Ennis Lake Fly Fishing Guide
Ennis Lake is a 45-minute drive southwest of our Montana fly fishing home base in Bozeman. Created in the early 1900s with the completion of Ennis Dam, this shallow-water reservoir is nearly 3700 acres in size. Montana anglers refer to this lake when differentiating between the upper and lower Madison River, with the sections downstream of Ennis Dam being considered the latter.
Rainbow, cutthroat, and brown trout inhabit the lake and attract fly anglers yearly. Although the best fly fishing near Bozeman is focused on the world-renowned rivers, a handful of lakes and reservoirs are also worth exploring.
Fishing Overview
Ennis Lake is a wild trout fishery with year-round angling opportunities for conventional tackle and fly anglers. Although most of the lake freezes over in the winter, open water is accessible along the road to the powerhouse at Ennis Dam during the wintertime.
Chironomid, callibaeties, and trico hatches offer subsurface and dry fly fishing challenges between April and September. Anglers fishing from boats or float tubes experience more success fishing the old river channels along the lake's southern half than shore fishermen.
Ennis Lake Fly Fishing Strategies
With an average depth of only 7 feet, Ennis Lake warms quickly in the summertime and is prone to high turbidity following periods of heavy winds.
Aquatic vegetation growth is dense and supports a diverse invertebrate community.
Springtime lake fly fishing in Montana on Ennis Lake kicks into gear soon after ice off with chironomid hatches. Anglers fly fishing the old Madison River channels in the lakebed rely on indicator setups varying in length between 7-12 feet. Balanced leech patterns with a chironomid pupa dropper is an effective tandem fly rig for early-season fishing on Ennis Lake. Dry fly fishing is sporadic until the summer mayfly hatches begin in July.
The morning dry fly fishing in July and August is where Ennis Lake shines as a Montana fly fishing destination. Rainbow and brown trout cruise along the edges of weed beds, slowly feeding on trico and callibaetis mayfly spinners in predictable pathways with steady rises. This is really fun fly fishing for experienced and intermediate anglers who are capable of making accurate casts of 30-50’ in distance.
Referred to as “gulper fishing,” the slow take sounds like a person taking a “gulp” and can be heard from long distances on calm mornings. Late morning winds commonly” put the fish down” for the day, limiting the best fishing to the morning hours.
Hatches last through September, becoming increasingly sparse as the cooler weather settles into Southwest Montana. Our Montana fishing guides continue to look for rising fish during early fall, but our focus shifts to streamer fly fishing the channels between the weed beds for the legendary brown trout that move into the shallow waters during their pre-spawn rituals of fall
Open water can be found year-round in the narrow section between Ennis Dam and the North Ennis Lake Road bridge. Anglers fishing here focus their efforts in the winter and spring, fly fishing with small leech and wooly bugger variations either under a strike indicator or slow strip retrieves.
Explore Harrison Lake
Ennis Lake is popular with recreationists, anglers, and waterfowl hunters.
During the springtime, the lake is an important resting stop for ducks, geese, and swans, and it is highly regarded among local birdwatching enthusiasts.
Water skiing and general boat recreation are popular activities through mid-summer when the aquatic vegetation becomes too dense for motorboats in some places. Recreational traffic is generally limited to the northern half of the lake, which is less important to fly anglers. Expect waterfowl hunters to be set up on the southern edges of the lake from late October, most mornings until the lake freezes.
Montana Fly Fishing Trips to Ennis Lake
Ennis Lake fly fishing trips are a great addition to a multi-day Montana fly fishing vacation with our Bozeman fly fishing guides. Timing the excursion can be difficult, as the best sections of the lake become quite crowded during the peak of gulper fishing, and the weather conditions vary widely.
We commonly plan Ennis Lake outings, hoping to fish into the early afternoon. When the hatches slow, we can wade fish the Madison River sections just upstream of the river inlets with our guests for a few hours, weather permitting.
The guides use drift boats on our Ennis Lake fishing trips as they allow for stealthy approaches in the shallow water sections of the lake. The downside is that winds can pick up suddenly and without notice, creating challenging rowing conditions back to the launch site.
We have been outfitting Montana fly fishing trips on Ennis Lake for over two decades. Anglers fishing Ennis Lake with our guides should be open to alternate fly fishing options near Ennis like fishing the Madison River when conditions are unfavorable.
We recommend booking an Ennis Lake fishing trip between July 15 and August 15th for our guests with previous fly fishing experience who are fly fishing with our guides on multi-day itineraries. When finalizing your Montana fly fishing vacation with Fins and Feathers, let our booking experts know that you would like to plan for a day on Ennis Lake during your stay.