Hell Creek/Ft Peck

[rodrunner]

LOL..that happened to me last year at Boysen..Fishn in 53 FOW,hooked into a hog..I new i had a huge wally..Finally got her up to the hole after a long long battle on light tackle. 15 1/2 # cat..Was a heck of a fun fight but was bummed that it wasn't my wallhanger

[Bono]

I agree about not eating the big ones. Best to catch and release those big hawgs if you aren't going to mount them and they are still in good condition.  To me, a walleye between 12" - 20" is the perfect length for eating. 

I talked to a friend yesterday that was coming through Jordan and had to stop for gas and he talked with a guy that had been out on the lake for 2 days.  Guess he fished in hell creek somewhere and said he caught 4 pike 5-8lbs and a small eye.

Anybody know ice depth on the main lake? I'll be out there this time next week.

[FishN4Eyes]

I agree about not eating the big ones. Best to catch and release those big hawgs if you aren't going to mount them and they are still in good condition.  To me, a walleye between 12" - 20" is the perfect length for eating. 

I talked to a friend yesterday that was coming through Jordan and had to stop for gas and he talked with a guy that had been out on the lake for 2 days.  Guess he fished in hell creek somewhere and said he caught 4 pike 5-8lbs and a small eye.

Anybody know ice depth on the main lake? I'll be out there this time next week.

20-24 inches of ice on the main lake a few miles east of Fourchette

Should be PLENTY

[rezeye]

more to come
B

[Merc440]

Was wondering on the snow conditions on the lake. Will a snowmobiel do OK this year? And any report on the ice since the release of more water?

[Bono]

Thanks for the ice report.

Got a question to throw out to everyone.  I was doing some work last night setting up tip ups.  How does everyone rig their tip-ups for Fort Peck where you have the chance of catching walleye, pike, trout, and ton of other fish.  I like to use a mono as a leader with size 4 and 6 treble hooks.  I rigged a couple with 30lb test and a couple with 15lb test.  I guess I'm willing to take a few break offs from big pike to catch more eyes.  I can count the number of walleye I have caught with a leader on in one hand. How does everyone else do it. 

[hooker1]

i have seen some decent size eyes bite off mono just as a pike would do. if anything i would try a very heavy flourocarbon it seems to be tougher than mono. just my opinion. by the way how is the fishing out there im headed out the 11th

[fishnboyd]

Has anyone been out there recently?  I am headed there next weekend and I have been hearing mixed reports about ice thickness/fishing activity.  Any help and/or tips would be GREATLY appreciated.

Friends were there last weekend and did okay. They caught one monster eye - 34"  - few smaller and some pike. They traveled outside of hellcreek and the ice conditions were good. The marina  website shows the results of the tourney they had on Sunday - I understand it was pretty cold that day -the results weren't that big - check it out andf call the marina :tipup:The sweetheart and I are headed there for V-Day weekend

[Bono]

Wish I had a girl that would be cool enough to go to Fort Peck with me!

Seems like there will be quite a few people headed out there for the weekend after this one.  Hopefully the fish will be biting and the temps will be managable.

I think I'm going to start by fishing some of the main lake points.  Maybe check out some of the bays to the east and west of hell creek too. 

[Doop]

I am so completely jealous of you guys. We were "supposed" to go out of Hell Creek this next week...but had to cancel because of finances.  Making a trip from Texas to Montana is not cheap! lol

I fished Hell Creek for the first time last year and completely loved the time there!  Clint is a great guy and runs a good operation.

Best of luck to everyone in the upcoming month or two of ice fishing.  I'll be living vicariously through your posts!

[OUTHNTN]

Thanks for the ice report.

Got a question to throw out to everyone.  I was doing some work last night setting up tip ups.  How does everyone rig their tip-ups for Fort Peck where you have the chance of catching walleye, pike, trout, and ton of other fish.  I like to use a mono as a leader with size 4 and 6 treble hooks.  I rigged a couple with 30lb test and a couple with 15lb test.  I guess I'm willing to take a few break offs from big pike to catch more eyes.  I can count the number of walleye I have caught with a leader on in one hand. How does everyone else do it.  

