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Bighorn Lake Fishing Report, Montana

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

The canyon behind the famous tailwater: 70 miles of Bighorn Canyon walls hiding walleye, ling and the West's most dramatic ice fishing.

2/5
Slow. The wind owns today.32 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
64 / 66 F
Wind
WSW 18 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. The wind owns today.32 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Bighorn Lake rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. Today brings cloud cover, wind WSW around 18 mph, steady pressure near 1002 hPa and a high of 66. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:49 AM-11:49 AM and 10:20 PM-12:20 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Northern pikeGood

The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Yellow perchGood

Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 49 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Montana requires a fishing licence from age 12, from $31.00 for residents. What a Montana licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with FWP before you keep anything. The season dates for Montana, read off the agency, are on the Montana seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp64 F
High / Low66 / 36 F
WindWSW 18-26 mph
Pressure1001.7 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain87% cloud, 45%
Sunrise / Sunset07:39 / 18:13
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Bighorn Lake this week

The best day on Bighorn Lake this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

32 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Solunar majors
9:49 AM-11:49 AM and 10:20 PM-12:20 AM
Minor period
4:14 AM-5:14 AM
Sun
07:39 to 18:13
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 32 mph
Rain chance
45%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Bighorn Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Yellow perch illustration

Yellow perch

Caught all year, including under the ice through winter

Yellow perch are schooling panfish of the Great Lakes and northern lakes, and Michigan DNR calls them the game fish most often caught in that state. Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

When to come: the Bighorn Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
Smallmouth bass
Northern pike
Yellow perch
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Bighorn Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Walleye led the card at excellent. High of 71 F, wind to 15 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Walleye led the card at good. High of 70 F, wind to 16 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Walleye led the card at good. High of 67 F, wind to 13 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Montana requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

MT or WY license (check NRA reciprocity rules by zone). Walleye limits by state: verify both.

Access

Ok-A-Beh (MT), Horseshoe Bend, Barry's Landing (WY): NPS ramps, services minimal.

About this water

70 canyon miles behind Yellowtail Dam, MT/WY. Bighorn Canyon NRA's hidden fishery.

Fishing Bighorn Lake: the full guide

The other Bighorn

Everyone knows the river below Yellowtail Dam: the lake behind it hides in plain sight: 70 miles of flooded canyon spanning the Montana-Wyoming line through Bighorn Canyon NRA. A thousand-foot walls, bighorn sheep on the rims, and a fishery: walleye, smallmouth, ling, the odd trout: that sees astonishingly little pressure for its scale.

Walleye in the canyon

The Ok-A-Beh and Barry's Landing basins hold the walleye program: jigs on the talus points at ice-out, bottom bouncers along the old river channel in summer, blades on the wind-blown structure come fall. The lake's fertility (Bighorn River silt) grows fish fat: Montana's quiet 10-pound potential swims here.

Ling nights and bronze days

Winter's ling (burbot) fishery is the local cult: glow jigs after dark through canyon ice for the freshwater cod that chowders built. Summer smallmouth own every rockslide: and the sheer novelty: casting to canyon walls that dwarf the boat: makes even slow days photographic.

Two-state logistics

Montana's end (Fort Smith side: Ok-A-Beh ramp) and Wyoming's (Lovell: Horseshoe Bend, Barry's Landing) barely connect by road: pick your state and stay: licenses follow the water's line (reciprocity on the lake: check both). NPS runs the ramps: services are Fort Smith's fly shops or Lovell's basics: fuel and self-reliance rules apply canyon-wide.

Common questions

Is Bighorn Lake worth fishing versus the river?

Different universes: the river is trout fame, the lake is walleye solitude in cathedral scenery. If you have a boat and a day, the canyon repays the detour.

What is ling fishing at Bighorn?

Winter burbot through the ice: glow lures after dark for the canyon's freshwater cod. A Montana-Wyoming border tradition with chowder as the trophy.

Is fishing good at Bighorn Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. The wind owns today. 32 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Nearby waters

Bighorn Lake16 miBighorn River77 miBoulder River98 miYellowstone River123 miBoysen Reservoir125 miOcean Lake136 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 45.1350, -108.1300 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.