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Fort Peck Lake Fishing Report

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

Fort Peck Lake: the first dam on the upper Missouri, with 1,500 miles of shoreline and special Montana rules for walleye, sauger, Chinook and lake trout.

2/5
Slow. The wind owns today.26 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
61 / 64 F
Wind
W 9 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.26 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Fort Peck Lake rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. Today brings cloud cover, wind W around 9 mph, falling pressure near 998 hPa and a high of 64. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:44 AM-11:44 AM and 10:15 PM-12:15 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.

Lake troutGood

Spring and fall bring lakers into 10 to 30 feet of water (Michigan DNR), within reach of casters and shallow trollers; fall is also spawning time over rocky shoals.

Chinook salmonSlow

Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 44 F with a rain chance. 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 temp61 F
High / Low64 / 37 F
WindW 9-14 mph
Pressure998.2 hPa, falling
Sky / Rain78% cloud, 64%
Sunrise / Sunset07:38 / 18:04
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 Fort Peck Lake this week

The best day on Fort Peck 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

26 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Solunar majors
9:44 AM-11:44 AM and 10:15 PM-12:15 AM
Minor period
4:09 AM-5:09 AM
Sun
07:38 to 18:04
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 26 mph
Rain chance
64%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Fort Peck 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.

Chinook salmon illustration

Chinook salmon

Seasons follow the runs: spring, summer and fall runs on the West Coast, and late summer into fall in Great Lakes rivers

The largest Pacific salmon, caught by trolling and mooching at sea and by drifting and plunking in rivers as adults return to spawn; also stocked in the Great Lakes. Runs enter the rivers: drift roe or sand shrimp through travel lanes, plunk a wrapped plug, or float eggs in eddies and tidewater.

Lake trout illustration

Lake trout

Spring and fall in shallow water, deep in summer, and through the ice in winter

Lake trout are slow-growing chars of large, deep, cold lakes, native from Alaska and northern Canada to New England and the Great Lakes, and introduced in many western lakes. Spring and fall bring lakers into 10 to 30 feet of water (Michigan DNR), within reach of casters and shallow trollers; fall is also spawning time over rocky shoals.

When to come: the Fort Peck 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
Chinook salmon
Lake trout
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 Fort Peck 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 69 F, wind to 7 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 69 F, wind to 10 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 63 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 (2026 FWP regulations, Eastern District). Fort Peck Reservoir: sauger/walleye 5 daily (only 2 sauger), 10 in possession (only 4 sauger); Chinook snagging Oct 1–Nov 30, bow and arrow Oct 1–15; spearing Chinook and lake trout through the ice Dec 1–Mar 31. Other species follow the Eastern District standard limits.

Access

Corps recreation areas include Fort Peck Marina, Rock Creek Marina and Rock Creek State Park, Hell Creek State Park, Duck Creek State Fishing Access, Fourchette Bay, The Pines, McGuire Creek, Nelson Creek and James Kipp Park. Fort Peck Interpretive Center: (406) 526-3493. From Glasgow take Highway 24 south 17 miles to Fort Peck.

About this water

Fort Peck Lake, a Corps of Engineers reservoir on the Missouri River in northeastern Montana, authorized in 1933, with about 1,500 miles of shoreline.

Fishing Fort Peck Lake: the full guide

The reservoir

The Corps of Engineers says Fort Peck Dam, which impounds Fort Peck Lake, was the first dam built in the upper Missouri River basin; President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the project in 1933. The Corps describes the lake as vast and remote, with fifteen hundred miles of shoreline and 27 recreation areas. Areas near the dam have paved roads, electricity, showers and playgrounds, while facilities around the rest of the lake are primitive, with gravel roads, picnic tables and vault toilets.

Walleye, sauger and salmon rules

Montana FWP's 2026 regulations give Fort Peck Reservoir its own exceptions to the Eastern District standard limits. Sauger and walleye: 5 a day, of which only 2 may be sauger, and 10 in possession, of which only 4 may be sauger. Chinook salmon may be snagged only from October 1 through November 30 and taken by bow and arrow from October 1 through October 15. Chinook salmon and lake trout may be speared or gigged through the ice from December 1 through March 31. Dead cisco may be used as bait only if collected from the reservoir or from the Missouri River below Fort Peck Dam.

Eurasian watermilfoil and bait

FWP lists Fort Peck Reservoir, the Fort Peck Dredge Cut Ponds and the Missouri River from Fort Peck Dam to the mouth of the Milk River as contaminated with Eurasian watermilfoil. Live nongame bait fish may be carried to and from those waters only in clean water, such as well water.

Common questions

How many walleye can I keep at Fort Peck?

Five sauger and walleye a day, of which only two may be sauger, and ten in possession, of which only four may be sauger.

Can I snag salmon on Fort Peck?

Only Chinook salmon, and only from October 1 through November 30. Bowfishing for Chinook is allowed October 1 through 15.

What bait can I use at Fort Peck?

Dead cisco may be used as bait if it was collected from the reservoir or from the Missouri River below Fort Peck Dam. Live nongame bait fish must be transported to and from the lake only in clean water because of Eurasian watermilfoil.

Is fishing good at Fort Peck 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. 26 mph gusts make boat control the real battle.

Nearby waters

Bighorn River114 miFresno Reservoir155 miBighorn Lake191 miLake Ilo198 miBoulder River202 miBighorn Lake207 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 47.7554, -106.8626 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 6, 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 6, 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.