100# TUFFLINE OR EQUIVALENT BRAID.  I'VE ONLY LOST 1 PIKE DUE TO IT BREAKING AND CAUGHT QUITE A FEW NICE WALLEYE WITH IT ON PECK, TOO.  NICE THING ABOUT IT, SUPER TOUGH AND ONLY 20# MONO DIAMETER (.018).  I ALSO PREFER SIZE 8 OR 10 TREBLES AND USUALLY THREAD THE MINNOWS WITH A 6" SNELLED TREBLE FROM THE BASE OF THE HEAD TO THE MIDDLE OF THE DORSAL.  ON THE SAME 4" MINNOW IN LATE DECEMBER AT HELL CREEK WE CAUGHT THREE 1-3 POUND WALLEYE.  I'D HAVE KEPT USING IT, BUT THE POOR THING FINALLY DIED!  CAN'T IMAGINE GETTING EATEN 3 TIMES!  JUST A FEW THOUGHTS...

[OUTHNTN]

It's nonyer business!!!!  I'll be up there in a few weeks.... practicing at Francis til then

GOOD ONE!! GUESS I SHOULDA SEEN THAT ONE COMING!  I'LL TELL MY SECRETS IF YOU TELL YOURS

[JiffyJockey]

Heading to Fort Peck this weekend with my brother and a buddy.  Never been up there and to say the least I am pumped.  That said, and I hate to be "That Guy", but can anyone give me any pointers regarding Fort Peck?  I am from Minnesota where i did a lot of flats fishing, but I am curious to understand the structure of the lake.  Is Fort Peck like Canyon Ferry Reservoir, in that the lake is the same depth in many areas and then quickly drops off into 80 feet of water.  Do people generally fish the flats or points for walleyes?  I have been looking for a map for a while and have been having difficutlies locating anything with contour lines.  I have my tip-ups rigged with plain hooks with a few beads above the hook (and a sinker) and a swivel attached from the main line to the leader.  Is this the rig to go with or are there others which seam to work better? 

Heading up on Thursday and will be trailering a 4 Wheeler.  Planning to fish Hell Creek or at least use Hell Creek as our launch.  How about Snow Creek?  Any concerns with ice conditions with a 4 wheeler?  Like anyone else here, just hoping to make my trip eventful and hopefully get into some fish. 

Would really appreciate any insight you can provide.  If you help me and I get into them (whether it's in an area you tell me about or something I discover), I would be happy to go offline and provide coordinates.  Not trying to mooch here, but really unfamiliar with Peck.

Thank you for your help. 

[email protected]

[hkdup]

Anybody else going up? How about some tips for those "Eye's"?
I've heard rumors the methane pockets and pressure ridges are nasty this year?
Do you guy's like the North side of the East-West bays or the West side of the North-South Bays? Never could figure that one out

i liked big cot reef on the east end of cargo bay

[Krakkon]

You didnt see anything... Just keep walking folks

[Bono]

Fort Peck is not like Canyon Ferry.  And to my knowledge no good contour map exists for the lake.

My experience on Fort Peck for walleyes is the best fishing takes place on structure.  There are miles upon miles of shorline, find a point and set up on it, find another point and set up on it...spread your tip-ups out over a stretch of around 6 to a mile.  I like to set up two tip ups per point and if it doesn't produce find a new one.  Some people spread there tip ups out to far in my opinion, it's completely legal, but rather annoying when two guys take up 10 miles of shoreline just because they can.

Seems like your rigging should be fine.  There are hundreds of ways to rig a tip up and I haven't tested them all the know the way to go.  Just make sure your equipment can handle big fish ripping on them.

