Fort Peck Reservoir – Montana

I was recently invited on a fishing trip to Fort Peck Reservoir in Montana.  To be honest, I’d never heard of the place before the invite, but it sounded awesome so I signed up.  Turns out it’s kind of a walleye fisherman’s Mecca and turned out to be a fantastic trip.  A good buddy of ours who shares our elk camp and his brother were the main connections and we were also joined by a few of their buddies from North Dakota (one who incidentally won the North Dakota Governors Cup in 2018).   As a side note I’ve never fished with guys who have their game so dialed in; the entire trip I felt like I was on a guided fishing trip, these guys were legit!  But what really got me excited about the trip was that we were going to load camping gear on boats and motor an hour-or-so down lake (to where they were catching fish the previous year).  Something about traveling down the lake with camping gear and boats just appealed to my sense of adventure and I wasn’t dispositioned.

We left Fort Collins on Wednesday afternoon June 26^th, grabbed an impromptu room in Miles City, Montana that evening and finished off our drive the next morning going thru Jordan Montana and arriving at Hell Creek’s Marina around 11 am.  The previous year the fellas were boating westward of the marina about 45-60mins. to get into fish, so it was assumed the same would happen this year (hence the boat camping expedition) but upon arrival and some conversations with their fishing buddies, it seemed the fish had swum eastward cutting our commute in half.  So, we wouldn’t have to travel as far to the west to get into fish, but it still made the lakeside camping more effective.  A reminder that seasonal variations will influence water temperatures and fishing tactics.

I mentioned earlier that I’d never heard of Fort Peck Reservoir prior to this trip which is somewhat embarrassing considering I consider myself a fairly well informed outdoors person.  The lake (reservoir) is the first impoundment along the Missouri River which claims more coastline than the Pacific Ocean along the California coast.  While gearing up for the trip our buddy Kyle sent this YouTube video of Fort Peck.  It was a great intro into what we were getting ourselves into and if you’re planning a trip it’s worth the watch.

What I loved most about the trip is that nobody was there.  Technically there were folks there, but it was such a huge body of water and so few boats it felt like we had it to ourselves.   There were maybe 30-40 trailers in the marina, less than I’d typically see in our dinky little lakes around town.  A couple of other notes to would-be travelers, the town of Jordan Montana sits about 30-miles south of the Hell Creek Marina and there’s not a whole lot there, couple gas stations (maybe).  And if you’re trailering a boat expect the 30-miles of washboard dirt road to take 1-2 hours to navigate due to the washboard and the county grading schedule.  The Marina has the usual conveniences; gas, bait, ice, beer, Wifi, lodging, and the local fish report.  We didn’t spend much time there, but it was handy to grab those last-minute items.

We ended up camping about 10-miles west of the Marina in a beautiful little protected cove.  Water temps ranged from 62-67 and we fished live bait, bottom bouncers, crankbaits and spinners.  The fellas who had invited us thought the fishing was marginal at best, but I thought the overall fishing was great.  We ended up catching around 70-walleye, about 10-pike in the 10-20lb range and numerous smallmouth bass, perch, and drum.

As always, I think what defines the trip the most is experiencing something new and this trip didn’t disappoint.  New country, new friends, new water, what more could a guy ask for?  I’d like to make the drive again next summer with the family in tow, as I’m pretty sure my little guys (11 & 13) and Wendy would get a kick out of latching into those big Northerns.  Grateful to have been invited along and treated to some new experiences!