We started fishing Fort Peck on Saturday, February 4th, starting at sun-up and fishing until sun-down. We caught nine lake trout on Saturday; nine on Sunday; and six on Monday. The biggest was 33-inches.
We marked a lot of fish but they were pretty negative. The guys we talked to said the same thing—everybody was marking a lot of fish but they were just chasing and not committing. But it’s just matter of time until the active bite starts up again.
In terms of depth, we marked and caught the majority of our fish in 60 feet of water.
We camped at Fort Peck Marina in my buddy’s Team Lodge Extreme II. It has three beds and a bathroom so it worked out really well. It’s also an 18-footer so it was big enough to haul out two ATVs. We took our tracks off and switched back to tires before we left Garrison, North Dakota, because there’s hardly any snow on Fort Peck.
We fished 5-inch red and white tubes on ¾-ounce jigs with a trailer hook. Almost every fish was caught on the stinger so that tells me they were all trying to short-hit everything.
In terms rod & reel set-up, I fish 15-pound braid and a 15-pound fluoro leader on a 42” Tuned Up Custom LTP and a 45” Thorne Bros. Graphite Professional with 2500-size spinning reels.
The Fort Peck lakers feed primarily on ciscoes; there’s no smelt above the dam. Sakakawea has smelt, but there aren’t any in Fort Peck, at least that I know of.
I’m coming back out March 1st hoping for a super bite!
Good fishing!
Ty Macheledt
Garrison, ND