Hawg hunting: Montana’s lunker Fort Peck chinook salmon lure anglers

FORT PECK RESERVOIR, Mont. – King salmon is not a species commonly associated with Montana, but after Jim Fauth reeled in a state record on Aug. 8 – a 32.65-pounder that narrowly edged out the prior record – a fever swept this prairie badlands region.

“Word travels fast when anglers start catching salmon on Fort Peck, and especially those that are around 20-plus pounds,” said Heath Headley, Fish, Wildlife & Parks fisheries biologist for the lake, in an email.

“It’s probably safe to say things picked up a bit after that state record was caught.”

Adding to some anglers’ fervor is that Fauth caught the fish on a cheap rod, spooled with line that later broke at 11 pounds of tension. It was only his fourth outing targeting salmon on the reservoir. No guide. No fancy boat.

“How I landed it I don’t know,” Fauth said.

Planters

King salmon, also called chinook salmon, were first planted in the 233,000-acre impoundment of the Missouri River in 1983. They were hatched from eggs provided by Michigan salmon.

For decades, the fish were largely ignored by anglers more interested in pursuing walleye, northern pike or smallmouth bass. But in recent years more anglers have been targeting salmon from July into October as bigger salmon have been netted.

Mark Ward, known as the Captain on the Missoula-based Montana Outdoor Radio Show, can take some of the credit for spreading word statewide about Fort Peck salmon fishing. He regularly posts photos of the big fish online, interviews other anglers about their techniques and has succumbed to what he calls “black jaw fever.” Black jaw refers to the dark color of the salmons’ mouths.

“There’s just something about catching a salmon the size that these are in Fort Peck, in Montana, versus going to the coast, going to Alaska,” Ward said. “For me, it’s pretty cool to come over here to Fort Peck and fish for these things, no matter if you’re out there for 12 hours and you can catch one 20-, 25-pounder, or you’re out there for 12 hours and you can catch four or five, which is a really great day here in Fort Peck.”

Complicated methods

Ward said he enjoys the process as much as reeling in one of the lunkers.

“I would just as soon set the lures up, try to decide what to use, and then have somebody else grab that rod and reel the fish in,” he said. “Because the look on their face when they see the line peel off of that rod on that reel is unbelievable.”

This year, the biggest fish Ward netted was a 29-pounder hauled in by his fishing buddy, Gary Rueb, of Plentywood, Montana. Prior to that, the duo had one two-week span when they repeatedly lost fish as lines and leaders broke. When one salmon broke off next to the boat, Rueb frantically reached down and grabbed it with his hand, prompting jokes about his catfish noodling abilities.

The methods used to catch salmon on Fort Peck can be intimidating in their intricacy. Ward fishes four lines on downriggers, devices that look like a separate rod holding a large weight. Attaching the line from a fishing rod to the downrigger allows the angler to more precisely control the depth they are fishing at and gets the line deeper more quickly. Salmon are typically swimming in water 80 feet or deeper.

Ward also fished two other lines with Dipsy Divers, round plastic discs that take an angler’s line deeper as well as away from the boat.

At the end of the fishing line are colorful flashers or dodgers, made of aluminum or plastic, that are rectangular in shape and sometimes curved on one end to create vibrations in the water to attract a fish’s attention. The flasher or dodger is hooked to a leader that goes to the lure or fly. Lures often have a scent attractant added, sometimes tuna, sometimes “secret sauce.”

“There’s a lot of variables when it comes to salmon fishing – depths to target, colors, leader lengths, locations, distance from downrigger weight to lure, size of flashers, cut plugs versus flies, and the list goes on,” Headley said.

Anglers are also dialed into the boat’s speed, with the ability to control it down to tenths of a mile per hour.

“If we backed up the clock 20-plus years ago, a large majority of your salmon anglers would’ve fished an 11-inch flasher and squid across the face of the dam all day long,” he added. “That’s not been the case recently.”

Local intel

Rueb, a retired grocery store owner, said he began chasing salmon soon after they were planted.

“Those first few years I had no clue what to do or how to do it,” he said.

Then he started learning from other anglers, and soon friendships were forming around the sport, including his alliance with Ward.

“It’s actually pretty fun,” Rueb said. “I’ve got to meet so many people from all over.”

After catching a salmon, Ward is eager to text other anglers a photo and provide the details. He’s also quick to ask others what they are using, the depth their fishing at and more. Binoculars are a popular tool used to check on other boats when it’s suspected they have a fish on. One boat everyone keeps an eye on is captained by a man known as the Salmon Slayer.

Fly tyer

About three years ago Rueb began tying his own salmon fishing flies. At first, he was just looking for a winter hobby and to save some money. When he started catching fish on them, other anglers asked him to tie flies for them. This year he made 1,200 of them for sale exclusively at Fort Peck Marina under the brand name Black Jaw Flies.

“It’s pretty neat to make something you can catch a salmon on,” he said.

The 29-pounder he landed recently is further proof the flies work. This fat fish is going up on the wall as a taxidermy mount.

“It’s by far the biggest I’ve ever caught, and for it to come out of your hometown lake is pretty special,” he said. “People don’t believe there are salmon in Montana.”

Record catch

Proof of the popularity, and oddity, of catching salmon at Fort Peck Reservoir is the media coverage Fauth’s record chinook has attracted from local and national media. An Instagram post of the video Fauth’s friend shot of landing the fish has received more than 3.7 million views.

“It’s been kind of wild,” said the Malta, Montana, resident, who thought his wife had bumped the rod in its holder when the fish struck. “Then the fun began.”

His granddaughter, who lives in Sweden, even wrote and produced a song using artificial intelligence. Titled “Big Catch on a Budget,” the lyrics include an homage to Fauth’s frugal uncle Vern who gave him the inexpensive rod he caught the trophy fish on.

“Didn’t cost but a few bucks, but it stole my fishing heart,” the song says with a chorus of, “Big catch on a budget, state record on my line. Cheap gear but I love it, uncle’s give was mighty fine.”

Once in the boat, the big salmon wouldn’t fit in the livewell or cooler. Instead of hurrying in to have the fish weighed, Fauth, his wife and their friends kept fishing.

“I didn’t realize the importance of weighing it right away,” he said.

When he finally got back to the Fort Peck Marina, Fauth twice had the fish weighed but the scales hadn’t been certified. Driving into nearby Glasgow, one of the local market’s scales couldn’t accommodate the big fish. Finally, he found a certified and big enough scale, but almost eight hours had elapsed. In that amount of time, the fish may have lost a pound or two, Fauth was told.

When measured, the fish had a 28-inch girth and was 38 inches long. The fish is so big the taxidermy mount will hang in his friends’ assisted living center.

“These fish only come once in a lifetime,” Fauth said, noting when he fished the following week he didn’t catch any salmon.

“I always emphasize to folks who haven’t salmon fished on Fort Peck before or a limited amount, any day you can hook into and put a salmon in the boat is a good day,” Headley said. “That seems to be the case for most folks – I would say a good portion of anglers are catching one salmon or a couple salmon on a trip.”