Fishing at Blackfoot Lake, Flathead County, Montana

• Overview

  You will find Blackfoot Lake in Flathead County, Montana. Land around it is pine and birch. It covers about 17 acres, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. You are 11 miles from Bigfork. Somers follows at 15 miles, then Evergreen at 17 miles. In the same area: Twin Lakes after 0.6 miles, Black Lake 1.5 miles away, Clayton Lake after 1.6 miles, Wildcat Lake 1.7 miles away and Picnic Lakes after 1.9 miles. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Blackfoot Lake

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Species logged across Flathead County include rainbow trout, sockeye salmon, largemouth bass, brook trout and yellow perch. Protected fish appear in the records for this area, so treat the list as information, not an invitation. Fish Blackfoot Lake to its features, not to its size.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The seasonal spread runs 19°F to 58°F. The season turns properly here, and fish follow it closely. Once it clears, about late April, the fishing comes on quickly. The lid tends to go about late April and return around mid November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. It sets the rhythm of the year at Blackfoot Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. There is no recorded infrastructure here; expect to find your own way in. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Take the rules with you rather than trusting memory. Signs go up and come down, so check on the day. Twin Lakes, 0.6 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Where Blackfoot Lake is concerned, a local answer beats a written one.