Piedmont Lake fishing: Muskellunge, Walleye, Smallmouth Bass

Target species: Muskellunge, Walleye, Smallmouth Bass, Flathead Catfish, Channel Catfish
Boat: 3 ramps and launches on file for this water.
Start here: Launch at Kirkwood Ramp.

The reservoir

Piedmont Lake covers 2,356 acres in Ohio, across 2 counties: Belmont and Harrison. It is a reservoir: 96% of it is 26 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is 32.1 feet (9.8 m). Our records hold 8 species for this water.

5 target fish, led by Muskellunge

  • Muskellunge — Feeding water: 65–75°F.
  • Walleye — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
  • Smallmouth Bass — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
  • Flathead Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
  • Channel Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.

Also recorded here: Sauger, Common Carp, Banded Killifish.

Piedmont Lake at Dawn.jpg
Jleedev · CC BY-SA 4.0

Depth: down to 32.1 ft at the deepest measured point

Deepest measured point: 32.1 ft (9.8 m). 96% of the water is 26 feet or shallower. We hold 121 depth contours for this water, drawn from 40,155 soundings.

  • 0–2 ft: 11.3% of the water
  • 2–4 ft: 8.4% of the water
  • 4–6 ft: 8.8% of the water
  • 6–8 ft: 10% of the water
  • 8–10 ft: 8.6% of the water
  • 10–12 ft: 7.6% of the water
  • 12–14 ft: 6.3% of the water
  • 14–16 ft: 5.3% of the water
  • 16–18 ft: 5.7% of the water
  • 18–20 ft: 6.1% of the water
  • 20–22 ft: 5.8% of the water
  • 22–24 ft: 4.5% of the water
  • 24–26 ft: 7.6% of the water
  • 26–28 ft: 4% of the water

Stocking: 18,563,416 fish, 1993–2022

Ohio DNR Division of Wildlife records list 18,563,416 fish released into this water from 1993 to 2022. The latest stocking on record is from 2022, more than three years ago.

Piedmont Lake from Rt 22 rest area.JPG
Roseohioresident · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Walleye: 1,258,532 in 1970–1988
  • Channel Catfish: 731,453 in 1970–1996
  • Smallmouth Bass: 175,089 in 1970–1980
  • Muskellunge: 141,393 in 2002–2021
  • Flathead Catfish: 79,662 in 1974–1982

2 more species on the stocking list.

3 ramps and launches on this water

On this water we hold 3 boat ramps.

  • Kirkwood Ramp — Sewellsville, Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District. Twp Rd. 802, Sewellsville 43759- · phone (330) 343-6647 · website mwcdlakes.com
  • Piedmont Marina — Freeport, Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District. 32281 Marina Road, Freeport 43973- · phone (740) 658-3735 · website mwcd.org
  • Reynolds Road Launch Ramp — Piedmont, Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District. State Route 800 and TWP 355, Piedmont 43983- · phone (330) 343-6647 · website mwcdlakes.com

Fee and opening hours are blank for all 3 places in this list: a blank means we hold no such field, not that it is free or always open, and this list may not be complete.

What is hard here

Only 3 public ramps are on file, so the launch decides where you fish.

Where this data comes from

  • Ohio DNR — Ohio DNR: depth contours: class A, a survey of the bottom.
  • USACE CWMS — USACE CWMS elevation-area curves: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
  • Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI) — LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0: Lake depth for 17,675 lakes in the conterminous U.S.: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.