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Home › Waters › Pennsylvania › Casselman River
River · Somerset County, the river flowing north out of Maryland through Rockwood and Markleton to join the Youghiogheny River at Confluence in the Laurel Highlands · Pennsylvania

Casselman River Fishing Guides

A Laurel Highlands river recovered from decades of mine drainage, now holding trout and smallmouth along the Great Allegheny Passage to Confluence.

A mountain stream running over mossy rock through eastern hardwoods
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Casselman River

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About the Casselman River

The Casselman River is one of the better environmental recovery stories in Pennsylvania, and the reason it belongs on any list of the state’s fishable water is that the recovery actually worked. For most of the twentieth century the river carried acid mine drainage out of the Somerset County coal fields in quantities that left long reaches effectively dead. Decades of treatment, passive remediation and tributary work have brought the pH and the metals back within range, and the river now supports a genuine fishery from Rockwood down through Markleton to its junction with the Youghiogheny at Confluence. The Great Allegheny Passage rail trail follows the river for that whole distance, which makes it one of the most accessible rivers in the Laurel Highlands.

Brown trout are the mainstay and hold through the cooler upper and middle reaches, with rainbow trout in the stocked sections and brook trout coming out of the colder tributaries that drain the ridges on either side. Smallmouth bass take over as the dominant fish in the lower river toward Confluence, holding on the ledges and in the pools where the gradient eases. Rock bass are common in the shaded bank water, and creek chub, white sucker and bluegill fill in the rest. The river is readily wadeable at normal flows and the trail access means an angler can walk in and fish a mile of water without seeing a road.

This gauge is unusually well equipped, publishing water temperature alongside discharge, stage, turbidity, conductance and pH, and for a river with this history that combination is genuinely useful. Temperature tells you whether the trout reaches are fishing; the conductance and pH series are a live readout on the mine drainage recovery that made the fishery possible. A moderate flow with a stable temperature in the fifties is the ideal trout window.

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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 Casselman 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.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Casselman River cfs

Now: 136 cfs, read 7:30 am CST, Mon Nov 2, 2026 (USGS 03079000, Casselman River at Markleton, PA).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Markleton - the gauge village in the middle of the river and the best place to read conditions.
Rockwood - the upstream borough with trail access, parking and the coolest trout water.
Confluence - the downstream village where the Casselman meets the Youghiogheny, and the base for the lower river.
Great Allegheny Passage - the rail trail following the river for its whole length, the main walk-in access.
Somerset - the county town twenty minutes east, with lodging, food and tackle.
Youghiogheny River - the larger river at Confluence, the obvious bigger-water alternative.
Laurel Hill Creek - the nearby tributary trout stream, a good small-water option on a high day.

Seasons

Spring: the strongest season, with cold water, good flow and brown and rainbow trout spread through the whole river.
Summer: the trout concentrate in the cooler upper reaches and the tributary mouths while smallmouth fishing improves downstream.
Fall: excellent, with trout colouring up, smallmouth feeding hard and the Laurel Highlands at their best.
Winter: fishable on milder days in the deeper pools, with the temperature series the best guide to whether it is worth the trip.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Casselman River?

As of Nov 2, 7:30 am, the USGS gauge Casselman River at Markleton, PA reads 136 cfs, with water temperature 49.6 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Casselman River?

Anglers target Bluegill, Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Creek Chub, Rainbow Trout, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass, White Sucker on the Casselman River in Pennsylvania.

Where can you access the Casselman River?

Markleton - the gauge village in the middle of the river and the best place to read conditions. Rockwood - the upstream borough with trail access, parking and the coolest trout water. Confluence - the downstream village where the Casselman meets the Youghiogheny, and the base for the lower river. Great Allegheny Passage - the rail trail following the river for its whole length, the main walk-in access. Somerset - the county town twenty minutes east, with lodging, food and tackle. Youghiogheny River - the larger river at Confluence, the obvious bigger-water alternative. Laurel Hill Creek - the...

When is the best time to fish the Casselman River?

Spring: the strongest season, with cold water, good flow and brown and rainbow trout spread through the whole river. Summer: the trout concentrate in the cooler upper reaches and the tributary mouths while smallmouth fishing improves downstream. Fall: excellent, with trout colouring up, smallmouth feeding hard and the Laurel Highlands at their best. Winter: fishable on milder days in the deeper pools, with the temperature series the best guide to whether it is worth the trip.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Casselman River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Pennsylvania agency site: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/fishandboat/fishing/regulations