Access Points Along Highway 83 through the Seeley Lake region
MM 1: Harper's Lake and Blanchard Lake
Harper's Lake
and Blanchard Lake are right next to each other. Both lakes are ΒΌ of a mile off
the highway and provide access to the Clearwater River and a nice campground,
especially for a family who has brought along a canoe. The campground is
suitable for trailers and offers shade and an ideal spot for family recreation.
Harper's Lake prohibits boats with motors. The lake is planted with trout each
year, as well as some retired brood stock. A small 18-acre pothole lake,
Harper's Lake is separated from Blanchard Lake by the access road. Blanchard
Lake is a misnomer, as it is actually a 10-acre flooded oxbow of the Clearwater
River. Blanchard Lake offers a potpourri of small trout, perch, bass, whitefish
and rough fish.
MM 6.5: Salmon Lake State Park
Fee area.
Salmon Lake State Park campground has been updated and provides new lavatories
with coin-operated showers. The campground has a boat launch and a picnic area
as well as an amphitheater where they bring in guest speakers to talk about the
wildlife as well as educational seminars sponsored by Montana Fish, Wildlife
and Parks. Native Americans also give presentations on their cultural heritage
and history. Salmon Lake is a popular lake for all of the trout species and
kokanee salmon.
The
Clearwater River above Salmon Lake is a popular fishing area for browns. This
short section to the Placid Lake turn-off is a challenge, however, as it is
braided swampland crowded with willow and tag alder.
MM 10.1: Placid Lake State Park, Owl Creek, Jocko Lakes
Right after you
exit the highway, you will cross the Clearwater River, which has a campsite and
a fishing trail both upstream and downstream. About a half-mile further are
some nice unimproved Plum Creek campsites on Owl Creek, the outlet creek for
Placid Lake. Placid Lake State Park is three miles from the highway and charges
a fee. The park has recently been upgraded and improved with coin-operated
showers and handicapped-accessible rest rooms with hot and cold water. Placid
Lake also has a boat launch. Popular with water skiers, the lake doesn't offer
much for quality fishing, although it is loaded with small kokanee.
Owl Creek
parallels the road and offers small cutthroats and brookies. Bring plenty of
mosquito repellant if you plan on fishing the Clearwater River area where it is
joined by Owl Creek.
Jocko Lakes
Ignore the
signs to Jocko Lakes. The road takes off from the campground entrance. The
lakes are high up in the Mission Mountains on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
They are closed to fishing. The outlet, the Jocko River, is an excellent
high-country stream. However, you will need a tribal permit to fish so you
would need to continue driving to Arlee, Montana. From Highway 83 to the
fishing area on the Jocko River is approximately 25 miles.
MM 14: Seeley Lake camping . River Point Campground
Just after
mile-marker 14, look for Boy Scout Road on the left. The road swings around the
east side of Seeley Lake and rejoins Highway 83 above the town. River Point
Campground is 2.1 miles from the highway and offers 26 campsites, swimming and
picnicking. It is a USFS fee campground and provides lots of shade.
Seeley Lake Campground
A fee
campground right on the lake, Seeley Lake Campground, Lolo National Forest, is
3.3 miles. Shaded by larch, it also offers a nice concrete boat launch and a
beach with a roped-in swimming area. Public pay phones are available, but the
campground does not offer showers. 29 campsites. Flush toilets. Cold drinking
water. Boat launch.
Seeley Lake
provides lots of fishing opportunities for perch, stocked rainbows, cutthroats
and pike, not to mention some hefty 5- to 10-pound brood stock from the Arlee
hatchery. Yellow perch are best caught with a rubber jig with a piece of night
crawler. The best pike fishing is found at the outlet of the lake.
MM 15-16: Seeley Lake, Montana.
Seeley Trailhead Campground, Morrell Creek, Morrell Falls, Morrell Lake
and Cottonwood Lakes (Road #477)
Just as you
reach the outskirts of the town of Seeley, look for Morrell Creek Road which
heads east. Morrell Creek is first crossed two miles from the highway. The
creek offers small cutthroats, brookies and the occasional brown spawner in the
fall.
