet, it runs southeast for over a hundred miles to join the Ohio River at Marietta, and along the lower stretch it is a genuine navigation channel, controlled by a series of hand-operated locks and dams that date to the 1840s and are still worked by hand today. That system is the defining feature for anglers. Each dam creates a pool above it and a tailrace below, and those tailraces are where a great deal of the fishing happens.

Below the dams, sauger and saugeye stack up in the broken water in cold weather and are the target that draws the most dedicated anglers, fished hard from late fall through early spring. White bass and hybrid striped bass move through in schools and can be spectacular when they are found. Catfish are the year-round backbone: channel cats everywhere, flatheads in the deep timber and rock, and blue catfish increasingly present in the lowest reaches near the Ohio. Smallmouth and spotted bass work the rock and riprap edges, largemouth use the backwaters and embayments, and the river holds a modest but real muskellunge population. Boat fishing dominates here, and the pools are large enough that a decent boat is a genuine advantage.

The McConnelsville gauge carries discharge and stage but no temperature sensor. Stage is the number to watch, because this is a big river that comes up substantially after regional rain and the tailrace areas turn dangerous quickly when it does. Low, stable flows in late summer and fall concentrate fish below the dams and make the whole system far more predictable to fish.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Posting to Muskingum River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

McConnelsville lock and dam - tailrace bank access and a ramp near the gauge.
Morgan County ramp at Malta - a developed boat launch across from McConnelsville.
Beverly lock and dam - tailrace fishing and a launch on the lower river.
Devola lock and dam - the lowest lock, with strong tailrace access near Marietta.
Muskingum River Parkway access at Luke Chute - a ramp and bank fishing.
Zanesville riverfront - access to the upper navigable pool.
Marietta harbor and the Ohio confluence - boat access to the mouth.

Seasons

Spring: white bass and hybrids run, sauger stay in the tailraces, and high water can shut things down.
Summer: catfish are the mainstay, with bass on the riprap and locks operating for boat traffic.
Fall: excellent all around as flows drop, with sauger returning to the tailraces late in the season.
Winter: prime sauger and saugeye fishing below the dams for anglers willing to stand in the cold.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Muskingum River?

As of Sep 17, 6:00 am, the USGS gauge Muskingum River at McConnelsville OH reads 4,800 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Muskingum River?

Anglers target Blue Catfish, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Flathead Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Hybrid Striped Bass, Largemouth Bass, Muskellunge, Sauger, Saugeye, Smallmouth Bass, Spotted Bass, White Bass on the Muskingum River in Ohio.

Where can you access the Muskingum River?

McConnelsville lock and dam - tailrace bank access and a ramp near the gauge. Morgan County ramp at Malta - a developed boat launch across from McConnelsville. Beverly lock and dam - tailrace fishing and a launch on the lower river. Devola lock and dam - the lowest lock, with strong tailrace access near Marietta. Muskingum River Parkway access at Luke Chute - a ramp and bank fishing. Zanesville riverfront - access to the upper navigable pool. Marietta harbor and the Ohio confluence - boat access to the mouth.

When is the best time to fish the Muskingum River?

Spring: white bass and hybrids run, sauger stay in the tailraces, and high water can shut things down. Summer: catfish are the mainstay, with bass on the riprap and locks operating for boat traffic. Fall: excellent all around as flows drop, with sauger returning to the tailraces late in the season. Winter: prime sauger and saugeye fishing below the dams for anglers willing to stand in the cold.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Muskingum River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Ohio agency site: https://ohiodnr.gov/buy-and-apply/hunting-fishing-boating/fishing-resources/fishing-regulations