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Lake Information for Bighorn Lake
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.
Game fishing opportunities include: Black Crappie, Brown Trout, Burbot, Channel Catfish, Rainbow Trout, Sauger, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, and Yellow Perch.
Walleye is stocked every year. Rainbow trout was stocked in 2006.
Businesses Located Nearby
Bait & Tackle
- Bighorn Fly & Tackle Shop
- 1 Main St - Lodge Grass, MT
- (406) 666-2253
- Montana Bait & Tackle
- Po Box 22092 - Billings, MT
- (406) 672-5905
- Minnow Bucket
- 778 W G Rd - Huntley, MT
- (406) 348-2440
Boat Rental
- A J's Riverboat Rental-Shuttle
- Highway 313 S - Lodge Grass, MT
- (406) 666-2468
- Boulton Power Boat
- 7128 Commercial Ave - Billings, MT
- (406) 259-0950
- HI Mountain Recreation Incorporated
- 454 Moore Ln - Billings, MT
- (406) 252-2323
Vacation Rental
- Galt Manor Vacation Rentals
- 115 N 35th St - Billings, MT
- (406) 248-7310
- Cherry Tree Inn
- 823 N Broadway - Billings, MT
- (406) 252-5603
- Cottonwood Camp
- Po Box 7667 - Yellowtail, MT
- (406) 666-2391
Bar and Restaurant
- C Js Restaurant Reservations
- 25 W & Central Ave - Billings, MT
- (406) 656-1400
- The REX Restaurant & Bar
- 1650 Avenue D, Ste L202 - Billings, MT
- (406) 545-0412
- Montana Brewing Company
- 113 N 28th St - Billings, MT
- (406) 585-2296