The 525-foot-high Yellowtail Dam impounds the Bighorn River at Fort Smith, Montana. Yellowtail Dam was completed in 1965 and changed a good warmwater fishery into a high quality tailwater trout fishery below the dam. Its construction created and made accessible Bighorn Lake which lies in a sand- and limestone-walled defile cut between the Bighorn and Pryor Mountains by the Bighorn River. Hundreds of feet down, within the Bighorn Canyon, water is backed up some 41 miles in Montana and 30 miles into Wyoming. In Montana, Bighorn Lake has a surface area of 5574 acres. Yellowtail Dam is used for peaking power with the Yellowtail Afterbay Dam 2 miles downstream functioning as a re-regulating facility. Because of the dam, streamflow in the river is relatively stable with little daily fluctuation. Bighorn Lake, like the river reach it inundated, supports a warmwater fishery.
Bighorn Lake
| Size: | 5574 acres |
| Elevation: | 3302.96 ft |
| Status of the Fishery: | Some native species such as Sauger and reintroduced Shovelnose Sturgeon in the reservoir rely heavily on the Bighorn River in Wyoming for spawning habitat and recruitment. The reservoir does provide spawning for Smallmouth Bass, Channel Catfish and Ling. The reservoir is managed as a Walleye fishery. The reservoir offers limited natural recruitment and is therefore annually stocked with Walleye to maintain the fishery.In 2009 the strategy for maintaining Walleye changed from stocking typical/diploid Walleye fingerling to newly available triploid/sterile Walleye fingerling which were larger in size than the diploid fingerling. |
| Township/Range/Section: | 06S 31E 19 |
| Latitude/Longitude: | 45.3062 -107.97335 |
| FWP Region: | Region 5 |
| County: | Carbon |
| Fishing District: | Central |
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| Waterbody | Section | Field Form Type | Date | Purpose | Species |
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To see this data, first select one or more rows from the Collection Info tab.
For Comparative analysis all Length Units are millimeters : all Weights are grams
| Species | Count | Avg | StdDev | Min | Max | AvgWgt | StdDevWgt | MinWeight | S/L | Sects | Surveys | Waterbody |
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To see this data, first select one or more rows from the Collection Info tab.
For Comparative analysis all Length Units are millimeters : all Weights are grams
| Waterbody | Section | Species | Count | AveLength | StdDevLength | MinLength | MaxLength | AveWeight | StdDevWeight | MinWeight | MaxWeight |
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To see this data, first select one or more rows from the Collection Info tab.
For Comparative analysis all Length Units are millimeters : all Weights are grams
| Waterbody | Year | Section | Species | Count | AveLength | StdDevLength | MinLength | MaxLength | AveWeight | StdDevWeight | MinWeight | MaxWeight |
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To see this data, first select one or more rows from the Collection Info tab.
This is a preview, all fields will be visible by selecting a download option. For Comparative analysis all Length Units are millimeters : all Weights are grams.
| Year | Species Abbrv | Length | Weight | M/C | Count | Sex | Mort | Hook Scar | Disease | Scales | Otolith | Fin Clip | Tag | Comment | Genetics | Age | Stomach | Intercept | Slope | Gear | Equipment | Trip | Date | Pass/Run | Water | Section | Lat/Down | Lon/Down | Lat/Up | Lon/Up | Agency | Start Depth | End Depth |
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| Year | Angler Days | Std. Error |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10798 | 2191 |
| 2020 | 8117 | 1732 |
| 2019 | 4304 | 1109 |
| 2017 | 7448 | 1984 |
| 2015 | 9713 | 1881 |
View the latest Montana Fishing Regulations.
No Gauging Stations found.
This waterbody has a fish consumption advisory. Please see the link for guidelines.
Fish Consumption Guidelines (PDF)
