Clark Canyon Reservoir

Clark Canyon Reservoir sits at about 5,500 feet south of Dillon, where the Red Rock River and Horse Prairie Creek meet to form the Beaverhead. Reclamation built the dam in 1964, and full, the lake covers about 5,000 acres of open sagebrush country. Its rich water grows rainbows and browns big and heavy, and the reservoir is as well known among Montana stillwater anglers as the tailwater below it.

Chironomids under an indicator start the season after ice-off, then damsels and callibaetis carry June and July along the weed beds of the two arms. A leech or a baitfish pattern on a sinking line works all year for the bigger browns. The wind comes up most afternoons and has nothing to stop it, so mornings and evenings are the time for a float tube. The reservoir drops through the irrigation season and can run low by fall. The limit is 3 trout, and burbot are fished through the ice.