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Canyon Ferry Lake

canyon ferry map

Canyon Ferry Lake is a reservoir on the Missouri River near Helena, Montana and Townsend, Montana. It is Montana’s third largest body of water, covering 35,181 acres and 76 miles of shoreline. It was formed by the building of Canyon Ferry Dam, and is nestled against the Big Belt Mountains of the Rocky Mountains. The former town of Canton lies beneath the lake, having been submerged following construction of the dam. This is also my backyard! I grew up on this lake and call it my home. The lake offers great camping opportunities at the silo’s where we base our trips out of. There is a general store and brand new boat launch. Here we can catch a variety of fish from Walleye, Trout, Perch and Ling. On this lake we head north of the silo’s and fish sunken islands, rocky points and structured drop offs. At the mid-point of the lake is an area called White Earth. This is our most concentrated area we fish. Our main method of fishing is jigging stand up jigs with crawlers, leeches and gulp minnows. Other methods absolutely have their time and place. In one day we might fish four different styles of fishing to stay on the fish. This is one of our most consistent lakes to catch tons of walleyes every day! As long as your line is in the water you also have a great chance of catching a walleye of a lifetime here over 10 pounds. This trip is based out of the Silo’s recreation area near Townsend, MT.