Powder River

The Powder River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately 375 miles long throughout Northeastern Wyoming and Southeastern Montana.  Combined with its tributary, the South Fork Powder River, it is 550 miles long.  It drains an area historically known as the Powder River Country on the high plains East of the Bighorn Mountains.  It rises in three forks in North Central Wyoming.  The North and the Middle forks rise along the Eastern slope of the Bighorn Mountains.  The South Fork rises on the Southern slopes of the Bighorn Mountains West of Casper.  The three forks meet on the foothills East of the Bighorns near the town of Kaycee, Wyoming.  The combined stream flows Northward, East of the Bighorns, and into Montana.  The Little Powder River flows for 72 miles from the Wyoming state line before converging with the Powder near the town of Broadus.  The Powder River ultimately discharges into the Yellowstone River approximately 50 miles downstream of Miles City and just West of Terry, Montana.  The confluence of the Powder and "The Stone" is approximately 220 river miles downstream of the Wyoming border.  While Captain William Clark initially named the river "Red Stone" River in 1806, the name Powder River became more commonly used because of the sand along a portion of its banks resembles powder or dust.  There are NO concrete boat ramps on the Powder River.  Boating is extremely limited unless you have access to an air boat.  Putting your Jet Boat in the "Stone" and shooting up the mouth of the Powder when flows are high will be your best bet if you are looking to travel any amount of distance in a watercraft.  

Twenty seven native species provide ample fishing opportunities, including game fish; Channel Cats, Sauger, Walleye, and both the Shovelnose and Pallid Sturgeon.  The river also has a great forage base as it is very plentiful with bait fish.  According to MT FWP, the Channel Catfish is the only game fish present in the tributary of the Little Powder River.  Incredibly, the Powder River has always remained undammed and there no lowheads present.  There is a historic natural river crossing, however, that lies on the Wyoming side just 9 miles south of the Montana border and just upstream of the Historic LX Bar Ranch.  The Peegee Ranch Manager said this crossing has been used by ranchers to cross cattle and horses since the homesteading days and likely before that by indigenous people.  The Powder River waters continue to serve as critical spawning habitat for Channel Catfish throughout the entire river in Montana and well into Wyoming.  There are resident Catfish that will spend the full year in the Powder, but many of its Catfish run up annually from the Yellowstone River during the pre-spawn period.  Most notably, the famous In-Fisherman publication, indicated that in the late 1990's-early 2000's, Wyoming Fish & Game had netted Cats up to 15 lbs. in Crazy Woman Creek, further proving the extreme upstream mobility of the native Channel Cat.    

The drainage is very rural and for the most part the landscape is dominated by private property, however there is a fair share of state and federal lands throughout its watershed.  The lower Powder features very few Fishing Access sites.  The Moorhead Recreation site is a 13 acre BLM Campground situated along the Powder River near the unincorporated town of Morehead, which is just four miles North of the Montana-Wyoming border.  It is a rustic experience with fire pits, a vaulted toilet, and picnic tables available.  Overnight camping at Morehead is free.  There is a huge chunk of public land along the Powder between the state line and Morehead.  Traveling further downstream, the "Broadus Bridge" FAS is located just south of the community of Broadus.  It does not offer a boat ramp or overnight camping.  It is located 152 miles from the mouth and is considered a primitive Fishing Access site.  There is also an undeveloped Little Powder River Fishing Access Site that is located one mile Southeast of Broadus on Highway 212 and Northeast four miles on County Road 1.  As the river continues its flows towards the "Stone" there is another undeveloped Fishing Access Site near the town of Terry.  The FAS site is named the "Powder River Depot" and it is located six miles Southeast of Terry on Highway 10.  This site offers a carry-in boat launch for prospective anglers. 

Montana Cats veteran, Jason Flaten, commented; "The Powder is very shallow and rocky thoughout, making boat traffic nearly impossible.  I have had a lot of success in the southern part of the Montana stretch.  Much of my efforts took place from the middle of July to the end of August and when you are fishing that late in the year and the water is low, you focus on small pockets of deep water to find fish.  4 to 7 lb. Cats are present in those deeper pockets, but usually only one or two of them in each pocket.  A good trip was about eight Channel Cats in that six pound range.  The largest I ever put on the shore was 11 lbs.  Whenever we stopped on a riffle, we would just catch a lot of the littles (eaters) in that 1 1/2 lb. range.  The key is to just keep walking the river bank and covering ground!"          

Tyler George is a native of Montana.  He is an avid angler that now makes his home in Sheridan, Wyoming.  He has spent a lot of time fishing the Powder on both sides of the border.  "The Powder is a great Catfish river.  The private landowners are very kind as long as you are asking permission.  The Powder starts looking like a trout stream above Crazy Woman, so all of my success has been from the Mouth of Crazy Woman Creek in Wyoming all the way to Moorhead Recreation Area in Montana.  My favorite time to fish the Powder is around the 4th of July.  During this time, the river is traditionally still high and slowly receding.  My family has had success with Cats topping out at 8.5 lbs.  It is hard to be mobile on the Powder with a young family, so that limits the numbers I can catch on my trips.  If you are looking for good size and numbers be prepared to hoof it and maybe even consider a "float" trip with kayaks.  As long as you are willing to pull the kayak out and re-direct yourself in shallower locations, it may be a blast and prove successful.  The locals up and down the river describe the Powder as "flowing a mile wide and an inch deep".  That gives you an indication of what you will be dealing with."  Tyler has also made exclusive trips to Crazy Woman Creek and to one of the Powder's other primary tributaries; Clear Creek.  He has caught Cats up to 6.5 lbs in Clear Creek and witnessed an 8 pounder landed in Crazy Woman.

As an Indication to the quality of catfishing in the "Broadus area", there was a tournament held out of Broadus in 2009 called the "Powder River Catfish Fest".  It was a 24-hour event on the 2nd weekend of June.  The top four teams all averaged over 5 lbs. per Cat and broke the 20 lb. barrier on a 4-fish limit.  28+ lbs. won the event and the biggest cat weighed in was 11.5 lbs.  

Above Information from Montana Cats Staff.