Fishing Forum

Folks on this forum have been so kind to me, offering fishing advice & help, and I'm reading a number of terrific travel postings, I thought I'd share a trip we did in Montana / Wyoming. I'd heard a little about this place, but it's really hard to see unless you've got a power boat.
Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area - a reservoir formed by the Yellowtail Dam near the town of Ft. Smith Montana (southeast of Billings), running south 71 miles into Wyoming, near Lovell.
To say the least this reservoir is absolutely spectacular, challenging the Grand Canyon for amazing vistas - and it's just about as hard to get into.
There are 3 places to launch a boat, near the dam in Montana (Ok-e-beh), at the south end just north of Lovell (Horseshoe Bend), and roughly in the middle at Barry's Landing (in MT). We launched at the latter one. Were on the water for 3 days and went about 150 miles up & down the canyons - unbelievable views!
The water was muddy / cloudy in the southern 2/3 of the reservoir, but clear on the north end. We did a little small mouth bass fishing and caught a few. But, honestly, fishing came second (never thought I'd say that) because there was always something to look or explore.
This is remote country, Barry's Landing has no services and is simply a launch ramp literally blasted out of solid rock down into the water and a gravel parking lot. There are services and improved campgrounds at the north and south ends. Barry's Landing is also near the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse preserve, which you travel through.
Making the travel on the water more dramatic was the huge amount of floating debris, logs, boards, drift wood that had entered from Wyoming during a rising reservoir pool and earlier spring flood. It's a good place to have a spare prop and second motor.
We are heading back as soon as possible, but our recent deluge of rain (and August snows!!) delayed our schedule. I'm told the small mouth bass fishing (and walleye) is pretty good, but finding clear water is the challenge.
No doubt about it - this is a bucket list place for anyone with a boat. Actually, you can view the southern 15 miles of the reservoir on a tour boat located at Horsehoe Bend Campground.
If you want more information, let me know. See attached photos below.
MTBob
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Wow, those are some straight up and down canyon walls. Are there many side canyons where the water shelves in to shallows?

Beautiful!
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cpierce: There's a bunch of inlets and a few sizeable side canyons & lots of depth variations. Max reservoir depth is 300 ft+/- and you can be 10 ft from a wall in 200 ft of water (with 1,000 feet of rock directly overhead!!). The inlets are the same, some have lots of rock structure & shelves, some don't. In the upper end mile marker 19 (19 miles south of Yellowtail Dam) there is a section called the Incline that has a long run of slide rock going down into the water. I'm told that's a good place to fish for walleye - though I can't prove it!
As you might expect, up in the side canyons there is evidence of extreme flash flood events, really dangerous places.
MTBob
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That definitely looks like a place I need to see sometime. Thanks for sharing.

Windriver
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Bighorn Lake is something to see if you haven't seen
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make sure to carry some extra gas if you make the full 150 mile run. There is no gas stations
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Incredible scenery. Amazing. Seriously, thanks for sharing.
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My bucket list just keeps growing.
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I have never fished the lake, but the wife and I have visited the scenic overlook near the Pryor Mts. I did talk to one of the locals as he was loading his boat a couple years ago on the upper launch in YellowTail and he had a nice stringer of walleyes, he said the fishing can be great in the fall for the eyes. I have hunted pheasants and waterfowl in the Lovel WY. area. The wife and I usually spend a week deer hunting up in that area each fall.
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Very cool, thx for sharing!
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Here are some more photos of the canyon showing some of the side canyon inlets. It is really hard to get a full grasp of the size and feel of the place with photos. The first photo shows the launching ramp access that was blasted out of a rock wall (this is at Barry's Landing, taking rt 37 north of Lovell Wyoming). It's a bit of a dicey deal in that you have to go nose first down the ramp, and then turn your rig around at the bottom - just barely enough room to make the swing - or, alternatively, back down around a curve, down hill to the ramp - a real bugger. I was able to just barely make the turn around swing with a 24" hitch extension on an long bed crew cab truck.
MTBob
(finally figured out how to embed the photos)

Launching ramp - Barry's Landing, note log boom to help keep the drift wood out of the launch ramp


"Camp site" - gravel parking lot - no services (my kind of place)


Typical inlet side canyon


Driftwood accumulated in inlet


One of several in-water outhouses


Anticline area about 20 miles south of Yellowtail Dam, in Montana


Typical side canyon


One of many vistas at oxbow turns in the canyon

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how is the shore camping?
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Sorry for the delay, been fishing.
Big Horn Reservoir is nearly 99% rugged rock shoreline, from Horseshoe Bend north to the dam. Not very hospitable for camping. I looked a several side canyons and from the looks of the trees and rocks in these canyons, I wouldn't stay in these because of the potential for flash floods.
However, there is one location just north of Barry's Landing that is a designated boat-in only camping spot. I don't know much about it other than I saw a family loading their boat to go there.

MTBob
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