[Doop]

I was a 1st timer last year too.  Man what a trip! I love that lake.  I hope to retire on it someday. That's after 1 trip....and I don't know how many lakes in MN I've fished.  We fished mainly in Hell Creek last year...but that was very late ice.....the ice was actually pulling away from the shore.  Fishing was okay...not great...but good enough that we caught some nice northerns.  We made the mistake of using dead bait entirely.  Come to find out after the fact...it's better to use live bait.  My Dad caught a 17 pound northern.....biggest fish of the trip.  1 small walleye caught while jigging. 

Like previously mentioned.....find main lake points....set up and wait. I don't know what's down there for structure.....twice we had flags up....set the hook....feel pressure...start bringing in the fish....and all of the sudden likes hauling in a volkswagen.  No kidding. I have never seen anything like it. Whatever it was broke the line eventually.  It's like we were wrapped around a log.....a really big log.....or burried in a mat of weeds.

Good Luck and please report back and tell us about your trip.  If you have never been there...you are in for a real treat.  Scenery like no other.  Your ears will ring because at times....there is literrally NOTHING to hear.

I can't wait to get back.

[JiffyJockey]

Hey guys (and gals).  Really apprecaite the help you have provided from my post earlier.  Again, I know a lot of people mooch on forums and ask for coordinates and all that.  Like you, I have had spots go from unbelievable to them being over fished and have learned my leason around telling people.  For those of youwho have offered advice, I truly appreciate it and will send you a personal message upon my return.  It's really cool to share such a great sport as ice fishing with each of you.  It's a sport that sticks with you forever once you are hooked.

If anyone has further tips/tricks/ideas, feel free to share.  Again, I don't need your specific spots, but any guidance goes a long way out there.

For anyone heading towards Western Montana, feel free to drop me a line.  I'd be happy to stear you in the right direction for perch, trout, walleye and HUGE pike (47" is my biggest).

Thanks again to each of you and good fishing.  I will post back upon my return.

[hillbilly1]

we usaully go strait out from the marina fish 2 to 8 fow smelt for pike and minnows for walleye last year i got a 24lbs mac jigging good luck hope this helps

[Bono]

I see they finally add "Fort Peck" to the "Monatana Ice Fishing Reports" thread.  About time!

[Dinga LING]

Hey All,

I'll be at Hell Creek Sat afternoon Feb 13th.  Have to stay in Jordan that night but from Sunday on till the next Sunday will be staying at the marina.  See ya there.   Ding

[Aaron072]

you guys are making me jealous i had planned to be down there from the 20-27 but finances just aren't working out
good luck and catch a few for me

[bighof]

We'll miss ya at the Francis Derby Ding but give a holler when you get back... I will be heading up there 3 days after you get home. 

[iceandwiskey]

Ya well...  We spent the weekend at Peck.  Clearly the secrect is Location, Location, Location!  Fished Fri. from 4 till 10pm, Sat. from 9 til 10 and Sun. for a couple hours in the early am.  and had lines in the water the entire weekend.  We ended up with two walleye and a 14" laker.  We fished off a point onh the west side between Hellcreek and Snowcreek.  So clearly I can't give you any pointers to catch anything out there, but if you would like to know what not to do just pm me.  Well I hope you other guys had better luck than us, we would have moved but we were having problems with our 4 wheeler and didn't want to take a chance and have to walk back farther.  I am hoping to make it back up there if not next weekend maybe the next, so if anybody has any pointers than not to fish where I was last weekend that would be great. 
 

[JiffyJockey]

Hey all.  As promised, I am posting back to this forum upon my return from Fort Peck.  Hopefully everyone here who takes info away can also add further content around their luck at Fort Peck.

Made it to Fort Peck last week Friday - Sunday and to say the least, the fishing was pretty slow.  Friday, we went out west of Peterson Point about 3/4 of the way to Snow Creek.  Fished back in one of the bays anywhere from 4 FOW - 26 FOW.  Nothing but a couple pike with the biggest being 33".  Left our tipups and headed to Snow Creek.  Fished about 1 mile south of the northeast most point leading into Snow Creek.  Found a point and fished from 4 FOW - 20 FOW.  Caught 2 small walleye, both in 20 FOW.  Day 1 concluded.

