Fishing report
Castle Rock Lake Channel Catfish Fishing Report
Dellwood, WI
Modeled from live National Weather Service data as of Aug 8, 2026 at 4:50 AM CDT, plus solunar and sun/moon times computed in-house. This is a computed report, not an eyewitness catch report.
The state's records for Castle Rock Lake name the category Channel Catfish belongs to rather than the individual species, so its presence is derived from that category, not from a species-level survey.
Max depth
36 ft
Deepest measurement on record
Max depth: Stachelek et al. (2021), LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, Environmental Data Initiative (CC BY 4.0)
Overall rating
Channel Catfish at Castle Rock Lake — 2026-08-08
Fair · 58/100Best window: 10 PM (Good · 76/100)
- Season
- Summer
- Moon
- 25% illuminated, waningWaning Crescent
- Est. surface temp
- 72.2°F
- Pressure
- 29.99 inHgStable
Est. water temp
72.2°F
v1 estimate from air temperature — not a sensor reading
Below Channel Catfish's 81-86°F range
Sun & moon
- Sunrise
- 5:56 AM
- Sunset
- 8:14 PM
- Moonrise
- 12:41 AM
- Moonset
- 5:27 PM
Sky, wind & pressureat best window · 10 PM
- Cloud cover
- 33%
- Precip chance
- 1%
- Wind
- 5 mph SW
- Pressure
- 29.99 inHg Stable
Species context
Why this score
Fair (58/100) for Channel Catfish: water is estimated at 72.2°F, below Channel Catfish's 81-86°F optimal range. Best window: Night — boosts feeding activity by about 50%, one of their peak feeding windows. That hour also overlaps a major solunar period. 29.99 inHg and stable pressure modeled flat — no change from this fish's baseline. Light (5-10 mph) wind modeled about 15% above this fish's baseline.
What's driving the 10 PM score
Light window (night) is doing the most for this score. The score gives up the most on water temperature — 72.2°F estimated, about 23.5 points below its best.
- Water temperature · neutral
- Light window · helping
- Solunar period · helping
- Barometric pressure · helping
- Wind · helping
Show the numbers behind this
Water temperature: 72.2°F estimated
16.5 of 40 pts
Optimal range 81-86°F
Well supportedWater temperature governs a cold-blooded fish's metabolism, so it is the largest term in the model (Christie & Regier 1988). The figure is a thermal-lag estimate built from forecast air temperature and the time of year — not a sensor reading, and not this lake's actual measured water.
Light window: Night
25 of 25 pts
Boosts feeding activity by about 50%
Well supportedLow-light feeding windows are the strongest timing signal inside a single day. How much each window is worth is this species' own cited response, sourced in its model file, not a generic curve.
Solunar period: Major period
15 of 15 pts
Not supported by testingPeer-reviewed testing of North American freshwater fisheries found no significant relationship between solunar values, lunar phase or lunar illumination and catch rates (SN Applied Sciences, 2023) — air temperature predicted catch better than any solunar table tested. It is shown because anglers expect it, and it is shown separately so you can discount it. Its weight is under owner review.
Barometric pressure: Stable
10 of 10 pts
Modeled flat — no change from this fish's baseline
ContestedThe barometric effect is real to most anglers but small and contested in the literature — several of the species studies cited in this model report null results — so it carries one of the smallest weights here.
Wind: Light (5-10 mph)
9.6 of 10 pts
Modeled about 15% above this fish's baseline
Moderately supportedWind stacks forage on windward structure, but both the size and the direction of the effect depend on the species and the water, so it carries a modest weight.
Then the whole score is scaled
Season: Summer — ×1.00 (100% of the ungated score)
How catchable Channel Catfish are at this point in the year. This scales the whole score rather than competing with the factors above — a fish that is dormant this time of year cannot score well no matter how good the hour looks.
Weather front: No clear front — ×1.00 (100% of the ungated score)
A multi-hour frontal pattern read from the day's forecast trajectory. No front is classified today, so this changes nothing and the single-reading pressure factor above does its normal job.
Those five factors add up to 76.1 of 100 points, and the two multipliers above take that to 76. The weights are v1 tuning constants under owner review — they are shown here rather than hidden so you can weigh them against your own judgement.
What this score does not know
- Water clarity. We have no source for it and do not estimate it.
