Although the summer salmon fishing season (which is usually done with boats, downriggers, and trolling in deep water) is over, the much more "accessible" snagging and archery season begins Oct. 1, along with FWP's annual salmon egg collection efforts.
Angling opportunities for salmon, safety, and ethics
The salmon snagging and archery season begins Wednesday, Oct. 1. The archery season runs through Oct. 15 and the snagging season runs through Nov. 30. This popular fishery brings in a lot of folks to the bays and boat ramps at the lower (dam end) of Fort Peck Reservoir, as the salmon tend to congregate near boat ramps and shorelines where they were first stocked.
Due to the often-congested nature of salmon snagging in areas that have concentrated fish, anglers should use common courtesy and ethics regarding other shore anglers and bow-anglers.
In addition, anglers should not clean, fillet, or leave carcasses on docks, ramps, or shorelines. Not only is this unsightly and unethical, it can bring in scavengers and other unwanted pests to these areas. There are much better places to dispose of these fish elsewhere.
Lastly, please be aware of FWP fishery and hatchery crews and their electrofishing efforts, as they may be near areas where angling activities are taking place.
Egg collection efforts
Salmon were first introduced into Fort Peck Reservoir in 1983. Due to the abundance of their preferred forage fish, cisco, salmon have shown excellent growth, with males maturing in two to four years and females in three to four years…often leading to large fish of 20 pounds or more.
However, Chinook salmon cannot successfully spawn naturally in the reservoir, so staff must collect fish, harvest eggs, and raise them in the hatchery over the winter. In the spring of 2026, a total 220,000 Chinook salmon were released back into Fort Peck from the fall of 2025 egg take.
FWP fisheries and hatchery staff started collecting adult Chinook salmon on Fort Peck the last week of September. The annual collection effort lasts through much of October, with the goal of collecting enough eggs to fill the Fort Peck Hatchery. Salmon are then raised in the hatchery and will be released back into the reservoir in the spring of 2027.
During the collection, crews will target areas near the dam where salmon congregate, using electrofishing gear to collect the fish.
"Similar to walleye, salmon spawning activity peaks when all the right conditions take place, which primarily are water temperatures and timing," says Heath Headly, Fort Peck fisheries biologist. "Ideal spawning temperatures are when water temperatures reach 55 degrees, which typically occurs around mid-October. This is also when crews see the most fish and better egg quality."
Once the fish are collected, they are transferred to the Fort Peck Multispecies Fish Hatchery. Eggs and milt are then extracted from females and males, respectively, and successfully fertilized offspring will be reared over the winter to be released in the spring.