Welcome to our Fort Peck Lake Fishing Home Page

Fort Peck Lake is the largest lake in Montana measuring 134 miles long and it has 1520 miles of shoreline with a maximum depth of 220 feet.

This lake is known for its excellent walleye fishery, however, there are so many species of fish that you can catch here. Salmon, lake trout, northern pike and smallmouth bass are all here in good enough numbers to fish for them and to expect to be able to catch some fish. Crappie and catfish are here too.

Primary Species of Fish

Walleye, Lake Trout, Kokanee Salmon, Northern Pike, Smallmouth Bass

Lake Trout

For many anglers that fish on Fort Peck Lake, they don’t even consider fishing for lake trout. The people that do target them often will enjoy some good success due to the fact that there is a pretty good fishery for them here and few people fish for them. Some guides will fish for them, especially in the spring time when these fish can be found shallower. Lake trout can get big here from all the bait fish in the water. Fish up to and above 20 pounds are roaming these waters and don’t be shocked if there are much bigger fish here too.

Northern Pike

The northern pike fishery is very good on Fort Peck Lake, however, this lake is definitely more of a walleye lake. People usually come here for the walleye and they will most likely run into some northern pike on accident. If you come here to fish specifically for northern pike, you can do well. There are good numbers of them and some very big fish in the lake. For anglers that want to catch some big pike while on a trip here, you can easily do that while fishing for walleye. Just rig some bigger sucker-type minnows on your spinner rigs or jigheads and you will have a chance to catch some big walleye and northern pike. Don’t go too big with the minnows, but you definitely want to upsize from those smaller fathead types of minnows.

Salmon

If the walleye fishing wasn’t enough to get you to take a trip here, how about being able to catch some salmon too? Fort Peck Lake has a good salmon fishery and there are plenty of anglers who come here to fish for them. Walleye are king here, but if you know how to fish for salmon, you can very easily troll for walleye, try to catch a limit, then switch over to salmon and see if you can catch some. There are some big salmon here too.

Smallmouth Bass

The smallmouth bass fishery has kind of taken off on Fort Peck Lake. It’s still a walleye lake, but for those that want to target smallmouth bass, you totally can and there are some big fish too. Some anglers have realized that the smallmouth fishery has gotten pretty darn good here and they do pursue them, but for most anglers here, they catch some smallmouth bass while fishing for walleye. Find the rocks and fish the drop-offs and you should be able to find some smallies here. Some big fish are roaming this massive body of water as well.

Walleye & Sauger

Fort Peck Lake is known for its tremendous walleye fishery. There are plenty of sauger here too and some saugeye as well. It’s a huge body of water and walleye are known for roaming large distances, but once you have them dialed in here, you can catch big numbers of them and this lake produces some very big fish. Walleye over 10 pounds are not uncommon here. If you come here to fish for walleye and you choose to do it without a guide, we highly recommend covering water to find fish first, then jig them up once you are on a school.