Anyone here fish Fort Peck Lake

I’ve been wanting to make a trip out to Fort Peck for a few years now. What I’m really interested in is Vertical jigging for lake trout. But I also hear that the Walley, pike, and SM fishing is also excellent. Just curious what time of the year is best to go. If anyone here has been out there I’d appreciate all the Info you care to share. The last time I looked into a trip there it was rather difficult finding a place to stay. I believe I’d rather stay on the north End near the town of Fort Peck. I know there is a campground on that end but I think i’d prefer to not camp unless necessary.

Fort Peck Marina is a great place to drop your boat in, and the owner is very knowledgeable about the lake, and what’s hot.

There’s also a Hotel just NE, it’s OK. I wouldn’t take my family there, but just remember where you are located. Nothing is going to be 5 star. There are also a couple VRBOs to choose from. At least there were the last time I was there.

If you’re going for 5 days, plan to be on dry land 2 days of the 5. When it gets windy, it’s not fun on that lake. But, there are areas(coves) that you can attempt to fish that are somewhat near the landing to try.

Make sure you have the Lakemaster chip and plan some spots to hit before you arrive. I would say they are about 1-2 weeks behind MN with their bite. Late May for Walleye. If it was me, I would plan to chase walleye first, then on those blue bird kinda calm days you can run and gun to locate the larger groups of Lake Trout.

Couple IDO Vids:

Fort Peck Lake Trout

Fort Peck Walleyes

-J.

I have watched both of the IDO videos. Looks like a fun time out there. Just need to get started working out the details.

TillrLife wrote:

Fort Peck Marina is a great place to drop your boat in, and the owner is very knowledgeable about the lake, and what’s hot.

Would that be a guy named Scott. The last time I was looking into a trip out there I had several conversations with a Scott who I believe worked at or owned a marina on the north end of the lake.

TillrLife wrote:

There’s also a Hotel just NE, it’s OK. I wouldn’t take my family there, but just remember where you are located.

When it comes to a place to stay with Guys fishing I don’t need much of a place. A hot shower and a place to sleep is all I care. I have stayed as my share of SUB PAR places over the years.

My wife and I were there the year before last fishing for walleyes and lake trout on the north end in late June. We stayed in Glasgow and launched at Fort Peck Marina every day. We caught fish and it was a lot of fun.

Is it Ft Peck that has the big Saugers too?

I was out there last fall hunting birds mostly although we did bring the boat and dumped it in our last day of the trip in early September.

We stayed at the cottonwood hotel in Glasgow. Nothing fancy but clean and was all we needed – definitely recommend staying there. It’s a good place for a fishing or hunting trip. There are some resort style cabins around the lake/marina but they are not like you’re MN resort style cabins. It’s pretty western out there. Glasgow is only like 15 mins away from the marina and having the grocery store and other food options close by is nice – make sure you go to the pizza place.

I would love to get back there for a fishing trip this summer. Check your trailer and tires well before you leave. Gotta go through a few rough towns between the ND line and the lake and don’t wanna be broken down in that stretch after dark; this is what we thought on our way through and the locals confirmed our concerns.

Charlie W wrote:

I would love to get back there for a fishing trip this summer. Check your trailer and tires well before you leave. Gotta go through a few rough towns between the ND line and the lake and don’t wanna be broken down in that stretch after dark; this is what we thought on our way through and the locals confirmed our concerns.

Care to elaborate?
I was told, it’s not really a place you want to go like as a couple.
A bunch of guys sure.
Is it that rough?

I personally haven’t been on that stretch of highway, but looking on a map looks like you cross a reservation. Well if it’s like the one to the south I can confirm you don’t wanna break down on that stretch of road. They “natives” don’t really care for us white guys. I’ve personally crossed the one to the south and screwed up on gas stops and needed gas on the res. Well it was open to we pulled in and tried to get gas and pumps wouldn’t work and they just watched from inside, went to go inside and door was locked! Lol well we gambled and drove on. But most people don’t have a clue how dangerous those reservations are.

Just drove that stretch this past July and stayed in Glasgow at the Cottonwood Inn.
Nice place, clean, and it was only 20 minutes to the Ft Peck marina. We were on our way out to Glacier Park for the week, but we did drive out to the dam just to see it. There were at least a dozen boats in the parking lot the night we stayed there (saturday before the 4th so busy weekend). They also had a small campground with spots for campers/5th wheels right behind the hotel.
Glasgow is only 150 miles from Williston, so just fill up there and your good, there is not much between the two but open praire/crops.
We ate at Eugene’s pizza the night we were there, then went and had a couple cold ones at Sam and Jeff’s saloon just down from there.

Have been doing a Laker trip or 2 out there for the past four years. Have stayed at the Hotel just north of the marina every time….sometimes in the small hotel rooms…sometimes we have rented one of their larger cabins. They have everything you need there (gas/bait/tackle/beer..etc) and it is only 2min from the marina ramp (but like stated…its definitely not 5 star). I did do an October laker trip a few years back and it is such a gamble with the weather and stayed at the cottonwood (rooms were nice…food at the restaurant sucked)…if you hit it right it can be great…we hit it wrong and dealt with 25degree temps and 25mph winds…was a character builder trip. I would say anytime after the 4th of July is good…but I also know people that do well in June and love September too. Later in the summer your go…the deeper you will be fishing. Closer to fall you get…the more they will be grouped up. The highway is a little rough but not terrible between Culbertson and Wolf Point. Just know someone in your group needs to purchase a captains license and you must go through a boat check prior to putting your boat in the lake and save the receipt (we’ve been checked for it). There is a boat check along the highway in Nassau right before you turn south to head towards the dam. Make SURE everything is clean and dry…there are sticklers (had a guy scraping squashed bugs off the side of our boat from the drive out questioning what they were on one trip). Take the time to head out deep and tune in your electronics before you go…as you will not catch much fishing blind. You need to be able to see your jig on your 2D all the way down to 100+ ft. If you are planning to use livescope…need the 34 if you are going to fish deeper that 80ft. July/August tends to have them in 80 – 120ft depending on the year. Last thing…as a warning…if you go out there and get into them, you will be hooked and you can count on making multiple trips back. We have had 40 – 60 fish days and its about the most fun you can have with you pants on!!

