Looking for lunkers on the Rocky Front

Out on east side of the mountains, I stopped at the post office in Bynum for specific directions on how to find Bynum Reservoir.

"Just get on this road and take a right turn," the friendly, laughing, white-haired postal patron lady said as she grabbed my right hand. "You do know your right from your left, don't you?"

"Actually, there's a Fish & Game sign at the end of the block that tells you where to turn," the lady clerk behind the counter said. "Just don't cross the creek."

I got on the road, took the right turn and didn't cross the creek and after nearly three hours of driving arrived at the fishing access on Bynum Reservoir.

Why spend so much time on the road when I could have been at Duck Lake a half-hour sooner? Because I wanted to catch some big rainbow trout. The kind Duck Lake used to have.

For over a year, I'd heard rumors of big rainbows in Bynum Reservoir, located about 15 miles northwest of Choteau, right in the middle of dinosaur country. How big?

"Currently, Bynum Reservoir is providing the best rainbow trout fishing on the Rocky Mountain Front, particularly for large fish," Dave Yerk, Fish, Wildlife and Parks fisheries biologist, wrote in FWP's 2011 annual fishing newsletter. "Rainbow trout between five and seven pounds are commonly caught, with lunkers up to 12 pounds reported by anglers."

Bynum Reservoir once held walleyes, but drought conditions drew water levels down so low few fish survived. Good precipitation the last three years has filled the reservoir. With no forage fish for walleyes, rainbows were stocked, and with no competition for food, they grew quickly.

My visit to Bynum Reservoir was greeted with 20-plus mph winds. In a float tube, I could barely hold a position, but I fished an Egg-Sucking Leech on an 8-weight fly-fishing outfit.

In two hours of kicking like a wild man, I had one bite. I thought for sure I'd hooked a 5-pounder by the strength and speed of its fight, but it turned out to be only 16 inches long. The fish was a football, and its strength was memorable.

Next time, I'll fish from a 17-foot boat. There were eight boats on the water that day. Most anglers were fishing for perch, and I understand kokanee salmon have been planted.

There's an excellent boat ramp, clean latrines and plenty of parking spaces. Bynum Reservoir will be on my fishing schedule next summer.