# Glacier National Park



## Smallmouth Chaser (May 17, 2009)

My Brother, daughter and I are heading out west next summer and were wondering what to expect from the fishing in Glacier. I have fished out west several times, mainly in the Yellowstone area & the Bighorn but we decided to head north after a short trip into Idaho for a few days to see & fish Glacier National Park.

Any tips on places to try or avoid would be greatly welcomed. PM's are welcome. We enjoy a nice hike in to avoid the crowds & fish the more scenic areas but don't want hike in a camp. 

We are also looking for info on campgrounds in the area, we are tenting it and prefer to get away from the crowds (would like to avoid Mr. Grizzly if possible but understand the situation out there).


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## Ranger Ray (Mar 2, 2003)

Hidden and Avalanche lakes are 2 I fished. There are lots of lakes with Trout. Some accessible by car. The 2 I mentioned were a couple mile hike. Avalanche is on the going to the sun highway if I remember right. Its beautiful out there. Lots of catch and release and special regulations. You can probably do a search and find all the lakes of Glacier. Most tent sites are rustic and have no showers. Have fun!


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## Smallmouth Chaser (May 17, 2009)

Thanks for the info. We are looking forward to the trip and are excited about heading up to Glacier. We typically fish streams and rivers but may have to give the alpine lakes a try for trout. I personally have never caught a Bull Trout (they look a lot like our Lakers) and am looking forward to getting my first.

We plan to take out snowboards out and have a little fun on any snow we can find. Last time, we got a lot of strange looks when people notice the boards on the roof of the car in the middle of July.


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## Bluegill_Bass_Basher (Feb 4, 2013)

Fished hidden, saw plenty of trout, but couldn't get any to bite


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## jeffm80 (Feb 23, 2002)

i've fished lake mcdonald, and st mary (i think it was called, fished many of the creeks in the park, saw many fish but no takers, been about 5 yrs since ive been out there, no fishing license required inside the park but you better check when you go just to make sure, I fished the fathead (license required) an caught a bunch of cut throat, barbless hooks and catch and release only where we fished. that park is truly gods country, take lots of pictures and enjoy yourself


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## REG (Oct 25, 2002)

Alot of the fishing inside GNP is going to be lakes. There are streams, such as the middle and north fork of the Flathead that forms a couple of the parks borders, but not as many as you would expect. Alot of the creeks in the park are closed to fishing.

I didn't fish it, but the Flathead Indian Reservation just east of the park is supposed to have some very good fishing. Special permits are needed.

Got some nice brookies at Bullhead lake, which was about a 3 1/2 mile hike over relatively flat terrain, in the Many Glacier area, on the Swiftcurrent Pass trail. Did fish Avalanche Lake also, which I can't think of fishing in a prettier place, but the cutts that I caught and saw caught were small when I was there.

As far as campgrounds, we stayed at a few in the park and checked out several others. Keep in mind that alot of them are first come/first serve and that for choice campgrounds, such as Many Glacier, it's best to search for your campsite first thing in the morning. The GNP website does updates regularly thoughout the day and I recommend checking it out so you get a feel of which campgrounds fill up quick. I highly recommend Many Glacier and Avalanche campgrounds. Apgar is nice, but it big and that corner of the park is busy. Sprague Creek is a beautiful location right on Lake McDonald, but is IMO, too close to the road. Two Medicine campground looked like a nice location. Didn't care for the St. Mary's campground, not much shade and some sites seemed to have alot of scrub brush. There are lots of private campgrounds outside of West Glacier. The KOA in St. Mary's just outside the park is great for creature comforts, ie. pool/hot tub and hot showers and not a bad base of operations for hitting the east side of the park.


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## Smallmouth Chaser (May 17, 2009)

Thanks for the fishing and campground advise. We are very excited about the trip. I will post pictures next summer when we are out there.

