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State of the Waters · Big Sky

Montana Water Levels & the Daily Bite

Live levels for Montana's great waters — Flathead, Fort Peck, Canyon Ferry and the Missouri-system reservoirs. Every tube shows the normal pool, the current level, the lake's two signature fish (hover for the species, click for 2026 tournaments), and a live bite gauge at left. Scroll down for the Missouri, Bighorn & Madison trout tailwaters and the Yellowstone, Blackfoot & Bitterroot float rivers.

Fetching live readings…
Pick how you're using the water today — jump to live conditions:
🎣 Fishing another state?  Step 1: pick it Step 2: how you use the water
Flood / above normal At normal pool Below normal Current level Bite gauge: slow → hot (solunar)

Hover a fish for its species · click a fish to search that lake's 2026 tournaments

Each cylinder is scaled to its own operating band: the gold line is normal full pool, the red line is the flood / above-normal line, and the blue water is the live reading. Where a Montana reservoir has a live federal gauge (USGS or Bureau of Reclamation) it reads true surface elevation (ft); reservoirs with no public real-time feed show the most recent published pool. The colored bar at left is a solunar bite forecast for right now at each lake (red = slow, green = hot).

Trout Tailwaters — Cold Water Below the Dams

Montana is trout country: the Missouri below Holter (Craig), the Bighorn below Afterbay, and the legendary Madison — big wild brown and rainbow water. The cylinder shows live flow (cfs), low = wadeable, high = fast water. Hover a trout for the species; tap it for a guide.

Freestone and tailwater flows swing fast with runoff and dam release; always check conditions before wading.

River Catfish — Warm-Water Rivers

Warmwater cats hold in the lower Yellowstone and Missouri. Live stage (ft) with action and flood marked. Hover a cat for the species; tap it for a guide.

Float Rivers — Paddle & Wade

The Yellowstone — the longest undammed river in the Lower 48 — plus the Blackfoot and Bitterroot. Live USGS gage height (ft); each tube marks FLOAT, EXPERT and FLOOD. Hover a fish; tap it for an outfitter.

These rivers are runoff-driven — they jump fast in spring melt and drop through summer; the tailwaters run on dam release.

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