Two years ago we moved to Red Lodge, Montana to pursue a Montana real estate development called The Spires at Red Lodge because Red Lodge real estate is still some of the best priced resort real estate anywhere in the entire Rocky Mountain region. Now, I can’t give you all of my fishing secrets for Montana and Wyoming’s eastern Rocky Mountain or I’d have to kill you – just kidding, but here is a small compilation of some of my favorite streams and high mountain lakes in the Red Lodge, Montana area.
Just a short walk from anywhere in downtown is Rock Creek which is a free stone stream feed by the waters of the high Beartooth Plateau. The fish are eager and don’t get much pressure and as you move down stream they get bigger and bigger.
A 20 minute drive to the west from The Spires at Red Lodge development along U.S. Highway 78 in Red Lodge is Roscoe, Montana home to the Grizzly Bar. Stop there on the way back from fishing, not on the way up. Go about 4 miles out of Roscoe towards East Rosebud Lake until you cross a wooden bridge. You can park there and walk down, or walk up. Dry flies if they are rising and nymphs and streamers if they aren’t. Streamers will be more successful on cloudy days.
If you are a real hedonist and don’t mind climbing big mountains for breakfast then you can take the trail-less trip up to a lake on the Beartooth Plateau called Arch. There are large cutthroat, some in excess of 5 pounds.
Take 78 west for another 14 miles past Roscoe and you arrive in Absarokee. Go west out of Absarokee along the Stillwater River. It is best to fish it from a raft and pullover to fish the runs, but you can do alright wading from bridge areas as well. It is great grasshopper and terrestrial fishing in late July and all of August. In the spring and fall it’s back to streamers and nymphs. This river gets a lot less pressure than the western Montana streams.
For another great high mountain lake head south out of Red Lodge on Highway 212 and turn right up the Glacier Lake Road, near the base of the Beartooth Pass. After about 7 miles of slow going dirt road you will arrive at the base of the Glacier Lake trail head. The trail is a two mile grunt up to 9,000-plus feet out of the parking lot. There are some very large cutthroats, especially along the cliffs on the western shore. You’ll need a sink tip line to fish with flies or a weighted line with a bunch of worms on a treble to go after the big one down deep. Just get it down deep and reel it back slow.
The legendary Bighorn is only about 90 minutes from downtown Red Lodge which makes some of the best tailwater fishing in all of Montana really accessible as a day trip, which is pretty cool.
A lot of the high mountain lake stuff always has the word exercise attached to it. Of course you can fish lakes right along the highway at over 9,000 feet but since everybody and their dog can access these lakes then they are nearly as good as the lakes that are tough to access. That is what makes Glacier Lake so great. It is a 5mile dirt road off Highway 212 to get to a parking area. From there it is about a one hour hike up to the lake, which at 9,681 feet is often not even free of ice until mid-July. For the fortunate few who time it right there are some real big fish waiting. Go as deep as you can and retrieve slowly.
This is one of the reasons that owning a second home or a piece of Red Lodge, Montana real estate is so appealing. The vast amount of recreational opportunity that is right at your doorstep is unbelievable and Montana’s largest city is under one hour away.