Where any of the campgrounds in areas that Grizzlys frequented or is Glacier like Yellowstone and the rangers try to keep them away from camping areas? That is as much as anyone can keep them out of an area.

Were you able to fly fish the lakes or use spinning gear? Haven't done much lake fly fishing but am eager to give it a try.


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## REG (Oct 25, 2002)

The whole GNP area is Grizzly country. The rangers do patrol the campgrounds frequently, but I can't say that they specifically do so to shoo grizzlies, though I imagine that is one of their varied duties. They do make sure no one keeps food/food prep stuff unsecured. The campgrounds have bear boxes available for food storage.

Some of the campgrounds are more remote and primitive, ie Cutbank Creek (fishing?), Kintla or Bowman Lake and I can't say how well they are staffed as we didn't have time to stay there.

We didn't encounter nor hear any current stories of grizzlies in any of the campgrounds we were at, although we had a Cinnamon black trapse through our campsite at the St. Mary's KOA. My wife was about 15-20' away in the screenhouse while my son and I were in the tent rolling up sleeping bags, but that's a story in itself. No harm, no foul, the bear was just passing through, ostensibly foraging on the plentiful berries along the river.

You can fly fish the lakes. I used spinning at Bullhead Lake with a Kastmaster as I needed to park the cast a long ways to get fish on. The cutts seem to have a decided predilection to flies.

GNP is the one of the prettiest, most scenic parks in the continental US. Enjoy your trip.


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## neazor91 (Aug 4, 2008)

I have not fished it for awhile, but Cutbank creek used to be full of brookies, rainbows, and whitefish. The rainbows would go to 14 in, the brookies to 13, and the whitefish to about 14. The brookies were some of the prettiest brookies I've ever seen. The campground is about 6 miles back off the eastern border by narrow gravel road. This is bear country, so be careful. Medicine grizzley lake is about 6 miles by trail, from the campground. It used to be full of big rainbows up to about 20 in. I would for sure check with the rangers before going back.
As mentioned before, Avalanche lake is well worth the hike to it. It's a beautiful tarn lake located is a steep walled cirque. It has many cutthroats, but they are mostly small. Again this is bear country. Be careful. The Flathead, on the western border, is a pretty big river. I've never has very good luck there. If you go at the right time, the bull trout run up from Flathead lake to spawn. I understand the fishing can be great at this time. I never hit the run. If I remember, the run is later in the summer and fall. Again, check ahead of time. 
Good luck and enjoy the park.

Mike


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## REG (Oct 25, 2002)

This book can serve as a rough guide. Seems to have been written a 
while ago, but I found it useful. 
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Fishing-Glacier-National-Park-Series/dp/0762710993/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388497635&sr=8-1&keywords=Fishing+Glacier+National+Park"]Fishing Glacier National Park, 2nd (Fishing Series): Russ Schneider: 9780762710997: Amazon.com: [email protected]@[email protected]@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/[email protected]@[email protected]@516QA-murAL[/ame]

There's a tackle shop/tourist trap in West Glacier that the guys working in there were helpful, but I can't remember their name. Good luck.


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## Brown duck (Dec 16, 2005)

We were there around the 4th of July - we saw snowboarders. We camped outside of the park most of the time, but at the Bowman Lake campground one night (west side of the park). From there, we hiked in a couple miles to Quartz Creek, the outlet of Quartz Lake, where I caught my first cutthroat. Of the five of us who tried fly fishing, I was the only one with any experience, but we all caught fish (in only about an hour or two of fishing). My wife caught the best cutthroat, at about 11-12". Lots of fish to be had, including mountain whitefish. The fish weren't picky at all. 

As was explained to me, the west side of the park is mostly native fish (in the streams, anyway), while you're more likely to find the introduced trout on the east side of the park. There were many more areas where an angler is allowed to keep a fish on the east side of the park, if that matters to you. 

Fishing was ancillary during our trip - this was my first real trip out west and it was fantastic!


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