Montana Fish Report

The surface water temperature was still below 60 degrees early in the week. We caught fish on the west side of the lake, south of Pelican Point over structure. Until the water warms to above 65 degrees surface temp, I will be in the “shallows” fishing the structure first thing every morning until the sun hits the water.  After the sun is on the water, we have been moving further south to fill out our limits of Eagle Lake trout. 

Further south, we are trolling the area between Slough Pt. and Wildcat Pt and fishing in water 20-50 feet deep.  The fish seem to be scattered throughout the water column.  We caught fish with our baits set from 5 to 19 feet deep. Our most productive trolling baits were watermelon, pumpkinseed, and orange grubs.  We also caught fish trolling a tui chub fly pattern.  These we trolled close to the surface.  Although the trolling was not fast and furious, we limited every day out.  The average size of the fish we are putting in the box is between 2.2 and 2.7 lbs. These are very nice Eagle Lake trout, many with fat bodies like small footballs.

On Tuesday, we went fly fishing and had a great day with 30 hookups and 20 fish landed. We were nymphing with indicators on the west side of the lake over a rocky bottom.

Not many folks out bobber fishing, but the reports I got were that successful anglers fished off the Youth Camp and around Shrimp Island.  If you are going bobber fishing, go early.  The bite usually shuts off shortly after the sun hits the water. At the Youth Camp and at Shrimp Island, anchor in 12 feet of water and set your threaded night crawler at 6-8 feet deep.  Go early and once the sun hits the water, if the bite shuts down, move out to deeper water and set your baits a little deeper.

The Spalding Launch Ramp is fine but the water you have to cover on the way out to the main lake is very low.  This ramp should be usable through June but due to the shallow depths, I believe we will have to launch at the south end thereafter.  The launch ramp at the southern marina at Gallatin Beach is a blessing.  We should be able to launch there all season.  Access at the bottom of the ramp includes a turnaround so you can drive straight down and turn around at the bottom of the ramp and then back your boat in.  There is a courtesy dock so you can launch, pull your boat around to the far side of the dock to get it out of the way for the next party ready to launch. There is also plenty of parking.  From Spalding, the drive down to the southern launch ramp is about 25 minutes. tnoxon@gmail.com www.fishtraveler.com (530) 825-3454