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Hebgen Lake Fishing Report

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

A NorthWestern Energy reservoir on the Madison River near West Yellowstone, with brown, rainbow and westslope cutthroat trout and Arctic grayling planted by FWP in 2022 and 2023.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Lake level
6529.87 ft
Air / High
41 / 47 F
Wind
SE 10 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 06038000, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Tap a marker for today's tip
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.

Hebgen Lake is in its winter mode: slow, deep and deliberate. The gauge reads 6529.87 ft, easing 0.07 over the week. Today brings cloud cover, wind SE around 10 mph, rising pressure near 1009 hPa and a high of 47. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:03 AM-12:03 PM and 10:33 PM-12:33 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 45 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 Hebgen Lake near West Yellowstone, MT.

Water level, last 30 days

USGS gauge 06038000.

6529.856530.136530.406529.87 ft09/2310/0210/1410/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp41 F
High / Low47 / 32 F
WindSE 10-13 mph
Pressure1009.0 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain100% cloud, 93%
Sunrise / Sunset07:51 / 18:26
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
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 Hebgen Lake this week

Today is the pick of the week on Hebgen 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
10:03 AM-12:03 PM and 10:33 PM-12:33 AM
Minor period
4:27 AM-5:27 AM
Sun
07:51 to 18:26
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 16 mph
Rain chance
93%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Hebgen 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 Hebgen 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 Hebgen 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 61 F, wind to 10 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 60 F, wind to 10 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 60 F, wind to 8 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. Hebgen Lake has no water-specific listing in FWP's 2026 Central District exceptions, so the district's standard limits apply; see the 2026 Montana Fishing Regulations. Its tributaries Duck Creek, Grayling Creek and the South Fork Madison open the third Saturday in May and close November 30. On the Madison from Yellowstone National Park to Hebgen, rainbow trout are catch-and-release (anglers 14 or younger may keep 1). The area at Hebgen Dam is closed to fishing and boating as posted.

Access

Recreation.gov lists boat ramps at two Custer Gallatin National Forest campgrounds: Rainbow Point, on Rainbow Bay about 10 miles north of West Yellowstone via Highway 191 and Rainbow Point Road, and Lonesomehurst, on the South Fork Arm. FishMT lists no FWP fishing access site on the lake.

About this water

A 12,563-acre reservoir (FWP) behind NorthWestern Energy's Hebgen Dam on the Madison River, Gallatin County, Montana; lake level read by USGS gauge 06038000.

Fishing Hebgen Lake: the full guide

The reservoir

Hebgen Lake is held by Hebgen Dam, a NorthWestern Energy dam on the Madison River in Gallatin County. Montana FWP's FishMT database gives it 12,563.5 acres and places it in Region 3 and the Central Fishing District. The USGS gauge on this page, 06038000 Hebgen Lake near West Yellowstone, reads the lake's surface elevation directly: about 6,530 feet on October 6, 2026. FWP estimated 23,756 angler days in 2021 and 48,743 in 2020.

Fish and stocking

FishMT lists brown and rainbow trout, both introduced, native westslope cutthroat trout and mountain whitefish, and Utah chub. FWP's stocking record shows Arctic grayling of the Rogers Lake strain planted in 2022 (about 77,550 one-inch fry) and 2023 (4,534 fish of about 4 inches); the last rainbow trout plant listed is 25,100 Gerrard fingerlings in September 2016. Recreation.gov's listing for the Forest Service's Rainbow Point Campground calls Hebgen Montana's premier still-water fishery, with brown, cutthroat and rainbow trout.

Eating the fish

FWP has a fish consumption advisory for Hebgen Lake. For brown trout it cites mercury and PCBs, and it advises women of childbearing age and children to avoid browns of 22 to 26 inches; for rainbow trout the concern is mercury, with fewer servings advised as the fish get larger. Read FWP's table before keeping fish to eat.

Common questions

What fish are in Hebgen Lake?

FWP's FishMT lists brown, rainbow and westslope cutthroat trout, mountain whitefish and Utah chub. FWP also planted Arctic grayling in 2022 and 2023.

Is Hebgen Lake still stocked with rainbow trout?

FWP's stocking record shows no rainbow trout plants after September 2016. The most recent plants are Arctic grayling in 2022 and 2023.

When do the Hebgen tributaries open?

Under the 2026 regulations, Duck Creek, Grayling Creek and the South Fork Madison River open the third Saturday in May and close November 30.

Is fishing good at Hebgen 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

Henrys Lake15 miMadison River42 miEnnis Lake46 miYellowstone River67 miJackson Lake71 miBeaverhead River71 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 06038000 β€” Hebgen Lake near West Yellowstone, MT
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:45 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 44.8300, -111.2800 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.