Fish Run Map — what’s biting, by month & region
Drag the timeline and watch the country light up. Each state shows how many commonly targeted species are peaking or spawning there that month. Hover a state for the active species, then jump to waters and species guides.
Regional pattern across commonly targeted species — timing shifts by latitude, elevation, and water body. Always confirm seasons and closures with the local agency before you go.
Plan around the bite
Pair the map with the Trip Planner — pick a species, a state, and a date window and get a guided, printable plan.
Know the rules
A hot bite still needs the right license. Check state regulations, border-water reciprocity, and boat / AIS rules before you go.
Get the gear
Each species gear page lists the tackle that matches the bite — build your kit before the peak window closes.
Next on the water
The rest of the trip checklist — free, printable, no sign-up.
How to read the run map without over-trusting it
The map shows which commonly targeted species are in a peak activity or spawning phase in each state for the month you have selected. Two things drive that pattern, and both are regional rather than calendar-fixed. The first is photoperiod — day length, which advances on the same schedule every year and sets the broad window. The second is water temperature, which varies enormously with latitude, elevation, spring inflow, and reservoir depth, and which is what actually trips the spawn. That is why the same month can be pre-spawn in one state and post-spawn two states away, and why an unusually cold spring can shift a window by weeks while the calendar stays put.
Read the map as a starting hypothesis, not a report. A state lit up for a species means the general timing is plausible there, not that fish are shallow on your lake today. The reliable confirmation is local and cheap: water temperature at the ramp, recent reports from the specific water, and whether the agency has run a plant recently. Cold-water species such as trout and salmon are the most temperature-bound, so their windows move the most; warm-water species such as bass, bluegill, and catfish hold broader windows and tolerate a wider swing.
Three limits are worth stating plainly. The map is coarse — it works at state resolution, so it cannot tell you that one end of a reservoir is three weeks ahead of the other, which it often is. It does not account for closures: a species can be at peak activity during a closed season or on a catch-and-release-only water, and the map has no opinion about that. And it does not know about flow. A tailwater or a spring creek can fish a month out of step with the state around it because released water holds a near-constant temperature. Confirm the season and the rule for the exact water before you act on anything the map suggests.
When it does line up, the payoff is timing. A short and predictable window — a trout opener, a steelhead push, a bass spawn, a catfish flat — is worth planning around, because the difference between fishing the shoulder of the window and its peak is usually larger than the difference between a good lure and a great one. Use the map to pick the month, the state water list to pick the place, and the species guides to pick the presentation.