- Measured water temperature. The figure in the breakdown is a model over forecast air temperature, not a reading from a buoy or a probe.
- Baitfish and forage activity.
- How much fishing pressure this water has had.
- Where the fish actually are. Depth bands are the species' published seasonal ranges, not an observation of this lake.
- What anyone actually caught. No catch reports feed this score.
Conditions read from the National Weather Service as of Aug 8, 2026 at 4:50 AM CDT. Solunar periods and sun/moon times are computed, not fetched.
When best caught
It's currently summer. Channel Catfish typically hold 1-9 ft deep this time of year — at an estimated 72.2°F, this looks like a slower time of year to target them, since water temp is outside their optimal range.
Current depth
1-9 ft
This is the seasonal depth band from the species model — relative to this species' typical behavior, not this lake's actual structure. True depth relative to this lake's bottom contours needs lake bathymetry (tracked in issue #175).
Today's solunar periods
- Minor: 12:11 AM–1:11 AM
- Major: 8:02 AM–10:02 AM
- Minor: 4:57 PM–5:57 PM
- Major: 8:35 PM–10:35 PM
Best times
When do channel catfish feed during the day?
Channel Catfish feed most actively at Night, when activity runs about 36% above the daily average across all four light windows.
- Dawn1.00x
Has no measurable effect on feeding activity.
- Daytime0.50x
Suppresses feeding activity by about 50%.
- Dusk1.40x
Boosts feeding activity by about 40%.
- Night1.50x
Boosts feeding activity by about 50%.
Hour by hour
Hourly bite forecast
| Hour | Bite score | Rating | Light | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 AM | 66 | Good | Night | 7 mph NW |
| 5 AM | 66 | Good | Night | 7 mph NW |
| 6 AM | 57 | Fair | Dawn | 7 mph NW |
| 7 AM | 49 | Fair | Day | 7 mph NW |
| 8 AM | 59 | Fair | Day | 6 mph NW |
| 9 AM | 59 | Fair | Day | 7 mph NW |
| 10 AM | 59 | Fair | Day | 7 mph NW |
| 11 AM | 49 | Fair | Day | 7 mph NW |
| 12 PM | 49 | Fair | Day | 7 mph NW |
| 1 PM | 49 | Fair | Day | 7 mph NW |
| 2 PM | 49 | Fair | Day | 7 mph NW |
| 3 PM | 49 | Fair | Day | 7 mph W |
| 4 PM | 53 | Fair | Day | 7 mph W |
| 5 PM | 53 | Fair | Day | 6 mph W |
| 6 PM | 49 | Fair | Day | 6 mph W |
| 7 PM | 49 | Fair | Day | 5 mph W |
| 8 PM | 72 | Good | Dusk | 3 mph SW |
| 9 PM | 74 | Good | Night | 3 mph SW |
| 10 PM | 76 | Good | Night | 5 mph SW |
| 11 PM | 66 | Good | Night | 6 mph SW |
Where to find Channel Catfish right now
Typical Summer depth: 1-9 ft
Channel Catfish feed most actively at Night, when activity runs about 36% above the daily average across all four light windows.
Castle Rock Lake's deepest measurement on record is 36 ft — read the depth bands above against that. It is the deepest point someone actually measured on this water, not a contour survey, so deeper water may exist and there is no depth map to check it against.
Plan a Channel Catfish trip to Castle Rock Lake
Change the date, compare species, or check the week ahead in the live tool.
Other species on record at Castle Rock Lake
FAQ
Common questions
Are there Channel Catfish in Castle Rock Lake?
The state's records for Castle Rock Lake name the category Channel Catfish belongs to rather than the individual species, so its presence is derived from that category, not from a species-level survey.
When do Channel Catfish bite at Castle Rock Lake?
Channel Catfish feed most actively at Night, when activity runs about 36% above the daily average across all four light windows. Today's report above scores every hour of the local day against live weather for Castle Rock Lake, and shows what each input contributed alongside how well the evidence supports it.
How deep should you fish for Channel Catfish at Castle Rock Lake?
Typical Channel Catfish depth by season: Pre-Spawn 1-5 ft, Spawn 1-5 ft, Post-Spawn 2-7 ft, Summer 1-9 ft, Fall 3-10 ft, Winter 5-12 ft. These bands come from published fisheries data for the species, not from a survey of Castle Rock Lake itself.