Saturday, we returned to our initial spot and found a couple small pike on our tipups.  Picked up the tipups and headed for Snow Creek to check out tipups.  2 small walleye, but nothing to speak about.  Picked up all tipups and headed due north of Snow Creek to the North side of the lake.  Fished off one of the main lake points and followed the point out into deeper water (where the tip of point exteded into 20 FOW and dropped off on both sides into deeper water).  Also set 15 tipups between the main point we were fishing and another point 300 yards down the shore.  Between the points there was a big dropoff into 50 FOW.  Caught another 6 walleyes all on tipups in 40+ FOW.  All walleyes less than 14 inches. 

Dropped a few holes at the bottom of a 40 foot flat where it dropped into 60 FOW.  Nothing to speak of.  And holy **** was it cold coming off the lake at 10:00 PM. 

Sunday, woke up and headed back to the North end of the lake (again, due north of Snow Creek on the North end of the lake).  Found 2 tipups with 2 small walleyes (both tipups were in 40 FOW).  Took 3 hours to break our all our tipups as they froze in 2 inches with the cold temps.  My buddy flipped his 4 wheeler on the way out and broke his collar bone.  Be careful with the ruts in the road, especially if you are not running chains on your 4 wheeler.  Not a good experience, but happy he didn't get killed.  Had some nice guy help my roommate out with a ride to shore.

All in all, definitely a disappointing weekend.  If I were to do it all over again, I would fish in far deeper water Day 1.  Without a good map for the lake, and being a first timer to Fort Peck, I would have also found out where the most vegitation is in the summer and fish the deeper water dropoffs where the weeds are still growing.  Also would have tried fishing out to 80 FOW to see if there are some fish deep.  This time of year, and on other big lakes, the fish move deep into main lake basins.  Not sure if Peck is the same, but that's what I would have done.  Finally, and although tipups are nice, I probably would have held off on putting them out untill we found the fish.  Took a lot of time to get all the tipups set and wasted a lot of valuable time I could have been using scouting for fish. 

Everyone else I talked to said the fishing was pretty slow, but they were getting a few pike.  Actually sounds like we did a lot better than most, but for all the hype I hear about Peck, I was definitely disappointed.  Minnesota walleye fishing sure spoils a guy like me, especially when 50 + fish days are not out of the ordinary.

Hope this helps anyone else heading to Fort Peck.

[doublehaul]

Thanks for the detailed report Jiffyjockey. That's a pretty normal trip fort Peck. You will catch quite a few smaller fish and if you're lucky you just might pop one big eye or one pig pike in a weekend. Sorry to hear about your buddies accident.

[Bono]

I posted my fishing report from the past weekend in the "montana fishing reports" forum.

[iceandwiskey]

Well, Glad to hear some guys did better than us!  I am hoping to buy a new 4 wheeler this week and be back up next weekend and give it another go!   

[fishnboyd]

Hey all!~ Fished Friday just east of Hell Creek on mainpoints til 9 pm one small eye and a perch - talked with guys from Minnesota and they weren't having much luck. Saturday moved due north to hump in the mouth  Sutherlin Bay - set up lines form 30+ fow to 20 fow on top of the hump - notta. Moved some lines that afternoon to just outside of sutherlin on the west side. We stayed til 9pm that evening without a bite. Talked to Ron from Wolf Creek and he had picked up a pike and a laker with plans to stay until Tuesday. Sunday was cool -18. Checked all the lines, south, north and west with only one small eye and perch. Sounds from all we talked to that no one had done very good. Thats why its called fishin'. Gotta try again!

[bighof]

Thanks for the reports.... Jiffy jockey might be on to something with moving out to deeper water.  I will be there on the 26th coming home the 1st.  Were the walleye you were catching in the deep water suspended or still hugging the bottom?  I will post when I get back but hopefully it picks up alot in the next week.  From all the reports it sounds like it has been brutal.... guess they should be hungry by the time I get there!!!!