Expedition Team: Dave Miller
Date: June 21, 2022
Since the first reported sighting in 1889, 109 reports of large-sized objects have been received with most describing a 20- to 40-foot-long eel or serpent creature with black steel eyes. Some witnesses have described humps, or fins, and some smooth skin. That first sighting 133 years ago, was by Capt. James Kerr and 100 passengers aboard the lake steamboat U.S. Grant. As the long, large creature approached the boat, one frightened passenger pulled out a rifle and shot at it.
We stayed at the Polson KOA campground where I relaxed and had beautiful views of the lake. In the small town I noticed lake creature murals and statues and even The Cove Deli & Pizza had a pizza named after it. At lakeside I saw no unusual water disturbances. The lake itself is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, 27 miles long, a maximum width of 15 miles and 370 feet at its deepest point. With an average depth of 164 feet, hypothetically, it could be a possible habitat to breed a large eel like creature. The lake is one of the cleanest in the world and is home to bull and cutthroat trout, whitefish, perch, and sturgeon. Considered a living dinosaur and one of the largest fish in the world, a sturgeon 6 to 11 feet in length with a bony lumpy back, and capable of living 50 to 60 years, could this be the misidentification that many witnesses have seen? So, is this a Montana sea monster or urban legend?
