Waters · Lakes · IN · Fri, Oct 30

Monroe Lake water level today 537.65 ft, falling

Bite index 5/10 — Picky — save your energy for the evening.

Work for it.

Built from solunar, pressure, level, wind. This water has no live gauge for every reading — see the sources below.

5/10
Picky

Today's bite windows

12 AM6 AMNoon6 PM11 PM
Major
4:31 AM–6:31 AM
Moon overhead
Minor
12:57 PM–1:57 PM
Moonset
Major
5:02 PM–7:02 PM
Moon underfoot
Minor
10:12 PM–11:12 PM
Moonrise

Sunrise 8:11 AM · sunset 6:47 PM · tomorrow's first major 5:33 AM–7:33 AM · windows on every water

Solunar · computed updated 10:47 AM

Conditions right now

Water temp estimated
≈57.2°F
7-day mean of air temperature, ±4.5°F typical
computed from NOAA KBMG updated 10:05 AM
Water level
537.65ft
-0.01 ft in 24h
USACE Monroe Lake updated 10:00 AM
Pressure
30.34inHg
rising fast · +5.42 hPa/12h
NOAA KBMG updated 10:05 AM
Wind
12mph E
NOAA KBMG updated 10:05 AM
Moon
74% waning
Solunar · computed updated 10:47 AM

What this means

Largemouth bass, Crappie, Catfish
This gauge reports level but no water temperature, so depth calls stay open. Read the windows and the pressure trend instead.

Monroe Lake level over the last 8 days

537.65 ft above NGVD-29 down 0.01 ft in 24 hours

That sits 0% of the way up the band it has held over the last 8 days, between 537.65 and 537.8 ft. Over the week it is down0.12ft.

10-22 537.65–537.80 ft 10-30
USACE Monroe Lake updated 10:00 AM

The week ahead

Sat 6 Biting
Sun 6 Biting
Mon 6 Biting
Tue 7 Biting
Wed 7 Biting
Thu 6 Biting
Fri 6 Biting

Forecast days carry solunar and the wind outlook. Pressure and gauge movement land the morning of.

Before you go

A Indiana fishing license covers this water — $23 a year for residents. Indiana DNR sets the rules and is the one that counts.

What it costs, and who is exempt →

Nearby waters today

Questions people ask about Monroe Lake

Answered from the same readings as the rest of this page. Where we have no basis for an answer, there is no entry — spot-by-spot local knowledge is not something we can claim for Monroe Lake.

Is it worth fishing Monroe Lake today?
5 out of 10 — picky. Work for it. The strongest stretch is 4:31 AM–6:31 AM. That number is worked out fresh each morning from the solunar windows, the pressure trend, the water level.
What time should you fish Monroe Lake?
Today's major windows run 4:31 AM–6:31 AM and 5:02 PM–7:02 PM, with minor windows at 12:57 PM–1:57 PM and 10:12 PM–11:12 PM. Sunrise is 8:11 AM and sunset 6:47 PM. A major landing on first or last light is the stretch worth setting an alarm for.
What is the water temperature at Monroe Lake?
No gauge on Monroe Lake measures it, so this is an estimate: roughly 57.2°F, worked out from the 7-day mean of air temperature at NOAA weather station KBMG (Bloomington, Monroe County Airport). Checked against the lakes that do have a thermometer, that method lands within about 4.5°F of the real reading and was off by 8.3°F at worst. Treat it as a ballpark, not a measurement — and note the bite index above ignores it entirely, because an error that size would move the verdict as often as it would fix it.
What is the water level at Monroe Lake right now?
537.65 ft above NGVD-29, read at 10:00 AM from the Monroe Lake gauge run by the USACE. Over 24 hours it is down 0.01 ft.
Are water levels rising or falling at Monroe Lake?
Falling. The lake is down 0.01 ft in 24 hours and down 0.12 ft over the week. Over the last 8 days it has held between 537.65 and 537.8 ft. Every figure here is a difference between two gauge readings, not a forecast — what the level does next depends on rain and on what the dam releases.
Can you eat the fish you catch in Monroe Lake?
That is a health question and it belongs with the state, not with us. IN publishes fish consumption advisories through its health or environmental agency, and those are the ones that count. We give no eating advice.
Do you need a licence to fish Monroe Lake?
Yes. A Indiana fishing license covers this water, required from age 18. Indiana DNR sets the rules and is the one that counts.

Where these numbers come from

Indiana's largest lake, held by Monroe Dam on Salt Creek south-east of Bloomington and read by the Corps of Engineers. Summer pool is 538 ft. No temperature sensor at the gauge.

No one types these in by hand. If a source goes quiet, the page says so instead of showing you yesterday.