Cottonwood
Lakes, Seeley Trailhead Campground
The campground
is one mile from the highway and not to be confused with the lakeside
campground. Cottonwood Lakes are 8.4 miles from the campground, although there
is only one real lake, which is the middle lake. The other two "lakes" are
shallow mud ponds. The middle lake is a narrow 15-acre lake, and it is only
fished out of a canoe or small boat. The lake is stocked with Arlee rainbows,
and it is a popular lake for cutthroats and brookies. The lake offers a number
of unimproved campsites. This is "pack it in - pack it out" country. Morrell
Creek Road is actually a loop that comes out at Kozy Korner three miles from
Highway 83. Take Woodworth Road just past Salmon Lake State Park.
MM 17.9: Seeley Lake Ranger Station.
MM 19.4: Boy Scout Road. This is the loop road which
swings around the west side of the lake and re-connects at mileage marker 14.
MM 20: Clearwater Lake Loop Refer to Mileage Marker 28.
MM 22.5: Lake Inez. 293 acres with a maximum
depth of 70 feet. Fishing is similar to Seeley Lake. Lake Inez has USFS non-fee
campgrounds running along the shore of the lake right beneath the highway. Some
of the sites are squeezed between the water and the access road with the
highway up above it.
MM 24: Lake Inez Campground access.
MM 25: West Fork of the Clearwater River, Marshall Lake
As soon as you
turn off the highway, you will cross the Clearwater River. Right alongside the
creek and the road are two grassy unimproved campsites. The West Fork of the
Clearwater River is a brushy little creek with few fish. The road to Marshall
Lake is 6.4 miles and offers a stunning view of the valley. Narrow and bumpy in
places, I would recommend pulling only a tent trailer. When I got up to the
lake, however, I was surprised to see a 19-foot trailer. When I talked to the
camper, he had a harrowing tale about backing up his trailer on a windy
cliff-side road when he ran into a gate. Marshall Lake has one campsite and a
place to launch a boat, although there are a couple of unimproved campsites on
the creek about a hundred yards from the lake. The road forks just above the
campsite and follows the side of the mountain up above the lake, where a gate
blocks further travel. Vandals had removed the warning sign. The father said
that it had taken hours to back the trailer down the narrow, windy road, and
his two young sons were terrified.
Marshall Lake
froze a number of years ago. All that was left were a few five-inch cuts when I
fished it. The creek also froze out and offers poor fishing in the upper
reaches. Check to see if the lake has been re-stocked.
MM 26: Lake Alva
Approximately
300 acres with a maximum depth of 90 feet. Lake Alva is the most popular
fishing lake among the locals. Offering good catches of kokanee, trout and the
occasional bull trout, the lake also offers perch and pike. Similar to Lake
Inez, Lake Alva has a non-fee USFS campground that runs along the water's edge
just short of mile marker 25, but it is more suitable to tents and truck
campers.
Lake Alva Campground
Lake Alva
Campground is a self-serve fee campground with no showers. 41 campsites. Cold
drinking water. U.S. Fee Area. During the ice-fishing season, a 27-pound pike
was speared in the lake. The campground has an excellent boat launch and a
small beach with a roped-off area for swimming.
MM 27: Rainy Lake
70-acre shallow
lake. Rainy Lake is popular fishing for 12-inch cutthroats. Rainy Lake has the
largest population of bull trout and is free of pike.
MM 28: Clearwater Lake Loop
The dirt road
is surprisingly smooth, and the view of the Bob Marshall Wilderness peaks are
stunning. Clearwater Lake is seven miles from the highway. You will find a
parking spot with a half-mile trail down to the lake (it seemed much shorter
than a half-mile). Don't waste your time trying to fish this lake from the
shore. The lake is extremely shallow around its entire length. The lake is rich
in leeches and freshwater shrimp with good hatches so the cutthroats are sometimes
uncooperative. The lake is best fished from a belly boat or a canoe. The best
fishing is in the northwest end of the lake. Joe Bender recommends olive
leeches, bead-head nymphs and hoppers in August. The lake offers a number of
pack-in camping sites.
MM 31: Summit Lake
Summit Lake is
a small, brushy-lined lake that freezes. It is rarely fished. The few rises
that you see are smaller cutthroats moving up or down from Bertha Creek. Bertha
Creek is so overgrown it is not worth the effort to fish it. Summit Lake is the
dividing line for the Clearwater that drains south to the Blackfoot River and
the Swan River drainage that flows north to Flathead Lake.
