Dickey Lake Fishing near Eureka, Montana

• Overview

  Out in Lincoln County, Montana, sits Dickey Lake. The water sits 3,117 feet up. At some 601 acres it is far too large to cover on foot in a day. Around 4.7 miles of bank, which is a long day on foot. Nothing else we list in Lincoln County covers more water. 16 miles away sits Eureka, the nearest town. Beyond it, Whitefish at 30 miles and Columbia Falls at 37 miles. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Dickey Lake

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Records held for Lincoln County cover rainbow trout, sockeye salmon and brook trout. Several of these carry legal protection or closed seasons; the rulebook comes before the rod. Dickey Lake repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages here run 60°F at the top of summer and 19°F at the bottom of winter. Spring and autumn carry the fishing; summer and winter test it. Once it clears, about mid April, the fishing comes on quickly. Average temperatures cross freezing around mid April in spring and again near late November in autumn. The strong weeks are the first after break-up and the last before the freeze. That is the shape of the year on Dickey Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  Who may fish here is not settled in anything we hold. No dam controls it, and the level follows the season. There are picnic tables recorded roughly half a mile off. Bass water: a Texas-rigged worm near cover, a spinnerbait when you need to cover ground. Parking space is the usual limit rather than the bank itself. Rules for boats are stricter than rules for the bank in many places. Should this one be busy, Rattlebone Lake is 1.5 miles off. Nothing here settles the position at Dickey Lake for certain.