Chinook Egg Collection, Snagging To Begin Soon At Fort Peck Reservoir
FORT PECK – Fishing for Chinook salmon on Fort Peck Reservoir this summer has been a very popular activity. This is the only Chinook salmon fishery in Montana, so anglers travel from near and far in hopes of hooking up with one of these unique fish.
Salmon were first introduced into Fort Peck Reservoir in 1983. Due to the abundance of their preferred forage fish – cisco – salmon have shown excellent growth, with males maturing in two to four years and females in three to four years… often leading to large fish of 20 pounds or more.
Although the summer salmon fishing season (which is usually done with boats, downriggers and trolling in deep water) is winding down as we get closer to fall, the much more “accessible” snagging and archery season will be begin starting Oct. 1, along with FWP’s annual salmon egg collection efforts.
Egg collection efforts
Chinook salmon cannot successfully spawn naturally in the reservoir, so staff must collect fish, harvest the eggs and raise them in the hatchery over the winter. In the spring of 2025, a total 230,000 Chinook salmon were released back into Fort Peck from the fall of 2024 egg take.
FWP fisheries and hatchery staff will begin collecting adult Chinook salmon on Fort Peck starting the first week of October. The annual collection effort lasts through much of October, with the goal of collecting enough eggs to fill the Fort Peck Hatchery. Salmon are then raised in the hatchery and will be released back into the reservoir in the spring of 2026. During the collection, crews will target areas near the dam where salmon congregate, using electrofishing gear to collect the fish. It will be a while, though, until salmon start moving into shallower areas.
“Similar to walleye, salmon spawning activity peaks when all the right conditions take place, which primarily are water temperatures and timing,” says Heath Headly, Fort Peck fisheries biologist. “Ideal spawning temperatures are when water temperatures reach 55 degrees, which typically occurs around mid-October. This is also when crews see the most fish and better egg quality.”
Once the fish are collected, they are transferred to the Fort Peck Multispecies Fish Hatchery. Eggs and milt are then extracted from females and males, respectively, and successfully fertilized offspring will be reared over the winter.
Angling opportunities
The salmon snagging and archery season begins Wednesday, Oct. 1. The archery season runs through Oct. 15 and the snagging season runs through Nov. 30. This popular fishery brings in a lot of folks to the bays and boat ramps at the lower (dam end) of Fort Peck Reservoir, as the salmon tend to congregate near boat ramps and shorelines where they were first stocked.
Due to the often-congested nature of salmon snagging in areas that have concentrated fish, anglers should use common courtesy and ethics regarding other shore anglers and bow-anglers.
In addition, anglers should not clean, fillet or leave carcasses on docks, ramps or shorelines.
Lastly, please be aware of fishery crews and their electrofishing efforts, as they may be near areas where angling activities are taking place. These efforts are crucial to obtaining enough eggs for the hatchery to continue this popular and unique fishery.
