Hebgen Lake
One of the more popular boating and fishing lakes in the valleys of Montana, Hebgen Lake is just north of the Idaho border and off MT. Highway 87 and U.S. Highway 287. With the Madison River as its main feeder, Hebgen Lake is more than 16 miles long and on its southern end measures up to four miles at its widest point. more info
Hebgen Lake Listings: (add your listing)
Wild Trout Outfitters - We fish Hebgen Lake
Your choice - walk/wade trips, drift boat float trips, float tube trips to Hebgen & Quake Lakes. Plus, we hit all major rivers (Gallatin & Madison) with experience & results.
(800) 423-4742
Lake Hebgen
© Vertical Media
FISHING & BOATING
The trout in Hebgen Lake are a sporting size, with the average brown trout running between 16 to 18 inches. Rainbow trout range from 14 to 16 inches, although an occasional 20-incher is not unheard of.
These fish are found in such healthy numbers in Hebgen Lake that they contribute to the lake's enormous popularity.
Twenty inch trout for the taking!
Hebgen offers two distinctive hatches. From mid-May to late July, Hebgen Lake is a Chironomid factory. Such a prolific midge hatch leads the Hebgen trout to feed on top. By the time the second hatch of the famous Trico and Callibaetis mayflies arrive in mid- to late-August, Hebgen's fish are quite used to feeding on surface flies.
And it is this happy coincidence that creates arguably the finest dry fly fishing lake in the world!
The finest dry fly fishing lake in the world!
As with lakes all over the country, the lakes in Montana are used for more than just fishing, particularly large lakes like Hebgen Lake. Boating, sailing, canoeing and kayaking – just aimlessly cruising the water on a sunny day in a pretty setting are popular activities.
1959 EARTHQUAKE
On August 17, 1959, an earthquake measuring 7.5 magnitude on the Richter scale occurred just 9-miles downstream from Hebgen Lake making it one of the strongest ever recorded in the Intermountain West and the Rockies.
Lake Hebgen
© Vertical Media
The most spectacular and disastrous effect of the earthquake was the huge avalanche of rock, soil and trees that cascaded from the steep south wall of the Madison River Canyon. This slide formed a natural barrier that blocked the gorge and stopped the flow of the Madison River and, within a few weeks, created a 53-meter deep impoundement, known from that moment on as 'Quake Lake'. The volume of material that blocked the Madison River below Hebgen Dam has been estimated at 28-33 million cubic meters.
During the slide, 28 people were killed and many summer homes in the Hebgen Lake area were damaged or destroyed. Highway damage near Hebgen Lake was due to landslides slumping vertically and flowing laterally beneath pavements and bridges, which caused severe cracks and destruction.
Madison Canyon Earthquake Area and Visitors Center offers interpretive programs about the 1959 earthquake.
Summer houses damaged, highway destruction, and 28 lives lost.
HOW THE EARTHQUAKE HAPPENED
The Hebgen Lake quake happened because huge blocks of rock, as much as 15 miles long, abruptly slumped and tilted beneath the lake and Madison River Canyon. The blocks moved ultimately because the earth's crust is being stretched apart in a broad region of the West known as the Basin and Range Province. Such stretching has created valleys, mountain ranges, and earthquake faults from eastern California through Nevada and western Utah, and north into Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and western Wyoming.
Fifteen mile long blocks of rock abruptly slumped and tilted.
HEBGEN LAKE FOR THAT UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE
Today, with the national forest next to it and surrounded by breathtaking mountain scenes and beautiful pine trees, Hebgen Lake presents unforgettable fishing and boating opportunities for both locals and visitors.
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