Culbertson, Poplar, and Wolf Point are three towns in the reservation on hwy 2 that you don’t wanna stop in. Get gas before or after and hope for no vehicle/trailer troubles.

We actually blew a tire just outside of wolf point in the middle of the afternoon. We changed it quickly on an approach and went on our way. When we arrived at the cottonwood inn (about 30 mins later) some guy who evidently drove by us pulled up and said that’s not an area you wanna be broken down. He has heard of people that have had to leave campers or boats for a few hours unattended or overnight and they are either gone or destroyed by the next morning. A few days later we ran into some other bird hunters who said similar stuff.

The lake/reservoir itself is awesome. The marina and dam area are unlike anything you will see in MN – massive. I certainly wouldn’t let driving through that res stop anyone from going out there, just plan accordingly. Glasgow is a great little town for a guys trip.

wkw wrote:

Is it Ft Peck that has the big Saugers too?

Both Fort Peck and Lake Sakakawea have some big saugers.

YCBTX wrote:

Have been doing a Laker trip or 2 out there for the past four years. Have stayed at the Hotel just north of the marina every time….sometimes in the small hotel rooms…sometimes we have rented one of their larger cabins. They have everything you need there (gas/bait/tackle/beer..etc) and it is only 2min from the marina ramp (but like stated…its definitely not 5 star). I did do an October laker trip a few years back and it is such a gamble with the weather and stayed at the cottonwood (rooms were nice…food at the restaurant sucked)…if you hit it right it can be great…we hit it wrong and dealt with 25degree temps and 25mph winds…was a character builder trip. I would say anytime after the 4th of July is good…but I also know people that do well in June and love September too. Later in the summer your go…the deeper you will be fishing. Closer to fall you get…the more they will be grouped up. The highway is a little rough but not terrible between Culbertson and Wolf Point. Just know someone in your group needs to purchase a captains license and you must go through a boat check prior to putting your boat in the lake and save the receipt (we’ve been checked for it). There is a boat check along the highway in Nassau right before you turn south to head towards the dam. Make SURE everything is clean and dry…there are sticklers (had a guy scraping squashed bugs off the side of our boat from the drive out questioning what they were on one trip). Take the time to head out deep and tune in your electronics before you go…as you will not catch much fishing blind. You need to be able to see your jig on your 2D all the way down to 100+ ft. If you are planning to use livescope…need the 34 if you are going to fish deeper that 80ft. July/August tends to have them in 80 – 120ft depending on the year. Last thing…as a warning…if you go out there and get into them, you will be hooked and you can count on making multiple trips back. We have had 40 – 60 fish days and its about the most fun you can have with you pants on!!

What kind of a captain’s license is needed? I never got one and I wasn’t aware of it but a special pass called a Vessel AIS Prevention Pass costing $30 is required for each boat to be legal. Like you say, out of state boats are required to be inspected with documented proof prior to launching. There’s also a $7.50 fee or nonresidents when buying a fishing license called the Angler AIS Prevention Pass.

yes…that is the one Im talking about (lol..we just call it the captains license because whoever of us brings their boat needs to have the $30 pass…the rest of the fisherman just need the $7.50 pass). Should have referred to it as what it actually is.

No problem. Fun lake to fish isn’t it?

Beyond fun lake to fish….in the summer months. Not winter…too many bad things can happen (even when you are careful)…will never be back to ice fish there…scuba crews are expensive for atv recovery.

Have you ever tried Lake Sakakawea? If not, I’d highly recommend it too. You won’t get Lake Trout like Fort Peck but the walleye fishing in June and July up in and around the Van Hook Arm is about as good as walleye fishing gets in this part of the world.

Made the trip with wife and kids about 4 years ago. Had no issues in Wolf Point as I needed to stop for gas, but yeah, not some place I would want to be stuck, that is for sure. We went mid-August, never been there before. Walleye fishing was slower, but the Laker bite in 80-110 feet on jigs, jigging raps and jigging spoons was epic. I just picked some deep humps at used the sonar, once you fired them up it was game on. 5-20lbs. Guides would come in with 2 from trolling, we had a cooler full each day. I would love to go back, but yeah, lodging isn’t the best for a family trip.

Finally got to scratch a Fort Peck fishing trip off my bucket list last June. I don’t think the big State of Montana knows just how good of fishing they really have out there. We did a DIY trip and stayed on the east side out of Rock Creek Marina. Super nice folks. Fishing was 5 star. We caught 10lb walleyes everywhere we went for the 4 days we were there and tons of mid twenty-thirty inch pike. Some of the best walleye fishing for big ones Ive ever seen. We didnt see the numbers you would on Lake Erie, but wow the size was crazy good. It got sunny and flat calm of couple days, midday, which really shut the walleye bite down. So we tried trolling for salmon. Didnt catch any kings but we had no problem hooking into a bunch of nice lakers. Would have liked to try jigging but we never really marked a concentrated school of fish. They were very scattered. But, In my opinion if I wanted to jig for lake trout our Great Lakes, (Superior, Huron and Michigan) are hard to beat. There are some phenomenal lake trout jigging opportunities much closer to home.

All in all it was a very fun trip. Would highly recommend doing it. We have another trip planned for this June. Hope to make it an annual thing. Good luck.