Montana Fish Report

Agency Lake has thawed at the upper northern end but there is still ice at the south end. There is open water at the mouth of Sevenmile Creek and the Wood River. All boat ramps are frozen. Ice fishing is never a good idea on the lake. Open year-round. Redband trout are moving around with some returning to the main lake and many moving up the Wood River to spawn.

Catch rates remain low due to record setting drought in 2020 through 2022, resulting in poor survival of juvenile redband trout and subsequent recruitment into the adult population.

Agency Lake regulations are catch-and-release for redband/rainbow trout with no bait allowed (artificial flies and lures only). The boundary of Agency Lake is the south end of the Straits. This change is due to record low spawning escapement for trophy redband trout throughout the Klamath Basin in 2020. ODFW also encourages the use of single barbless hooks in this fishery, not removing the fish from the water, and using catch-and-release rubber nets.

Keep on the lookout for radio tagged redband trout. These fish must be released unharmed. The long antenna looks like fishing line coming from the abdomen. Please report any radio tagged fish.