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Home › Waters › Montana › Hungry Horse Reservoir
Reservoir · Flathead County, a deep mountain storage reservoir on the South Fork Flathead River south of Columbia Falls, ringed by national forest in northwest Montana · Montana

Hungry Horse Reservoir Fishing Guides

A deep storage reservoir on the South Fork Flathead ringed by national forest, holding one of the strongest native westslope cutthroat populations in Montana.

A dense forest shoreline reflected in dead-calm lake water
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Hungry Horse Reservoir

Hungry Horse Reservoir fills a long narrow trench on the South Fork of the Flathead River south of Columbia Falls, held back by a high concrete arch dam completed in the early nineteen fifties. It is a Bureau of Reclamation storage project rather than a lowland flood control lake, and its setting is close to wilderness. The Flathead National Forest surrounds it, the Bob Marshall and Great Bear wilderness areas lie at the head of the drainage, and Glacier National Park is immediately north. Very little private land touches the water anywhere along its length.

What makes this reservoir genuinely unusual is the native fishery. The South Fork Flathead drainage above the dam holds the largest remaining stronghold of pure westslope cutthroat trout anywhere, protected by the dam itself, which has blocked the upstream movement of non native species that overwhelmed cutthroat populations elsewhere in the basin. Bull trout, a threatened species across much of their former range, also persist here and in the tributaries. Fisheries managers have gone to considerable lengths to keep that genetic stronghold intact, and the regulations reflect that priority.

The gauge reports reservoir elevation, and elevation is the single number that governs the fishing. This is a deep drawdown reservoir, and the surface can drop many tens of feet through the irrigation and power season, stranding ramps and exposing long stretches of steep rocky shoreline. Boat anglers work the drop offs and the tributary mouths for cutthroat and lake trout, kokanee school in the open water, and the tributary streams above the pool offer some of the finest wilderness cutthroat fishing in the lower forty eight for anyone willing to walk or ride in. Access to the upper drainage is by trail from the head of the reservoir, and the combination of a long boat run followed by a walk keeps the pressure remarkably light for water of this quality. Anglers should be clear on bull trout identification and the rules that apply to them before fishing anywhere in this drainage.

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Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

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We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

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Pool right now

3,541.63ft NGVD29
  • 24 hours-0.14 ft ↓ falling

Reading taken 1h ago at USGS 12362000, Hungry Horse Reservoir nr Hungry Horse MT. Elevation is the surface of the lake above the survey datum, not depth. Source.

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Posting to Hungry Horse Reservoir.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Lake level alert

Tell me when the pool at Hungry Horse Reservoir ft (NGVD29)

Now: 3,541.63 ft pool elevation, read 4:45 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 12362000, Hungry Horse Reservoir nr Hungry Horse MT).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Hungry Horse - the village at the dam, with the visitor site, services and the gauge reference point.
Columbia Falls - the nearest town north, with lodging, tackle and guide services.
Flathead National Forest - the surrounding public land, with campgrounds and roads down both shores.
South Fork Flathead River - the inflow above the reservoir and the wilderness cutthroat fishery.
Glacier National Park - immediately north, with the West Glacier entrance and full visitor services.
Flathead Lake - the large natural lake downstream, with its own fishery and developed ramps.
Kalispell - the regional centre, with the nearest airport, outfitters and full services.

Seasons

Spring: ice out and rising pool, with cutthroat moving shallow and the tributary mouths fishing well.
Summer: full pool and the best boat access of the year, with kokanee and lake trout in the open water.
Fall: drawdown begins in earnest, ramps start to strand and shoreline fishing improves as fish concentrate.
Winter: low pool and ice on the upper arms, with very limited access and almost no angling pressure.

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Questions

What species can you catch on the Hungry Horse Reservoir?

Anglers target Brook Trout, Bull Trout, Burbot, Kokanee Salmon, Lake Trout, Lake Whitefish, Mountain Whitefish, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout, Westslope Cutthroat Trout on the Hungry Horse Reservoir in Montana.

Where can you access the Hungry Horse Reservoir?

Hungry Horse - the village at the dam, with the visitor site, services and the gauge reference point. Columbia Falls - the nearest town north, with lodging, tackle and guide services. Flathead National Forest - the surrounding public land, with campgrounds and roads down both shores. South Fork Flathead River - the inflow above the reservoir and the wilderness cutthroat fishery. Glacier National Park - immediately north, with the West Glacier entrance and full visitor services. Flathead Lake - the large natural lake downstream, with its own fishery and developed ramps. Kalispell - the regional...

When is the best time to fish the Hungry Horse Reservoir?

Spring: ice out and rising pool, with cutthroat moving shallow and the tributary mouths fishing well. Summer: full pool and the best boat access of the year, with kokanee and lake trout in the open water. Fall: drawdown begins in earnest, ramps start to strand and shoreline fishing improves as fish concentrate. Winter: low pool and ice on the upper arms, with very limited access and almost no angling pressure.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Hungry Horse Reservoir?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Montana agency site: https://fwp.mt.gov/fish/regulations