Montana's Missouri River Country - The Ultimate Sportsman's Paradise

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You'll never have to lie about fishing.


Walleye are a favorite catch at Nelson Reservoir and Fort Peck.	Chinook salmon..

Fishing in Missouri River Country

Up in our country, you'll spend your time spinning fishing line, not fish tales. Trolling for walleye at the celebrated Fort Peck Reservoir or trying your luck from the shores of the Missouri River will give you ample opportunity for great fish stories.Fort Peck boasts 1,500 miles of shoreline (that’s more than the state of California) and you’ll find peace and quiet, accompanied by a few friends and plenty of walleye, small-mouth bass, ling and chinook salmon. Nelson Reservoir, covering 4,500 acres about 17 miles from Malta, is also home for record-sized walleye, yellow perch and northern pike. Visit in winter for premier ice-fishing.The Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers offer excellent opportunities for catching paddlefish and shovelnose sturgeon—prehistoric monsters that still live here today.

Fort Peck Reservoir
In the 1930s, one of the world's largest dams was built at Fort Peck for flood control and irrigation. This giant lake with a 1,520 mile shoreline affords four-season recreation, boating, fishing and camping. Fort Peck fish include northern pike, perch, sauger, ling, catfish, trout, smallmouth bass and walleye. More than 50 kinds of fish swim in this reservoir. Walleye is the most sought after, and record fish come out of Fort Peck-in 1995, a 16.3 pounder. Sauger are a slightly smaller close relative of the walleye. Pike over 20 pounds have been caught in Fort Peck, but the usual range is 4-8 pounds. Spring and fall are the best times to catch lake trout in Fort Peck, but ice-fishing has also yielded some impressive lunkers.

The Missouri and Yellowstone
As it stretches along the Missouri River though the heart of Missouri River Country, the C.M. Russell Wildlife Refuge is a fisherman's paradise. Anglers find trout, salmon, pike and the extraordinary living fossil, the paddlefish. The flat-billed paddlefish is native to the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers. It isn't unusual to land a 65-pounder. During the spring and summer months, when the paddlefish make their annual spawning run upthe two rivers, thousands of fisherman converge at Intake Diversion Dam 40 miles south of Sidney. Paddlers can be caught along the Yellowstone near Fairview or Sidney, and along the Missouri River between Fred Robinson Bridge on Highway 191 and the head of Fort Peck Reservoir.

You'll find favored fishing spots the length of the Missouri. Check with local outfitters and supply shops for more information.

Other Opportunities
Fishing on the Milk River and at Nelson Reservoir also nets walleye and northern pike as well as other varieties of fish. Nelson Reservoir is a 4,000 acre reservoir ranked the number one walleye spot in the state. It is also popular for ice-fishing. Fish on Nelson Creek, McGuire Creek, and Rock Creek along Fort Peck. Medicine Lake in the northeastern corner of the state also offers fishing. On reservation lands, be sure to obtain a tribal license for fishing.

For more information, go to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Additional information is available at the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.