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Ennis Lake Fishing Report

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

The Madison's shallow reservoir: Ennis Lake's 3,692 acres hold wild rainbows and browns above Bear Trap Canyon.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
1,040 cfs
Air / High
50 / 51 F
Wind
SSW 14 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 06040050, 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.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Ennis Lake asks for patience today: short windows, precise presentations. The nearest gauge is running 1,040 cfs, on the rise. Today brings cloud cover, wind SSW around 14 mph, rising pressure near 1008 hPa and a high of 51. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:04 AM-12:04 PM and 10:35 PM-12:35 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutExcellent

In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown troutExcellent

Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

Tomorrow: Similar 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 rainbow trout 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 from Madison River at Ennis.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 06040050.

8719731,0751,040 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp50 F
High / Low51 / 33 F
WindSSW 14-19 mph
Pressure1007.9 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 100%
Sunrise / Sunset07:54 / 18:27
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)51 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~47 F est.

Bite planner

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

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Ennis Lake this week

Today is the pick of the week on Ennis Lake, at 3 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 β€” fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:04 AM-12:04 PM and 10:35 PM-12:35 AM
Minor period
4:29 AM-5:29 AM
Sun
07:54 to 18:27
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Rain, 20 mph
Rain chance
100%

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

Species guide

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

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

When to come: the Ennis 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
Rainbow trout
Brown trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 47 F (estimated, not a reading).

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 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 Ennis Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 68 F, wind to 21 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 69 F, wind to 14 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 67 F, wind to 9 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

Montana fishing license. FWP manages Ennis Lake under Central District standard regulations; check those and any drought or temperature restrictions FWP announces for the Madison.

Access

Meadow Lake Fishing Access Site (camping, 7-day stay limit, trailers up to 25 feet) and the BLM ramp at Kobayashi Beach on the north shore.

About this water

A 3,692-acre reservoir behind Madison Dam on the Madison River north of Ennis, Madison County, Montana, built in 1908; USGS gauge 06040050 measures the inflowing Madison at Ennis.

Fishing Ennis Lake: the full guide

A reservoir on the Madison

Ennis Lake, which FWP also calls Ennis Reservoir, was built in 1908 behind Madison Dam for power generation, and FWP lists it at 3,692 acres. FWP manages it as a wild trout fishery for rainbow and brown trout, with native mountain whitefish, under Central District standard regulations.

Summer heat

FWP describes the reservoir as relatively shallow with little storage, which leads to high water temperatures in summer, and the Madison below the dam suffers chronic summer heat, with fish kills documented above 83 degrees F. When models call for it, NorthWestern Energy pulses extra water from the dam to hold the river below 80 degrees F at Blacks Ford.

Getting on the water

FWP's Meadow Lake Fishing Access Site, on North Ennis Lake Road east of McAllister, has camping and a toilet but a very shallow shoreline, and FWP points boaters to the BLM ramp at Kobayashi Beach.

Common questions

Is Ennis Lake natural?

No. It is a reservoir formed by Madison Dam, built in 1908 for power generation.

Why avoid midsummer?

FWP notes that the shallow reservoir reaches high temperatures in summer, which stresses trout in the lake and in the river below.

Where do I launch a boat?

At the BLM's Kobayashi Beach; FWP's nearby Meadow Lake site has too shallow a shoreline for launching.

Is fishing good at Ennis Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Madison River6 miJefferson River33 miGallatin River36 miBeaverhead River43 miHebgen Lake46 miBig Hole River50 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 06040050 β€” Madison River at Ennis
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 45.4310, -111.6820 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.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
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 text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was 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.