Yellowstone Lake Fishing Access

There are only three lakes within Yellowstone National Park suitable for kayak fishing that don’t require a long pack-in, pack-out situation.  Yellowstone, Lewis and Shoshone Lakes are all accessible from the park’s highway system.  Yellowstone Lake is the most accessible and largest of the three lakes. The lake is 7,732 feet (2,357m) above sea level and covers 136 square miles (350km²) with 110 miles (180km) of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is 139ft (42m), its greatest depth is at least 390ft (120m). Yellowstone Lake is the largest freshwater lake above 7,000ft (2,100m) in North America.  The lake is famous for its world class Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout fishery and because of illegal introductions in the late 1980’s, the lake provides good fishing for lake trout as well.  There are only two official boat ramps on the lake at Bridge Bay Marina and West Thumb Marina however, any boat that can be carried to a beach, can be launched anywhere on the lake.  There is good beach access between West Thumb, Lake Village and Sedge Bay, especially at picnic areas.  Xanterra, the park’s major concessionaire offers a canoe/kayak shuttle service to remote backcountry campsites on Yellowstone Lake. Numerous outfitters offer kayak services on Yellowstone Lake. All boats used in Yellowstone water must have a boating permit and be inspected.  Complete boating regulations can be found at:

http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/upload/Yell_Boating_Regs.pdf