Sunken Rock Lake

Drainage: Stillwater
Approaches: Approximately 31 miles round trip from the Box Canyon trailhead, with roughly 3,700 feet of climbing. The last mile is off trail.
Elevation: 9,597 feet
Fish: Golden trout, common and stocked. Montana FWP.
Coordinates: 45.24581, -110.09089
Bugs: Mosquitoes, just bad enough to be annoying.

Getting there

Trail #27 across the plateau to the east side of Jordan Lake, then up the inlet and west. Off trail for the last mile.

We came at it from camp at Martes, four tenths of a mile northeast of here. We set up camp first and then made a quick trip over, about twenty minutes each way.

FWP also lists Woodbine at 20 miles.

The hike

Sunken Rock is 11 acres and 30 feet at the deepest, and it holds golden trout.

FWP's note about them is worth reading before you fish it: the goldens here seem a little more vulnerable to angling than in other golden lakes. That is not a sentence they write often, and it means a rod does better here than it does at most of them. Their own nets bear it out — two overnight sets in 2022 produced only three fish, but those three averaged 13.2 inches and ran to 17.8. A bigger 2016 sample got 33 fish at the same average, from under 7 inches to 18.5.

Multiple size classes, and the goldens are reproducing on their own in the pond below the lake.

It gets 1,100 fish every twelve years, most recently 2017, with the next due in 2029. Cutthroat went in once, 4,050 of them in 1969, and did not take.

FWP calls it a beautiful place to camp with plenty of firewood.

Tips & safety

• Navigation: On trail to the east side of Jordan, then up the inlet and west, off trail. Four tenths of a mile southwest of Martes if you are camped there.

• Camping: FWP calls it a beautiful place to camp with plenty of firewood.

• Fishing: Golden trout with fish to 18 inches, and FWP says they are more willing to take a fly here than at most golden lakes.

• Bugs: Mosquitoes, annoying rather than bad.