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Home › Waters › Ohio › Licking River
Tailwater · Central Ohio, the regulated reach below Dillon Dam through Muskingum County from Dillon Falls down to the Muskingum at Zanesville · Ohio

Licking River Fishing Guides

A regulated below-dam reach that has become central Ohio best-known saugeye tailwater, with fish washing through from the lake above.

A dark forest stream running fast over stone
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Licking River

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About the Licking River

Dillon Dam sits on the Licking River northwest of Zanesville, holding back Dillon Lake, and the short reach of river below it is one of the most consistently productive pieces of water in central Ohio. It is a tailwater in the structural sense – flow below the dam is controlled rather than natural, and the fishing changes with what the gates are doing – but it is worth being precise about what kind of tailwater it is. Dillon is a warm-water flood-control and recreation reservoir, not a deep coldwater storage impoundment. There is no cold hypolimnetic release here and no trout fishery. What there is instead is a concentrated warm-water fishery fed continuously from the lake above.

Saugeye are the reason most people come. Ohio stocks them heavily in Dillon Lake, and fish move over and through the dam into the tailrace in numbers, where they hold in the turbulent water and the seams along its edges. The fishing is best when water is moving, and local anglers watch the release schedule as closely as they watch the weather. Smallmouth bass use the rocky margins and the riffles downstream, white bass run in numbers in spring, and channel and flathead catfish work the deeper scour holes below the stilling basin. Crappie and bluegill fill the slower edges.

The gauge below Dillon Dam publishes discharge and stage and carries no temperature sensor. Read the discharge trace carefully before you go – it is the single most useful number for this reach, because a change in release rate transforms the fishing and, more importantly, the wading conditions. Water can come up quickly and without warning below any controlled dam. Fish from shore when releases are high.

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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.

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Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Licking 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

Dillon State Park - the primary access, with parking close to the tailrace.
Dillon Falls access - bank and wade entry on the reach below the dam.
Zanesville riverfront - access at the Muskingum confluence.
Blackhawk area river access - walk-in bank fishing on the middle reach.
Dillon Dam Road pull-offs - roadside access to the upper tailwater.
Muskingum River confluence - boat access to the lowest reach.
Dillon State Park boat ramp - lake access for anglers working both sides of the dam.

Seasons

Spring: the strongest saugeye fishing of the year, with white bass running and high releases concentrating fish.
Summer: smallmouth and catfish carry the reach; saugeye fishing improves at night and around release changes.
Fall: saugeye return to the tailrace in numbers as water cools and the fishing rivals spring.
Winter: cold but productive - saugeye stay in the tailrace and are caught through the coldest months.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Licking River?

Anglers target Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Flathead Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, Saugeye, Smallmouth Bass, White Bass, White Crappie on the Licking River in Ohio.

Where can you access the Licking River?

Dillon State Park - the primary access, with parking close to the tailrace. Dillon Falls access - bank and wade entry on the reach below the dam. Zanesville riverfront - access at the Muskingum confluence. Blackhawk area river access - walk-in bank fishing on the middle reach. Dillon Dam Road pull-offs - roadside access to the upper tailwater. Muskingum River confluence - boat access to the lowest reach. Dillon State Park boat ramp - lake access for anglers working both sides of the dam.

When is the best time to fish the Licking River?

Spring: the strongest saugeye fishing of the year, with white bass running and high releases concentrating fish. Summer: smallmouth and catfish carry the reach; saugeye fishing improves at night and around release changes. Fall: saugeye return to the tailrace in numbers as water cools and the fishing rivals spring. Winter: cold but productive - saugeye stay in the tailrace and are caught through the coldest months.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Licking 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